"Knight Thoughts" - exclusive web content
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Bill Murray and Tim Robbins are the draw but it's the industrial production design and the English teens that drive City of Ember
Brazil for Kids:
City of Ember
10-10-08 "Knight Thoughts" web exclusive review
By Richard Knight, Jr.
City of Ember
10-10-08 "Knight Thoughts" web exclusive review
By Richard Knight, Jr.
If you've ever dreamed of seeing Brazil, Dark City, City of Lost Children, or the Quay Brothers animated, Kafkaesque classic Street of
Crocodiles reimagined for kids now you have your chance. That's exactly what City of Ember, the latest contender for kiddie
audiences in the fantasy book to big screen adaptations reminded me of. Not that that's such a bad thing, I guess, just an odd
one. Ember, we are told in a prologue, was created 200 years ago underground by a desperate group of scientists when planet Earth
was faced with extinction due, we surmise, to a catastrophic nuclear blast. But the city of Ember, powered by a huge generator that's
at the heart of city, wasn't meant to last beyond 200 years and a silver box with instructions on how to return to the surface has
slipped beyond the hands of the official Mayor of Ember and now everything is starting to fall apart as the generator is failing.
Through a series of coincidences it becomes the fate of two young teens, Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway) and Lina Mayfleet
(Atonement's Saoirse Ronan) to save Ember from falling into permanent darkness.
This being a film for children, the adults are either distracted (Mary Kay Place, Martin Landau), scared because they Know Something
(Tim Robbins, Marianne Jean-Baptiste) or are just plain bad news (Bill Murray as the phony baloney mayor of the city, Toby Jones as
his toady and many others as his henchmen). But our plucky teens have tenacity, courage and daring on their side and aren't afraid
of a few dark corners here and there (though they have the good sense to keep out of the way of a monster sized mole with giant
razor teeth and pink, icky feelers). There's little doubt that like Michael York and Jenny Agutter in Logan's Run, eventually our two
heroes will reach their goal and there are enough plot complications and chase sequences to keep the youngsters entertained until
they do so.
But the film overall, scripted by Caroline Thompson, expert in writing these kinds of pictures (Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare
Before Christmas, The Secret Garden, etc.) isn't particularly involving, partly due to the over familiarity of the film's trajectory and
partially because it feels as if various subplots (especially the one involving Robbins as the once rebellious father) have been left on
the editing room floor to cut down on the overall length. But this is one case where a shorter running time (the movie clocks in at
around 95 minutes) shortchanges the characters and a lot of loose ends are swept aside in the rush to the finish.
The result is not unlike Lemony Snickett's in which the production design triumphed over a thin story and central characters one didn't
care a whit about. Director Gil Kenan had the same dilemma with his previous outing, the animated Monster House in which design
and atmosphere triumphed over a much too familiar, who cares kind of story. City of Ember, enjoyable to look at because of its
unique production design has the same fate. Imagine, however, if a director with this eye for creating another world trusted
audiences to stick with his characters a bit longer. I would have - I mean, who wouldn't want to see more of Murray and Robbins not
to mention the always miraculous Place? And the two leads are believable and sincere. The result of a longer version might have be
an unforgettable children's classic instead of this entertaining though forgettable one. Maybe a director's cut will restore excised
material and subplots and turn the wattage up on City of Ember giving the film new life instead of the 40 watt film that flickers before
us now. Keep your eyes pealed.
Crocodiles reimagined for kids now you have your chance. That's exactly what City of Ember, the latest contender for kiddie
audiences in the fantasy book to big screen adaptations reminded me of. Not that that's such a bad thing, I guess, just an odd
one. Ember, we are told in a prologue, was created 200 years ago underground by a desperate group of scientists when planet Earth
was faced with extinction due, we surmise, to a catastrophic nuclear blast. But the city of Ember, powered by a huge generator that's
at the heart of city, wasn't meant to last beyond 200 years and a silver box with instructions on how to return to the surface has
slipped beyond the hands of the official Mayor of Ember and now everything is starting to fall apart as the generator is failing.
Through a series of coincidences it becomes the fate of two young teens, Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway) and Lina Mayfleet
(Atonement's Saoirse Ronan) to save Ember from falling into permanent darkness.
This being a film for children, the adults are either distracted (Mary Kay Place, Martin Landau), scared because they Know Something
(Tim Robbins, Marianne Jean-Baptiste) or are just plain bad news (Bill Murray as the phony baloney mayor of the city, Toby Jones as
his toady and many others as his henchmen). But our plucky teens have tenacity, courage and daring on their side and aren't afraid
of a few dark corners here and there (though they have the good sense to keep out of the way of a monster sized mole with giant
razor teeth and pink, icky feelers). There's little doubt that like Michael York and Jenny Agutter in Logan's Run, eventually our two
heroes will reach their goal and there are enough plot complications and chase sequences to keep the youngsters entertained until
they do so.
But the film overall, scripted by Caroline Thompson, expert in writing these kinds of pictures (Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare
Before Christmas, The Secret Garden, etc.) isn't particularly involving, partly due to the over familiarity of the film's trajectory and
partially because it feels as if various subplots (especially the one involving Robbins as the once rebellious father) have been left on
the editing room floor to cut down on the overall length. But this is one case where a shorter running time (the movie clocks in at
around 95 minutes) shortchanges the characters and a lot of loose ends are swept aside in the rush to the finish.
The result is not unlike Lemony Snickett's in which the production design triumphed over a thin story and central characters one didn't
care a whit about. Director Gil Kenan had the same dilemma with his previous outing, the animated Monster House in which design
and atmosphere triumphed over a much too familiar, who cares kind of story. City of Ember, enjoyable to look at because of its
unique production design has the same fate. Imagine, however, if a director with this eye for creating another world trusted
audiences to stick with his characters a bit longer. I would have - I mean, who wouldn't want to see more of Murray and Robbins not
to mention the always miraculous Place? And the two leads are believable and sincere. The result of a longer version might have be
an unforgettable children's classic instead of this entertaining though forgettable one. Maybe a director's cut will restore excised
material and subplots and turn the wattage up on City of Ember giving the film new life instead of the 40 watt film that flickers before
us now. Keep your eyes pealed.
