City of Ember

Posted May 24, 2012 by Speed - 0 comments

A couple hundreds of years ago life on the planet’s surface became impossible and to preserve humanity, mankind decided about 250 years ago to build a city deep under ground. Since then people have been living in the city of Ember for generations but they lost their history and when the city starts to decay things turn for the worse. The food supplies are running dry and the generator that’s keeping the light on is about to finally give up and die as well. The inhabitants fear for their future but still nobody dares to visit the surface as nobody who ever left the city and went into the dark outside has returned.

The teenagers Doon Harrow and Lina Mayfleet are convinced that the Builders, their ancestors, must have thought of a way out and eventhough it’s forbidden to leave the city, they think of a plan to get away. When Lina finds a small box with secret and cryptic instructions, she and Doon manage to decypher them and find out about their history and the city. In a race against the clock and the mayor who wants to stop them, Doon and Lina head off to get to the surface to save the people from Ember before the lights go out for the last time.

Sound and Vision:
The image quality is very good with plenty of shadow detail, sharp images, bright colors that differ from scene to scene and good contrast. Here and there a scene seems a bit soft and some digital effects can be spotted easily, but overall there’s certainly nothing to complain about.

The audiotrack makes good use of the surround speakers and subwoofer for a variety of effects that truly bring the city to life. Dialogues are always crystal clear

Extras:
– Ember Special Effects
– The Largest Set In The World
– Doon, Lina & Poppy
– Featurette
– Trailer

A couple of short extras and some interview fragments. All in all quite a thin pack of extras

Conclusion:
City of Ember is a fun movie that suits perfectly for a family viewing. Just like many fantasy movies where kids are at the center the grown-ups have either lost faith or are corrupt but in a weird way it does work in this movie. Bill Murray is excellent as the corrupt mayor of the city and also Tim Robbins does a nice job but the honors do have to go to Harry Treadaway and Saoirse Ronan as Doon and Lina as their performance is convincing and perfect for this film.

I wasn’t really looking out for this film, but it surprised me in a pleasant way. Certainly worth checking out.

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