City of Ember

SPOILERS MAY FOLLOW . . . . . . .

So Jakob, my brother, and I all went to see City of Ember. It actually is a good family film. There isn't any language in it and cinematicly, it is shot rather well. The costumes are rich and seem to fit right in with the set design. They seem to be all woven materials, so they have that richness and texture that looks great on film. Tim Robbins doesn't play a believeable father figure, but he fits right in with the rest of the adults in the film. Martin Landau is great! He fits in well with the main kids and I'm just happy that Bill Murry gets eaten. The youngest girl is cute, but it seems like she was just an after thought because there isn't much she does, doesn't really have a place in the movie. More of an "awe, cute".

A few downfalls of the movie:
~You expect more of a cover-up with the Mayors of Ember as to why the people are down in the city, but there really isn't a cover-up and it is more like things just got lost.

~Why and how were things lost? If one of the Mayors had died suddenly, why didn't the new Mayor get anything?

~They really don't explain why people are down in Ember. Perhaps that is explained in the book, but they seem to leave that out of the film. (my explaination is that the Earth got to a point that it couldn't sustain itself and the people, so someone sent everyone to live beneath the ground to the land above could replair itself.)

~ Are there more cities like Ember or is it the only city of it's kind. It seems like they had a form of population control if they've been down there for only 200 years. There weren't a lot of people; at least not what you would think of people in isolation.

Mostly, it has some great moments, little CGI work, and rather strong acting from the kids. If I would be rating it with stars, it would be about a 3 out of 4. I would say go see it. Oh, and be careful with the mole. . . . . . . .