| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 10/12/2008 : 09:31:55
City of Ember
I never read Jeanne Duprau's Ember quartet so I can't tell whether Caroline Thompson's screenplay adds anything. I'm guessing her own experiences working with Tim Burton have taught her something about creating unfamiliar cine-worlds with enough anchoring to reality.
This is the first in the series, and it's set almost totally deep underground, hundreds of years post-disaster - so we're told by an uncredited voice-over, though he never quite specifies what that disaster might be. The city of Ember feels more like a small town, and is composed entirely of white English-speakers - though I did spot a couple of black faces in a crowd scene. Mayor Bill Murray dominates, managing by political manipulation to keep up the spirits of a population who've never seen the sky. But nature deprivation is the least of their problems because their sole power source - a generator - is clearly on the fritz. Not only do their lights flicker and blackouts have begun, the intervals between moments of darkness are getting shorter. They also don't yet know it but they're running out of food. Yep - they're all doomed. Unless, that is, they can find a way out. If there is one.
The city itself retreads the path of Bladerunner, in that mechanisms once so shiney and new are all falling apart. When young Doon, just starting his working life, is apprenticed to old narcoleptic codger Martin Landau, veteran of The Pipe Works, he learns the only recourse for a leaky pipe is to wrap it well. There simply is no new pipe nor any hope of making any.
Also embarking on her adult life is Lina, assigned to be a Messenger. In a place where power is rationed, the only means of inter-city communication is by red-caped messengers who trot around town delivering info by speech.
How these two, with a bit of help from their friends and a bit of bother from their enemies, how they find an escape route and pave the way for the rest of Duprau's books is the meat of the story.
As an adventure, it's okay, and yes, there are some ideas here if you look. And Tim Robbins, as Doon's dad and Liz Smith as Lina's grandma add class to the proceedings. But, I dunno, Gil Kennan's direction lacks oomph and there's an inevitability as the kids leap from clue to clue. I grant you, the set-up to a saga is always tricky. You have to explain so much, yet keep the tension. For me, the only tense moment came when one of my toes threatened to cramp.
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| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| randall |
Posted - 03/29/2009 : 16:32:50
A yawner, even when the filmmakers tried to ramp up INDY-style action setpieces, for they failed. Harmless enough for children, I guess, though Bill Murray himself might be too scary for littler ones. |
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 10/16/2008 : 15:37:56
When cut off from light cycles and clocks, people apparently drift into 28-hour days. |
| silly |
Posted - 10/16/2008 : 04:32:08
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
Photosynthesis is not a problem (think (i) greenhouse (!) and (ii) the fact that it is open to the air and thus is supported by the photosynthesis outside as it turns out).
Yes, I thought about this. And I thought it was a bit odd, (spoilers) because if the world was so toxic that they had to live underground, why would they leave it open to the elements? Or did the hole open up sometime during the intervening years?
I'm nit-picking, of course. It was fun to watch and imagine how this could happen. The first generation had to know why they were there, but it seems they forgot to pass the story on very well, just little bits of the "memory" remained, such as that the sky was supposed to be blue.
Questions for the sequel:
1) Do they still have 24 hour days? Why?
2) Where does the garbage go?
3) Pretty good mix of young and old. Procreate, much?
4) If they have run lights all over the place, why couldn't they keep working telephones? Forgot to pay the bill?
Finally, I hope I did the colored text thing correctly  |
| Demisemicenturian |
Posted - 10/16/2008 : 02:36:47
I have a soft spot for post-apocalyptic stories (this is a candidate for someone's accolade), so I enjoyed it. It's not packed full, and is rather unlikely (the city can be seen from the ground, so the sky should be visible from the city), but unlike most it is aimed at children.
Photosynthesis is not a problem (think (i) greenhouse (!) and (ii) the fact that it is open to the air and thus is supported by the photosynthesis outside as it turns out).
I'd like to know why all the animals have suddenly become gigantic. I thought the people might turn out to have become Borrower-sized (or were genetically engineered to be or something), but this is not suggested. |
| MisterBadIdea |
Posted - 10/14/2008 : 05:12:52
Doesn't really have the weight of the Harry Potter films, and Kenan has clearly seen The City of Lost Children more than a few times. Still, I can't help but groove to it -- I love this kind of dark kid's fantasy. Crumbling infrastructure and food shortages? I'm there! |
| silly |
Posted - 10/13/2008 : 01:09:53
Our theater wasn't very full, and I was the only one who laughed out loud when Murray suggested a special Task Force to investigate something (that should have been obvious)
It reminded me of how we do things here in the US...  |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 10/12/2008 : 22:08:37
quote:
Originally posted by silly
There was more color in the population (think: greenhouse).
oops ... meant to mention Marianne Jean-Baptiste.  Thanks, silly, for reminding me!
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| silly |
Posted - 10/12/2008 : 20:09:28
There was more color in the population (think: greenhouse). Technically, of course they have to gloss over things like waste management and how they all have air to breathe when there is no photosynthesis for hundreds of years, but I loved watching for details in the town and how these people had adapted to their situation socially and on a technical level.
We liked the movie, it's a decent popcorn flick. Bill Murray was a good Mayor, sleepwalking through his duties while keeping his secrets.
I could not help but hear the very strong message of "This is all we have, it's running out, and nobody knows how to fix anything, so what are we gonna do?" Our world is in a similar predicament, and it seems here, too, a good portion of the population is willing to sing and wait for the Builders to come back with the answers.
I heard (from a ten year old) the book is "much better," so maybe I'll check it out.
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