City of Ember

A fun and moving family film with a subtly dark feel rarely seen in kids' movies since the '80s, City of Ember succeeds despite its shortcomings, not only because of its fun and inspiring story, but because most of its flaws are things kids won't notice anyway.

City of Ember has almost anything one could want from a science fiction-based family adventure film: likeable characters, an imaginative setting, and a fast pace.

Entertainment-wise, City of Ember is a good family deal: exciting and simple enough for anyone over 8 to follow yet mature and mildly satirical enough for parents.

For a kiddie adventure, the movie, based on the Jeanne DuPrau book, has a pleasingly moody, eerie quality.

Though the film ultimately falls short of its considerable promise, there's more than enough here to keep thoughtful moviegoers - of any age - intrigued.

Ultimately, it's undone by the overfamiliar nature of Doon and Lina's quest, the outcome of which, while breathlessly paced, is never really in question.

A murky, directionless plot sinks this big-budget fantasy despite Martin Laing's elaborate production design; the dark, industrial-looking sets often recall "Brazil" but without that film's thrilling sense of an imagination run amok.

Follows the book pretty well. Started off slow but it turned out to be a cute family film, worth at least a one time watch. Watch it online for free: ****/watch-26-City-of-Ember-online-free

City of Ember children's version of Silo. I decided to watch City of Ember under the influence of watching season 2 of Silo. I liked the dystopia of a closed city surrounded by the ground, where people survive. And how funny it was to watch City of Ember. It's a real fairy tale. So childish and naive that I even liked it. The film is especially revealed when the escape from the city begins. City of Ember is not a bad example of steampunk. The whole city looks like a frozen village at the end of the 19th century. And when you see Tim Robbins in one of the roles. So in general there is a feeling that this is one metaverse of movies. Well, if you seriously evaluate City of Ember, this movie is a failure. It is primitive, it has a weak plot, and the realism of what is happening and the existence of the city is 0.

I caught this film on HBO and had never heard of it. I did not read the book so I can't comment on the adaptation, but I thought the look of the underground world alone was enough to recommend the movie. The acting throughout is good, but the characters did seem underdeveloped. There are a lot of big name stars in the film but they are not used to their potential, most of them getting little screen time. Bill Murray was the best part of the movie (other than the look and sets). If they would have made us care more about the characters this could have been a special film.

City of ember is a very bad movie with horrible acting and even worse cgi. “The sand” has better acting. And the concept of the movie was completely stolen from the hit movie Wall-e. Very bad movie

This movie is a complete joke to all film making. Like it went way too fast so it left a whole bunch of plot holes and terrible special effects for 2008. But thats just the beginning the movie had terrible acting. The two main characters **** on screen. The best part of the movie was Bill Murray and even he was bad. Now that right there is almost impossible. I actually applaud the director for making Bill Murray look bad. Bill Murray is a legend and he was terrible in that movie. For one he should have been in it a lot more. Two he should have been a LOT funnier. I didn't laugh once when he was on screen. Three they fattened him up terribly to fit the fat mayor character. I mean they like put a pillow in his shirt and started taping. They could have done a little better because of the fact it was an adaption of an amazing childrens book. I read it and loved it. But this movie is up next to Battlefield Earth and Transformers 2. It didn't make sense and i could make a better movie in my sleep.