City of Ember.

"The exasperated rumble of dying machinery - to our pampered ears, the sound of civilization ending - is the aural backdrop of City of Ember, a grim fantasy about a cloistered subterranean metropolis that wants to be both a kids' adventure and a dystopian finger-wag," writes Robert Abele in the Los Angeles Times. "That director Gil Kenan's second feature - following the snappy motion-capture animated film Monster House - never quite succeeds as either is a shame for all the dazzling craftsmanship brought forth from its production team."

Updated through 10/11.

"To watch the talents of Saoirse Ronan, the brilliant young actress from Atonement, being wasted in the science-fiction juvenilia of City of Ember is to be reminded that a powerful performance needs an equivalent screenplay," writes Stephen Holden in the New York Times. "In City of Ember, she has nothing to work with."

"Lit only by electric lamps and marked by crumbling brick, leaking pipes and all manner of ingeniously constructed devices (made up of cogs, pistons and wire), Ember is a superbly crafted environment, recalling not only the dreamlike nocturnal landscape of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's City of Lost Children but also the self-contained, sub-aquatic art-deco setting of last year's superlative videogame Bioshock," writes Nick Schager in Slant.

"Adapted from Jeanne Duprau's novel by Edward Scissorhands writer Caroline Thompson, this seriously entertaining film celebrates the idea that, despite their elders' complacency, the young will find the strength to imagine a better future for themselves," writes Nigel Floyd in Time Out.

"[T]he film's unwillingness to sugarcoat the book's dark world or talk down to its juvenile audience is as admirable as it is rare," writes Nathan Rabin at the AV Club. "Ember is seldom riveting, but it's consistently compelling, and its uncompromising literal and metaphorical darkness renders its climax enormously satisfying."

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw: "This is a by-the-numbers fantasy adventure for teens: five parts Terry Gilliam to one part Fritz Lang."

"[T]o be fair, City of Ember would probably entertain younger viewers," writes Roger Ebert in the Sun-Times, "if they haven't already been hopelessly corrupted by high-powered sci-fi on TV and video. It's innocent and sometimes kind of charming. The sets are entertaining. There are parallels in appearance and theme to a low-rent Dark City."

"Alas, for all the rich production values and well-known cast, City of Ember falters because of both a very ordinary screenplay and dramatic detail that turns around as if there was no tomorrow," writes Derek Malcolm in the Evening Standard. "You admire the way it looks but it is a penance to get through."

Christopher Campbell lists "10 Underrated Bill Murray Roles" at the SpoutBlog.

"I've been a fan of Jeanne DuPrau's Ember book series for several years now, having found them to be a great blend of post-apocalyptic dreariness and steampunk tomfoolery, and all in a young adult book," writes Kevin Kelly at the SpoutBlog, but the film is "sadly not the Ember adaptation I'd been hoping for."

Updates, 10/11: Alonso Duralde at MSNBC: "[M]oviegoers are advised to read the novel and skip the flick."

Jette Kernion talks with Kenan for Cinematical; Quint for AICN.

Posted by dwhudson at October 10, 2008 5:44 AM