DVD Review: City of Ember

January 20 brings the DVD release of the family adventure film City of Ember based on the great book by Jeanne Duprau. The story revolves around an underground city, Ember, that is crumbling after hundreds of years. The generator that powers the city is failing, leading to severe blackouts, food shortages, and a general ticking time bomb atmosphere. Two teenagers embark on a journey to solve a mystery hundreds of years in the making in the hopes of discovering a way to save their city.

Having read the book, I knew the story of Ember before I watched the film and this certainly had an effect on how I enjoyed it. Having said that, I liked it. It takes some liberties with the book, which is too be expected, but I still liked it. It's not high art by any means but it is a serviceable adaptation that is fun for the family.

The best part of the film is the city itself. The designers did an exquisite job of creating this world. If Ember was real it would look exactly the way it does in the movie. My hat is certainly taken off to the art directors and set designers for this.

The main cast is made up of Harry Treadaway, Saorise Ronan (Atonement), Tim Robbins, and Bill Murry. They all suit the characters pretty well and do bring the beloved (or reviled) characters from the book to life. Bill Murray is rather enjoyable as the mayor and Tim Robbins should have had a bit more screen time, even if his character wasn't that important in the book.

The problem is that the movie sort of takes away some of the core emotions from the character. We see Lina (Ronan) drawing a blue sky but we don't quite know why. We sort of see that there is a food shortage (in the books it is a shortage of most everything) but its not really played upon very much. The only one who has any real depth here is Doon (Treadaway). He is the only character with any real driving force here. Lina eventually learns something that gives her motivation but in the start, well, we don't really know why she is doing anything.

Another change from the book is the large creatures that pop up now and again. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't remember any large creatures posing any kind of threat. I think the filmmakers added these just to add some kind of tension or action to the story. It isn't necessary. The book had plenty. The story didn't need any juicing up.

There are some elements of the plot that seem a bit square peg round hole. As if the filmmakers felt the need to jam things together that really don't need to happen. Mainly, this is in regards to the relationship between Doon and Lina's parents. It really has no barring on what we're seeing now and isn't touched upon enough to be of any real importance.

The DVD is pretty bare bones, just a bunch of trailers for some really bad looking movies.

Overall, City of Ember is a decent family film. Fans of the book might be frustrated with some of the changes but shouldn't take it too hard. It turns out to be a pretty fun movie with a few flaws.

City of Ember hits DVD on January 20, 2009.