hrj

I cashed in the rain-check on a blind date from half a year ago and we settled on the movie City of Ember (partly on the principle that it might be likely to disappear from theaters soon, partly because it was convenient to my place). The genre is young-adult sf-adventure; the premise a post-apocalyptic underground city, planned to survive for 200 years at which point the inhabitants could return to the surface. But the key and instructions for this return -- even the existence of the plan itself -- have been mislaid. The city is now well past its sell-by date, with the infrastructure deteriorating and the canned food supplies running low. Those in charge are focused on maintaining their own power and comfort and ideas or plans about "outside" are treated as treason.

If this sounds fairly generic, it is. Also generic are our plucky young heroes, who stumble over the mislaid clues, work them out, and -- after an exciting chase/escape sequence -- make their way to the surface. Oh, was that a spoiler? Like you couldn't guess. But this doesn't mean that the movie isn't entertaining. The set-dressing jumps on the steam-punk bandwagon to good effect. The young actors are competent and engaging. And if the chase sequence screams "future amusement park ride!" more than "well-engineered exit strategy", well, this is a movie, after all.

Without reading the books the movie is based on, it's hard to know how many of the plot-holes are due to the constraints of the medium and how many are inherent weaknesses in the story. We're never told exactly what event inspired the creation of the City of Ember. Clearly something with a long lead-time and a short half-life, since there was long enough to create the hideaway but 200 years were sufficient to outlast the crisis. We also aren't told how the people of the city are expected to live once they emerge into an apparent wilderness. Six generations of living off canned goods and re-made material goods doesn't exactly prepare one for ... whatever it may be that awaits them. The ending cries out for a sequel (and, to be fair, the book that the movie is based on evidently had two sequels and a prequel that probably answer most of these questions).

Overall, a bit of enjoyable, if predictable, fluff -- if you have either a taste or a tolerance for "plucky inventive children outwit bumbling reactionary fascist adults to save the world."