Movie review: 'City of Ember'

Bill Murray (Credit: Fox Walden)

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3 stars (out of four)

There’s a lot working against “City of Ember”  in terms of its commercial prospects. Among the question marks: an indistinct title, taken from a popular-but-not-epoch-shattering series of books; an apocalyptic vision of the future that resists the usual swells of triumphalism; and dialogue that is markedly free of jaded wisecracks and references to “Jerry Maguire,”  or “Cops.”
Also, it’s good. So it has quality working against it  too.

It’s a little fuzzy in terms of story, and too dour for young kids, but “City of Ember” comes from director Gil Kenan.  He and his designers create a sharply realized and fantastically rich underground city, held together by cables and wires and string. Kenan made “Monster House,”   also good, also not for the young ones. If he ever lucks into a project worthy of his imagistic strengths that has some populist hooks going for it, look out.

The story plops you down in a rough situation, after the end of the world as we know/knew it. While life above ground regenerates, the citizens of Ember cope with their makeshift contraption of a city, built to last for 200 years. Time’s almost up. The infrastructure’s crumbling. The place is run by a genial fascist of a mayor (Bill Murray,   playing it straight and padded with an enormo-tummy). Children at the age of 12 are assigned jobs to help keep the machine grinding along, amid power blackouts and food shortages.

Saoirse Ronan,  a deserved Academy Award nominee for “Atonement,”  plays Lina,  who gratefully switches assignments with her pal Doon  (Harry Treadaway   of “Control”)   so she can become a fleet-footed messenger  and he can go to work in the elaborate pipe works. The rest of the story, adapted by Caroline Thompson   from Jeanne DuPrau’s   novel, involves a treasure hunt-type secret map and humanity’s salvation. Thompson tosses in a giant sewer mole for a thrill sequence that seems out of place with the rest of “City of Ember,” but I suppose kids —like movie producers —feel cheated unless something with considerable sharp teeth threatens to chomp a protagonist.

Even with the mole and a conventional shoot-the-rapids climax (taken from the book), I liked the texture, tone and spirit of this movie. The blend of art direction and computer-generated effects favors the former, not the latter. This is a project wherein you really notice the sets—big, three-story ones, too big for a typical Hollywood soundstage. (The picture was shot mainly in Belfast.) Thompson’s script stumbles a bit expositionally, but who knows? If older kids and adults seek out this picture, which 20th Century Fox and Walden Media  clearly aren’t sure how to sell, they may well find themselves drawn into a subterranean world of considerable imagination.

mjphillips@tribune.com

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