City of Ember

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Shot predominantly up north in Belfast, City of Ember sees talented young director Gil Kenan make his live action helming debut, after the well-received animated farce Monster House a couple of years ago. Based on the metaphor-ridden novel by Jeanne Duprau, it's a smart production that doesn't talk down to its young audience, but still lacks that something special to transcend the 'young adult' tag. Set in an underground world that was built to save humanity, it is fast running out of power and its inhabitants are panicking, as the unreliable mayor (Murray) appears to lack the motivation to do something about it. Our two young protagonists, Doon (Treadaway) and Lina (Ronan) don't have that difficulty, having inherited their parents' daring attitudes and ingenuity. They set about trying to find a solution to the darkening Ember's problems, and go beyond the light. This is all admirably handled with a minimal amount of computer generated effects by Kenan, who really succeeds in creating a sense of a different world, surrounded by permanent night. The two main characters are also well-drawn and played, especially recent Oscar Nominee Ronan - who surely has a long and varied career ahead of her after another excellent performance here. She has a subtlety about her acting that thespians twice her age would kill for. The same plaudits however, can't be offered to the older members of the cast as Robbins and Murray are both wasted. Robbins' role is a functional one and he is mostly fine, but he does seem to be involved purely for the sake of it and brings very little to the table. Murray, meanwhile, is playing a character with bags of potential (going by the book) but he surprisingly fails to inject any life into him. Being that the great man rarely makes films nowadays, this is bitterly disappointing, as we're unlikely to see him in a substantial role again anytime soon. It goes without saying that the slightly older kids will love this though; it ticks all the right boxes, but just doesn't excel enough in any of them (except the two main performances) to render it an unequivocal success.