City of Ember, an interesting dystopian adventure movie for the family

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A few years back, the boys and I listened to the audiobook of City of Ember.  The story was quite interesting: A catastrophic event led for the creation of a city underground.  Now, Ember is dying with power outages becoming a regular occurrence that plunges the city into darkness. A  young girl and boy discover secrets about their subterranean city (Ember) that just might help the people survive now that the city is falling apart and food stores are running short.  Unfortunately, not everyone in Ember is thrilled about their discoveries and seeks to silence them to maintain the status quo.

 

The book is actually the first of a series. We’ve also listened to the second one which takes place after City of Ember.  To date, only City of Ember has been made into a movie and I suspect the lukewarm reception of this movie will keep it that way.

 

While we watched this shortly after it came out on DVD, D saw it at the library recently and decided to view it again.  I think he liked it more than his first viewing, which does not surprise me as he’s also a little older and better able to appreciate nuances in the story line.  We also enjoyed the visualization of Ember by the movie makers.

 

Now, there were some changes from the book for the movie.  That wasn’t surprising.  The most violent scene in the movie (the mayor meeting his fate at the hands of a giant mole) was most likely thrown in to add more ‘excitement’ to the story.  Overall, the movie is well constructed and doesn’t have a lot of objectionable content.  Although, I’d say there is plenty to talk about with your kids as you see quite an array of behaviors from the citizens in Ember.

 

If you haven’t seen the film and are a little curious, here’s the movie trailer to whet your appetite:

 

 

This post has been submitted for inclusion in The Christian Home Issue 47 hosted here.

As the featured columnist for the Movies and Music category, you can be looking forward to weekly posts on what we are watching or music we’ve enjoyed.

 

Feel free to leave suggestions for me as well that are family friendly or uplifting for adults.  While I have movies and some music selections in mind, I’m always on the lookout for other great choices.