"City of Ember" burns, though sometimes dimly

For a fledgling steampunk fan like me, City of Ember immediately draws me in, with its archaic and misunderstood technology of an age long passed. While the society smacks of Lois Lowry's The Giver so closely that I hope some royalties were paid (the same close semblance to Fallout, as well, if you're a gamer), it was enough to hold my interest.

The end was always a little transparent based on the "get you up to speed" montage at the beginning, which may or may not have been in the book; I haven't read it, I admit. The purpose of the City of Ember itself might have been better suited for a mystery the main characters - two rogue kids who share their parents' curiosity about Ember - to have to discover throughout the film. Thus, the film's progression felt a little spoon fed.

Because, in some ways, it was the elements that weren't explained (like what drove people underground to begin with) that I thought lent the most to my imagination.

I do wish I'd seen it in the theater, since many of the visuals didn't quite come through on my computer monitor. The types of people in Ember as portrayed by awesome actors such as Bill Murray (the mayor) were - albeit slightly mollified for a younger audience - pretty much the way I'd see people acting in such an environment.

You had the willfully ignorant, the curious, the thieves, the workers, and the politicians. The only trope of young adult literature that I found a little unbelievable was that it took so long for someone to get curious enough about Ember to uncover the truth. The human spirit - in many - yearns for pulling things apart and seeing how they tick, manifest in today's hackers, modders, and tinkerers. Surely a steampunk utopia such as Ember would have had more than its share and would not have been left stagnant for so long.

In the end, the film is a safe, fun ride through nice visuals, memorable characters, and an okay plot. Safe for the kiddies and still entertaining enough for the adults.