City of Ember – Film
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, 2008
Fantasy
ISBN: B001LPWGBO
Synopsis
Twelve-year-old Lina Mayfield and her friend Doon Harrow are about to graduate from school and get their lifelong jobs. Everything seems normal until Doon throws the job he’s plucked from the bag onto the floor, and in a heated rage complains about the dilapidating state of the city of Ember, their home. Soon, though, it becomes apparent that Ember is a city different than any other city known on earth. The Builders have made a self-sufficient city underground as an experiment in order to save humanity in case the world above becomes completely destroyed.
However, after more than 240 years, the city is falling apart and people are beginning to panic. In the midst of this, Lina discovers an old manuscript that may hold the key to their salvation. She and Doon must follow the clues outlined on the document in order to escape from Ember to the surface world no one in Ember knows exists.
Critique
After reading the book, I was interested to see what the film was going to be like and how much it was going to stick to the original storyline. It’s relatively close, although there are a few scenes that stray unnecessarily, and a few other things that actually make it better.
The studio picked good actors to represent the various characters, especially Lina and Doon who are convincing as the characters that DuPrau originally creates them to be. Also, the city itself looks very accurate to the picture that DuPrau paints through her story. Beyond that, though, there are some key things that the film missed, and I can imagine that people watching who haven’t read the book will have missed out on some of the necessary details.
There’s little to no explanation of how they got there, and the entire scene involving the diary that the kids find at the end of the book, which gives a lot of necessary history to the story as a whole isn’t in the movie at all. There are hints toward it, but the plot doesn’t delve in far enough to what’s actually going on in order to connect the audience with the underlying plot. Also, there’s no need to have a giant mole burrowing around through the tunnels and trying to kill the kids. There is enough drama through the story itself, and the addition of the mole seems like a gimmick rather than adding something.
The addition of the subplot of their parents having looked for a way out previously was good, because it does seem a little far fetched that over the course of more than 240 years, no one would try to figure out the world around them and explore unknown things and places. It’s simply human nature. Also, the Rube Goldberg-style machine involving the boats at the end was a good addition, making that whole scene more visually appealing. Overall, not the best adaptation possible, but still a decent watch.
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