bit of The Goonies, with its kids-in-subterranean-amusement-park, a bit of
Brazil with its corrupt-and-byzantine-dystopia, a bit of Logan's Run with its
sheltered-society-with-a-secret. In fact, it reminds me of a sort of
kid-friendly version of Bioshock - i.e. with fewer mutant psychopaths intent on
cutting off your face and wearing it.
So, apparently, 200 years ago, for no reason that was explained, a subterranean
city called Ember was established, a refuge for humanity from
was going on on the surface. I know how they feel, I have weekends like that.
Inevitably, things go awry, they fail to get their wakeup call, so the city
starts wearing out and falling apart, and anyone who tries to leave gets
arrested. Inevitably, it falls to a collection of plucky bloody kids to work it
all out and save the city from itself.
Ultimately, it's *alright*. The ideas are interesting, the sets are nice, but
the execution is a bit flat. It's stitched together from all kinds of different
movies, and you can't help feeling that it's a shallow version of all kinds of
other things. Underwhelming but mildly diverting kids stuff.
