City of Ember Critic Reviews
Metascore®:
Based upon 13 Critic Reviews- Highest Rated
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Critics (A-Z)
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- Favorite Critics
At its best when sticking to a classic sci-fi-fantasy format. But when it tries to be a generic thrill ride, it loses its originality and peculiar charm.Read the full review
The story, which follows two kids who try to save their burg from blackouts, isn't well-executed, losing itself to unclear mythology and sci-fi gibberish.Read the full review
City of Ember has almost anything one could want from a science fiction-based family adventure film: likeable characters, an imaginative setting, and a fast pace.Read the full review
A fabulously designed underground metropolis proves more involving than the teenagers running through its streets in City of Ember, a good-looking but no more than serviceable adaptation of Jeanne Duprau's 2003 novel.Read the full review
Stalls at the intersection of fantasy and science fiction.Read the full review
An impressive and imaginative fantasy.Read the full review
Ember is seldom riveting, but it's consistently compelling, and its uncompromising literal and metaphorical darkness renders its climax enormously satisfying.Read the full review
It's not an entirely convincing trip, but it is the sort of satisfying movie you wished they would make more often.Read the full review
You long for things to go bump in the night, but the movie muffles every risk in a blanket of bland.Read the full review
None of this means that the film is necessarily enjoyable to watch, however, which is often the problem when the rigors of inspired storytelling can't live up to an imaginatively designed filmic world.Read the full review
