| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 17, 2011

Murray playing the glutton doesn't exactly fit the bill and for all the architectural care that's gone into Ember's creation, the secret at its heart is no mystery to us, the audience.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 12, 2008

Murray is always good to have around, and so are Tim Robbins, who plays Doon's defeated father, and Martin Landau as one of the drones who tries to keep the city in working order. The young actors are excellent.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 12, 2008

Even if it occasionally goes off course, City of Ember provides audiences with a thought-provoking and family-friendly adventure.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 10, 2008

A thrilling adventure tale and teen fantasy that is grounded in real concerns about who is managing the planet.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 10, 2008

Though City of Ember is a bit hurried in execution, this first live-action film by director Gil Kenan has the subterranean feel of a dream being described.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 10, 2008

The story, based on Jeanne Duprau's novel of the same name, is beautifully constructed. It builds until it reaches the point that it's one edge-of-your-seat moment after another.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Oct 10, 2008

Except for watching Bill Murray get attacked by a giant mole (something unique in Billy boy's career so far) this sci-fi fantasy aimed at kids feels wan and warmed over.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 10, 2008

Ember is seldom riveting, but it's consistently compelling, and its uncompromising literal and metaphorical darkness renders its climax enormously satisfying.

| Original Score: B | Oct 10, 2008

And though the film ultimately falls short of its considerable promise, there's more than enough here to keep thoughtful moviegoers - of any age - intrigued.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 10, 2008

A grim fantasy about a cloistered subterranean metropolis that wants to be both a kids' adventure and a dystopian finger-wag. That director Gil Kenan's second feature never quite succeeds as either is a shame for all the dazzling craftsmanship.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 10, 2008

City of Ember is one of those sparkling and smart family fantasy films that breed respect for the writers of young adult novels and serve as reminder that good things do come out of Hollywood.

| Original Score: B | Oct 10, 2008

The brightest star is the soundstage that stands in for endangered Ember. It's a beguiling, belching, labyrinthine example of movie magic.

Full Review | Oct 10, 2008

[The filmmakers] create a sharply realized and fantastically rich underground city.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 10, 2008

A murky, directionless plot sinks this big-budget fantasy.

| Oct 10, 2008

No, this is a family-friendly epic designed to send viewers out on a safely euphoric high and nothing more, and to say it does so with almost smoothly confident ease would be more than a bit of an understatement.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 10, 2008

The story's powered by the sense of discovery that moves classic quest tales -- the idea that there's something much, much bigger out there if only you can find it. It's a modest movie that understands the sky's the limit.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 10, 2008

Digs deep but ends up feeling surprisingly cobbled-together from cinematic odds and ends.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 10, 2008

While producers Fox Walden continue in their efforts to bring interesting books for youngsters to the big screen, moviegoers are advised to read the novel and skip the flick.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 10, 2008

City of Ember simply doesn't work as entertainment, ending up a cluttered mess and another example for writers to use when they pull the "Sophomore Slump" feature out for publication again.

| Oct 10, 2008