City of Ember (2008)

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Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English dts 5.0 (768Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    It is based upon a book (of the same title) by Jeanne Duprau, an American author who has since written both a sequel and a prequel. The story is set in a city called Ember which is underground and only lit by electric light. The lights are kept going by a large generator which supplies all of the city’s power. The city was created by a mythical group of people known to the residents as ‘The Builders’. Originally the plan was that the city would be inhabited for 200 years. Accordingly, the first mayor of the city was given a box which would open after 200 years. Unfortunately, one the previous mayor’s of the city did not pass on the box to the next mayor and its location is no longer known.

    More than 200 years have passed and the city is coming to the end of its life especially the ancient generator. Accordingly, there are regular black outs which are making the residents extremely nervous that the lights will eventually go out forever. Outside of the city all is darkness and the law strictly forbids anyone leaving the city limits. Most of the technology in the city is either worn out or wearing out and food is in very short supply. The story opens on ‘Assignment Day’ when young residents of Ember are assigned the job they will do for the rest of their life. The two main characters, Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan) and Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway) are both due for their assignments. They attend the ceremony presided over by the dodgy-looking Mayor (Bill Murray) and Lina is assigned to the Pipeworks and Doon to be a messenger. Doon, however, is very concerned about the state of the generator and wants to get a job working on or near it. He and Lina agree to swap jobs so that Doon can get near the generator.

    They soon realise that the generator will not last much longer and they must work out how to escape from the city before it is too late. To do this, they will need to follow clues, fight corruption and work out how to combat a general attitude of fatalism amongst the residents of the city.

    Other cast members of note include Tim Robbins as Doon’s father, Loris and a nearly unrecognisable Martin Landau as aging Pipeworks employee Sul. The film was directed by first-time live action director Gil Kenan, whose previous feature credit is for directing the animated Monster House. Tom Hanks is one of the producers, a role he is taking quite regularly these days.

    This is certainly an entertaining, intriguing and good looking film featuring some excellent sets and well integrated CGI. The concept is an interesting and different one, however, I would say the execution of the idea is somewhat lacking. My main criticism would be that the 90 minute run time does not really do justice to a fairly complex world and you end the film with many questions unanswered. It feels to me like the film was heavily edited to get to a run time desired by the studio, however, this is a guess.

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Video

    The video quality is very good with no significant issues.

    The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was quite clear and sharp. Shadow detail is decent but some scenes were a little murky. This is possibly by aristic choice to accentuate the darkness of the environment when the characters move out of the artificial lights.

    The colour was very good showing off the warm lighting and colour scheme.

    There were no obvious artefacts.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired which were clear and easy to read.

    There is a layer change at 54:49 which caused a noticeable pause.
    

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is excellent.

    This DVD contains three audio options, an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s, an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s and an English DTS 5.0 surround soundtrack.The DTS track is a ripper and the Dolby Digital 5.1 is also very good.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand throughout.

    The music by Andrew Lockington is high quality and very dramatic suiting the tone of the movie.

     The surround speakers were in constant use for lots of atmosphere along with many direction effects such as flapping moths, machinery sounds and the crackling of electricity.

    The subwoofer use was also excellent with lots of thumps, thuds and tension sounds.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Pretty light on in this department.

Menu

    The menu features an intro, music and stills from the film.

Making a scene featurette (10:50) 

    A promotional featurette from the Fox Movie Channel. Discusses the making of the scene where they first show the generator. Tom Hanks and the director are interviewed along with the special effects guy. OK, but you wouldn't get excited.

    The Region 1 version misses out on the following from the Region 4 version:

• DTS soundtrack
• The one extra

    The Region 4 version misses out on the following from the Region 1 version:

• French & Spanish soundtracks
• Spanish subtitles

   Region 4 wins the day. This title is also available locally on Blu-ray.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is excellent.

    One extra only but it is still one more than the Region 1 version.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall