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City of Ember | 2008 | PG | - 0.4.0
As existence on the surface of the Earth becomes impossible, survivors relocate underground and information on how to get back to the surface and when it might be safe to do so is placed in a box that is time-locked for 200 years. When the box is misplaced and no one knows what to do as the underground city begins to crumble, two young people, who refuse to believe that there isn't a way out, go exploring. With Bill Murray, Toby Jones, Saoirse Ronan, Tim Robbins, Martin Landau, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Harry Treadaway. Directed by Gil Kenan. [1:39]
SEX/NUDITY 0 - A teenage girl recites a message that says, "If this is a potato, then I am 16 and sexy."
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VIOLENCE/GORE 4 - A man locks himself in a room and out of the shadows comes a large mole with slimy tendrils and a large mouth; the mole clambers toward the man, the man screams and it is implied that he is eaten.
► A large mole with slimy tendrils and large mouth full of pointed teeth chases a teenage girl, she sneaks through a small area, the mole gets stuck and we see its slimy tendrils touching the girl's hand (she screams and runs). Two men run through a tunnel when a giant mole with slimy read tendrils and a large mouth with pointed teeth chases them.
► A man shoves another man to the ground, and then strikes him and pulls him by the feet. A man grabs a teenage girl and forces her into an office, men yell at her and they try to get something away from her, but she runs away and they chase her.
► A teenage girl finds her way to her grandmother's room in the dark and finds the woman has died (we see the body with ashen skin and motionless). A man screams in the distance, and we see that he is dirty and disheveled and he holds a large claw piece that looks like it's from a massive beetle.
► Two teenagers are chased, and guards force their way into homes, which they search. Two teenagers find a book and begin reading it, they are nearly caught, and they run and are chased but not caught. A teenage boy walks alone through dark tunnels, and finds a storeroom; a man who's there confronts him, and pushes him out and down a flight of stairs (he's OK).
► Two teenagers ride a boat through a long, steep chute and splash on water over cliffs several times (they are OK). Two teenagers and a young girl ride a vehicle through a dark tunnel (dust and rubble fly around them), and they climb up a tall ladder in a control room.
► Lights short out and sparks fly into a large crowd of people (we hear screams but no one is injured). The power on an underground city goes out several times, everything goes quiet and the power comes back on (people are increasingly nervous with every outage). There is a loud rumble and dust and rubble fall from the walls of an underground city (no one is hurt). A large fire burns in a generator and people scramble to put it out; water sprays out of a fountain and onto people gathered around it.
► A teenage girl learns about how her father died. We hear about the "day the world ended."
► A teenage girl grabs another girl from a scarf around her neck, and pulls on the scarf and the girl gags briefly. A teenage boy finds an injured moth and fixes its wing with a shoelace.
► A man eats with his fingers and we see oil dribble down his chin and his fingers.
LANGUAGE 0 - None.
SUBSTANCE USE - We see bottles of liquid in a storeroom but it is not clear what it is.
DISCUSSION TOPICS - Destruction of the planet, survival of mankind, faith, doubt, questioning, curiosity, worry, death of a loved one, doomsday, stealing, treason.
MESSAGE - Follow the evidence. Pay attention and notice what others do not.
CAVEATS
Be aware that while we do our best to avoid spoilers it is impossible to disguise all details and some may reveal crucial plot elements.
We've gone through several editorial changes since we started covering films in 1992 and older reviews are not as complete & accurate as recent ones; we plan to revisit and correct older reviews as resources and time permits.
Our ratings and reviews are based on the theatrically-released versions of films; on video there are often Unrated, Special, Director's Cut or Extended versions, (usually accurately labelled but sometimes mislabeled) released that contain additional content, which we did not review.
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