City of Ember

Review in a Hurry: That ol' liberal Hollywood bias is translated into a kiddie flick that's Brazil for tots. Two hundred years after humanity is forced underground, one girl's tenacious spirit unlocks the secret to her people's future.

The Bigger Picture: The details are fairy-tale vague in City of Ember, and the fascism is PG-rated. Two hundred years after the mysterious Builders created a vast underground city "protected for generations to come," food supplies are running short, and the generator that keeps the place humming is on its last legs. The adult population, blissfully ignorant, go about their business, questioning nothing. "Ours is the only light in a dark world," they believe, singing hymns to the Builders and discouraged from imagining what lies beyond their subterranean city.

A mysterious box containing the Builders' secrets, once handed down from mayor to mayor, has been forgotten for decades, but Lina Mayfleet (Saoirse Ronan), the inquisitive descendant of the last mayor to hold them, teams up with an equally inquisitive classmate, Doon Harrow (Harry Treadaway) to discover the truth.

Doon's father, the tinkerer Loris (Tim Robbins), once had designs on escape—an escape that took the lives of Lina's parents. "What you get is what you get, but what you do with it" proves your mettle, Loris tells his son, handing him a universal key that along with Lina's box puts the children on their way to discovering not only the corruption of the current mayor (Bill Murray) but the destiny of the city.

Set in a sort of future past, the allusions to free thought are subtle enough for children. The police don't carry weapons, but they do go on a hunt for our heroes. There's no shout-out for Ayn Rand, but the mantra "Do You Know Your Part?" is dropped repeatedly by glassy-eyed stand-ins for religious fanatics. Loris doesn't make any speeches, but he does, in his way, encourage his son—the darkness beyond Ember an obvious metaphor.

The 180—a Second Opinion: And a child shall lead them. A rollicking good adventure for kids, this allegorical tale pokes at the spirit of inquiry and fascism without scare tactics, and within a firm fantastical reality. Ember could've been tighter, sharper at times, but might have lost kiddy viewers in the process.