city of ember

my buddy aaron read the book that this movie is based on and said it was really good, so i thought i would try out the movie. it turns out that its a pretty fun one. the premise is that people had to flee the surface of the earth for some reason and they built an underground city to stay safe. the plan was that humanity had to live there 200 years before they could return to the surface in safety. well, somewhere along the way the people forgot about the surface and just grew accustomed to living in this underground city. the two hundred years have passed and everything in the city is falling apart and the power is starting to go out. fortunately, as always happens in these family movies, there just so happens to be three kids who find out the truth and must defy the adults who dont believe them. they find the instructions for how to return to the surface and must complete, in great 'goonies' style, a few puzzles in order to get what they are looking for. the puzzles and contraptions themselves are a bit of fun, and the lighthearted quality to the whole film makes it a decent movie. not entirely sure what bill murray is doing slumming in this movie as the city mayor, but the rest of the film does alright. its thoroughly predictable from the first five minutes, but its a fun ride. especially the water ride!