City of Ember totally bombed when it was released in theaters, which was too bad—it was one of the most imaginative and fun movies to be released last year, and, especially as PG-rated fare goes, it was surprisingly smart and engaging. (That’s not to write off all kids’ movies, mind—just to acknowledge that they’re usually really goddamn lazy and really goddamn terrible, and it’s nice to see one, for a change, that’s actually quite good—let alone one that’s really quite good and doesn’t have a Pixar logo in front of it.)
Ever since it got passed by in theaters, I’ve been looking forward to doing a DVD review of the flick, with the aim of hopefully letting more people know about the film and encourage them to give it a shot. This is the sort of movie that could catch a lot of people off-guard (provided they can get past the godawful DVD cover art, that is), and might even pick up more steam on DVD than it could in theaters.
And maybe it still will—but you’ll have to take my word for it based on my earlier review of the film, ’cause this DVD release is a joke, and I can’t bring myself to even pretend to write a review of it. The DVD’s special features include It has no special features at all, unless you count trailers for movies like Garfield’s Pet Force. There’s no insight whatsoever on the making of the film, from the creation of its elaborate sets to its killer visual design. There’s no commentary. There’s no concept art. There’s no talk about the book on which the film is based, nor any hint of how or why a film that could have been just one more crappy kids’ movie instead managed to get executive produced by Tom Hanks and snag actors like Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, and Toby Jones. Nothing.
Is this even allowed on DVD anymore? Seriously, a few nights ago I watched White Noise 2—White Noise 2, for fuck’s sake—and even that piece of shit had interviews and behind-the-scenes features. Meanwhile, one of the best all-ages movies released last year gets lazily shoveled out onto DVD, with no special features and, by way of introduction, only the vaguely insulting phrase “From Walden Media, who brought you Journey to the Center of the Earth“?
I’ll stop my grumpy rambling, but anyway, my point: Obviously a disc like this isn’t worth buying, but you should Netflix this. I’ll bet that you’ll be glad you did—the movie’s definitely worth checking out, even if the DVD itself is largely useless.
They couldn’t name check Tim Robbins or Bill Murray on the cover?
I think someone in the studio wants this movie to fail.
Right? It’s really bizarre.
My only guess is this: Kids’ movies have become so synonymous with “crap” that the studio knows adults will be hesitant to check out the film if they know it’s rated PG. So instead, they’re tying to make it look like a generic kids’ movie so they can market it to dumb kids–complete with no names and a really crappy PhotoShop cover.
I don’t know. I mean, the movie wasn’t the greatest thing ever or anything, but it does deserve to get seen by a lot more people than saw it in theaters–but as far as I can tell, the studio’s already written it off as a loss and just wants to be rid of it.
Is the blu-ray version similar devoid of extras? I’d think that would earn at least a slap on the wrist from Sony (and according to Netflix, a blu-ray version does exist).