Gil Kenan’s quirky science fiction film, City of Ember, looks like an early Heath Robinson experiment. The sets are held together by bits of string, and the costumes are supplied by Oxfam. The cast inhabit an underground city lit by 40-watt bulbs. They are doomed to live in this Dickensian gloom because their ancestors destroyed the environment.

But the ancient generators are beginning to fail. The tinned food is running out. And Bill Murray’s all-powerful Mayor seems totally uninterested in what happens next, mainly because he has a secret stash of orange pop and canned potatoes stashed away in a secret bunker. The film is suspiciously indulgent of its famous stars. Once upon a time, the town’s local rebel, Tim Robbins, tried to find a forbidden tunnel back to the surface. Defeat scarred him for life.

His plucky son Doon (Harry Treadaway), and a perky young girl, Lina (Saoirse Ronan), must discover an exit before the city is plunged into eternal night. The story is too sour for young children, and too moth-eaten for teenagers. Murray is a reliable slob of a villain. His encounter with a giant man-eating mole is a pleasant surprise.

PG, 94 minutes

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