Mama Camp: FREE Family Film Festival: "The City of Ember"

Cool off this summer at the Regal's FREE Family Film Festival. The films run Tuesday through Thursday at 10am on two theaters (G and PG).

We arrived at 9.45am to make sure we got a good seat, and although the concession stand line was six people deep, the "City of Ember" (123 min) theater was not as crowded as I expected. By the start of the movie the theater was 3/4 full. It looked like more people were going to see the "Curious George" movie. Since neither one of us wanted popcorn (shocking, I know) we found a nice seat and waited for the movie to start.

The Pre-Ker (5.5) and I give City of Ember, directed by Gil Kenan, two thumbs up but wish that the CGI shots had been a little better. There are a couple of scary scenes (a giant mole running through the pipe works and attacking people) so this movie may not be appropriate for all 5 year old kids. It did bring up lots of questions...

1. "Mama...why do you think they built the city underground?"
2. "Why did they want the generator to keep working?"
3. "Why was the mole so big?"
4. "Mama...how did they build the city?"
5. "Mama...how did they get all that stuff underground?"
6. "Mama...what happens next?"

Camp Director: "Did you know this movie is based on a book written by Jeanne DuPrau? Let's go home and Google more about the book."

We emailed Jeanne DuPrau to let her know we were on our way to the bookstore to get the first book in the series.

Activity Fee: $0

Have you read the "City of Ember" book? What did you think of it?