City Of Ember (TBC) *** - Bill Murray, Tim Robbins, Saoirse Ronan, Harry Treadaway, Martin Landau, Mackenzie Crook, Mary Kay Place and Toby Jones.

AN interesting oddity that is a fantasy science fiction with a touch of Terry Gilliam meets Jeunet and Caro, City of Ember is certainly an antidote the meathead trash that pervades much of today’s mainstream cinema.

Director Gil Kenan, whose excellent Monster House was a sparklingly original CGI, has a great eye and this is nothing if not a sumptuous visual treat.

Whether the eye candy is enough is open to debate because the script could certainly have done with some fine tuning.

The eponymous Ember is an underground metropolis which is lit only by electric lamps. light The natives have no other sources of illumination - not even fire - and the inhabitants believe that blackness is infinite.

And as their resources dwindle and Ember faces extinction, it is left to young Lina (Saoirse Ronan) and Doon (Harry Treadaway) to look for salvation.

Ultimately it is a film that fails to deliver on its huge promise and potential but when it is good, City of Ember is very good.