Oct. 10--(3 STARS) (PG)

PLOT As the lights begin to flicker in an underground city, two children search for a way out.

CAST Bill Murray, Saoirse Ronan, Harry Treadaway, Tim Robbins, Martin Landau

LENGTH 1:35

PLAYING AT Area theaters

BOTTOM LINE An entertaining kids' film with more imagination than most.

To call the sci-fi kids' film "City of Ember" a parable of energy independence might be pushing things, but it certainly abounds in symbols and allegories. It's set in a futuristic but delightfully rattletrap underground metropolis -- part Fritz Lang, part Rube Goldberg -- whose lights are ominously flickering.

The avuncular Mayor Cole (a cartoonishly good Bill Murray) preaches patience, but two youngsters (Saoirse Ronan and Harry Treadaway) believe they've found clues to an escape route from Ember. What lies beyond, no one knows.

The appealing cast includes Tim Robbins as a secretive father and Mary Kay Place as a neighbor who -- as a certain politician might say -- clings to her religion. But director Gil Kenan, working from a script based on Jeanne DuPrau's 2003 novel, wisely focuses on the highly detailed city itself. It's a wonderfully cozy little place, as long as the lights stay on.

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