I had mixed reactions to this movie...

I saw the movie and what I loved about it was the mental toughness of the kids to disregard what they'd been taught and pursue a way out of Ember. What I didn't get was 'why'.

From what I can see, the Founders did what they did for 'the good of mankind'. However, what exactly were they protecting the citizens from??? Giant moles? Such things could have been terminated which leads me to believe a certain faction of the Founders were control freaks like Bill Murray's character. The power issue/flickering lights issue is symbolic of 'keeping people in the dark' - only a handful knew what was really going on when it came to food, giant rodents or other issues. If people persevered, they could find a way out of darkness and regain their own power. Just my two cents.