Atlantis: The Lost Empire could very well be Disney's most ambitious animated feature to date. It features intense, merciless scenes of battle and peril, depicted in some of the most stunning and fresh animation of the 2000's decade. The bravery and the thought process behind the film was nonetheless detailed, involved, and intricate, yet its payoff was pretty sour.
We'll discuss that later. The film centers around Milo Thatch (voiced by Michael J. Fox), a brainy cartographer and linguist who works for the Smithsonian Institution studying the language and the environment that existed in the lost continent of Atlantis. He believes he possesses directions to the underwater world of Atlantis, in a book called "The Shepherd's Journal." After getting shut down by the museum board to pursue the costly adventure, Milo conveniently meets Preston B. Whitmore (Mahoney), a millionaire who offers to send Milo and an already organized crew down to the depths of the oceans to search for Atlantis, all expenses paid.
Milo accepts and goes on to meet his band of misfits. They are gentle giant Dr. Sweet (Morris), explosives expert Vinny (Novello), teenage mechanic Audrey (Obradors), crabby Mrs. Packard (Stanley), chef Cookie (the late Jim Varney), and quirky Mole (Burton), whom are all lead by Commander Rourke (Garner). Together, they plumb the depths to search for the continent of Atlantis, and get more than they bargained for along the way.
The film's animation is lively, bright, and visually intelligent. It almost looks like scattered scenes from a comic book, that have come to life. The film was released in 2001, and unfortunately, found itself caught in the awkward time where animation was beginning to change drastically. Just one month before the release of Atlantis, came Shrek, a runaway hit shooting Dreamworks' popularity up to the stars. Not to mention, just a few years before that, we had A Bug's Life, Toy Story, and its sequel - all CGI animated features. Hand drawn animation was quickly decimating, and kids and parents blamelessly began looking elsewhere. That elsewhere was the brighter, more sophisticated color scheme of CGI; a method that would eventually transform animation forever.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire was victim of poor timing and unfair judgement, when in reality, it's a breathtaking adventure. It's not perfect, but it's a great leap from traditional Disney clichés such as soft music, cheery characters, and sing-a-longs. That might also be the reason why many parents were turned off as well. The film is very swashbuckling and adventurous. Some of the scenes of peril are frightening, intense, and very, very serious. The PG-rating is the not the thing you're used to seeing on a Disney film, and because of that, this found itself a bit blacklisted.
Because of all the uncertainty of where a project like this go, Atlantis's gross was a modest one, especially for animated films, and failed to drum up a significant amount of revenue. Because of this failure, a sequel, titled "Shards of Chaos," a spin off series titled "Team Atlantis," and a water-ride at Disneyland were all canceled. Disney was clearly anticipating a breakthrough success, but sadly, it all vanished before their eyes, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire would bring one word to people's minds; underwhelming.
Despite a few things lacking, like credible character development of Milo's crew, Atlantis is a wonderful adventure. It almost reminds me of a more attractive, animated Pirates of the Caribbean before the films even came out. The risk of releasing the film was high, but Disney took the chance, and as a result, created an attractive animated film with style, wit, and action galore. How many failed risks can one say that about? Voiced by: Michael J. Fox, Jim Varney, Cree Summer, Claudia Christian, James Garner, Corey Burton, John Mahoney, Phil Morris, Leonard Nimoy, Don Novello, Jacqueline Obradors, and Florence Stanley. Directed by: Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise.
