Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

A young adventurer named Milo Thatch joins an intrepid group of explorers to find the mysterious lost continent of Atlantis.

Directors:

Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise

Writers:

Tab Murphy (screenplay), Kirk Wise (story),

Stars:

Michael J. Fox, Corey Burton, Claudia Christian

2 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael J. Fox	...	Milo James Thatch (voice)
Corey Burton	...	Gaetan 'The Mole' Moliere (voice)
Claudia Christian	...	Helga Katrina Sinclair (voice)
James Garner	...	Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke (voice)
John Mahoney	...	Preston B. Whitmore (voice)
Phil Morris	...	Dr. Joshua Strongbear Sweet (voice)
Leonard Nimoy	...	King Kashekim Nedakh (voice)
Don Novello	...	Vincenzo 'Vinny' Santorini (voice)
Jacqueline Obradors	...	Audrey Rocio Ramirez (voice)
Florence Stanley	...	Wilhelmina Bertha Packard (voice)
David Ogden Stiers	...	Fenton Q. Harcourt (voice)
Natalie Strom	...	Young Kida (voice)
Cree Summer	...	Princess 'Kida' Kidagakash (voice)
Jim Varney	...	Jebidiah Allardyce 'Cookie' Farnsworth (voice)
Jim Cummings	...	Additional Voices (voice)

Storyline

1914: Milo Thatch, grandson of the great Thaddeus Thatch works in the boiler room of a museum. He knows that Atlantis was real, and he can get there if he has the mysterious Shephards journal, which can guide him to Atlantis. But he needs someone to fund a voyage. His employer thinks he's dotty, and refuses to fund any crazy idea. He returns home to his apartment and finds a woman there. She takes him to Preston B. Whitmore, an old friend of his Grandfathers. He gives him the shepherds journal, a submarine and a 5 star crew. They travel through the Atlantic ocean, face a large lobster called the Leviathan, and finally get to Atlantis. But does the Atlantis crew have a lust for discovery, or something else?

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Plot Keywords:

atlantis | journal | crew | adventurer | museum | 

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Taglines:

Atlantis is waiting...

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Family | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for action violence

Details

Official Sites:

Disney (html)

Country:

USA

Language:

English French Spanish

Release Date:

15 June 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Atlantis

Box Office

Budget:

$90,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$18,861 (Iceland) (28 December 2001)

Gross:

$37,312 (Iceland) (11 January 2002)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toon City, Walt Disney Feature Animation, Walt Disney Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mike Mignola, creator of the Hellboy comic books (and the basis for the movie) provided many initial production sketches for this film. Mignola was initially contacted by a Disney representative asking if he would work on the project, Mignola's first response was "How did you get my phone number?".

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Goofs

In Whitmore's room, when he's explaining why he's funding the Atlantis trip, he smacks the painting above the mantelpiece with his cane at his head is level with, or above, the mantelpiece. However, in the next shot, his head is at least a foot beneath the mantelpiece.

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Quotes

[first lines]
On Screen Text: [the text that appears on screen] "... in a single day and night of misfortune, the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea." - Plato, 360 B.C.

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Crazy Credits

Remembering our friend Jim Varney.

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Connections

References The Iron Giant (1999)

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Soundtracks

"Atlantis 2002"
Performed by No Angels and Donovan
For the German release of the movie

User Reviews

One of the better animated films ever made

Atlantis is an experiment for Disney, but it is one of they're most successful ones. By excluding often dumb songs (though some of them in the past weren't horrible like in The Lion King and the Jungle Book) and even dumber animal sidekicks, Disney for one of they're few times taken an interesting type of story and given it good dialogue that will appeal to adults more than kids. And while I know kids are the prime target here, I reccomend the animation for them, which takes it's cues this time heavily from the pulp comic book tradition (which is a good thing) and the anime style of quickness and seriousness in characters (which is even better).

Michael J. Fox stars (in possibly his last role due to his claim that he will not act due to Perkinsens) as a "jibberish" decipherer who can decipher most lost languages, and believes in the fantasy of Atlantis, and soon a billionaire gives him a chance, and a crew, to find Atlantis. What follows is a energetic and flowing adventure of the journey, discovery, and fight of Antlantis, filled with spectacular animation (the crystal rise up scene and finale Atlantis scene are awesome animation feats) and characters that older kids and adults can like as much as, or even more than kids. And once again for you parents reading this, if your worries your kids won't like this, just remember what chum is coming up in a few weeks: Cats and Dogs. See this movie is only to avoid that. Varney's last voice-over and movie role (unless Daddy and Them gets released). A