Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Directors:

Gary Trousdale
Kirk Wise

Writers:

Tab Murphy (screenplay)
Tab Murphy (story)

Release Date:

15 June 2001 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Family | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Go somewhere really different this year....

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Atlantis | Adventurer | Submarine | Linguist | Boiler Room

Awards:

1 win & 12 nominations

Cast

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)

Also Known As:

Atlantis (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for action violence.

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital EX | SDDS | DTS-ES

Certification:

Norway:7 | Denmark:7 | Malaysia:U | South Korea:All | USA:TV-PG (cable rating) | New Zealand:PG | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Brazil:Livre | Chile:TE | Finland:K-7/5 | France:U | Germany:6 (w) | Hong Kong:I | Netherlands:AL | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/6 | Singapore:G | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:U | USA:PG (certificate #38177) | Greece:K

Company:

Toon City

Trivia:

Tommy Lee Jones, Jack Davenport, and Kurt Russell were considered for the role of Commander Rourke.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the beginning where Milo is leaving the basement to go up for his meeting, he picks up all his maps, and has them under one arm, but then when he picks up the picture of his grandfather, his hands are completely free, arms empty.

Quotes:

Audrey: [about an Atlantean] Wow. Look at all those tattoos.
Cookie: Shoot. That ain't nothin'. Look here what I got.
[lifts up shirt, grossing Audrey out]
Cookie: All 38 United States. Watch me make Rhode Island dance.
[wiggles his belly]
Cookie: Go on, baby, dance. Dance.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "House of Mouse: House of Scrooge (#3.5)" (2002)

Soundtrack:

Where the Dream Takes You

Well, I liked it!

Here's what I knew about "Atlantis" before watching it:

* - It's officially Disney's first animated sci-fi adventure. I'm not sure how accurate that is (I like to nitpick) but it made me curious first time I heard it described.

* - The preview looked, for the most part, damn cool. Evidently, it was also "too cryptic" according to some critics after the fact.

* - It apparently did SO badly that Disney said, "Screw it, let's re-release 'Spy Kids'".

So, with all that said, how is the movie?

Hella-cool.

I'm a sucker for animated fantasy that involves stirring music and rampant special effects anyway, but "Atlantis" goes all out. It's a throwback to all the CGI eye-candy shots in "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin", so much so that it's almost an effects animator's Best-Of Show. The characters maybe aren't that memorable (except, perhaps, for the ship's medical officer), and the plot's a little dull, but this isn't a movie you watch for the plot.

Here's a controversy that bothers me. The "failure" (as in, it "only" took in, like, five-hundred-million or something; I know animators who'd kill to see fifteen bucks of that) of this movie compared to the popularity of "Shrek" and "Monsters Inc." has been seen as evidence of the death of traditional animation. I don't think that's true. How do you account for the "South Park" movie? What about "Final Fantasy"? Really, the story and the artistry is everything, not the method. I don't know what Disney's comeback movie will be like, but I don't think they're out of the picture yet.