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    		•

    FILMS

    Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)
  • Starring Corey Burton, Claudia Christian, Michael J. Fox, James Garner, John Mahoney, Phil Morris, Leonard Nimoy, Don Novello, Jacqueline Obradors, Florence Stanley, David Ogden Stiers

  • Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise

    • I'm glad Disney made an animated feature that isn't a musical. While I thoroughly enjoy most of the ones they've done in the past, it was getting a little tedious. They hit rock-bottom, most notably, with Mulan—a film that could've been good but the music didn't jive with the story. Never saw Pocahontas, but heard bad things.

    (My all-time favorite Disney musical was Robinhood. That's the one where Rob is a fox and Little John is a bear and everyone uses the phrase, "Ooodalally!" which, I believe is British slang for "Indeed, I'm horribly embarrassed by this social situation.")

    The plot of Atlantis can be easily discerned from the title. A group of humans go searching for the lost city of Atlantis and, well ... funny enough, they find it! But of course, not everyone in the group is a good guy. Invariably, someone (I won't say who) wants to "harness the power of Atlantis" for his/her own greedy motive. Makes for a few fun moments.

    I must say, however, Atlantis is a very strange city. According to the animators and storyboarders, the lost city is very, very deep in the ocean. But then you come up into an underwater cave onto dry land. Then you walk into the cave and when you come out the other end, there's Atlantis. Right in front of you.

    Maybe I'm just a thickie, but this makes no sense. None whatsoever. I'm not trying to be argumentative nor am I saying this to exemplify the "over-analytical adult watching a childrens' movie." It just doesn't make sense. Even if I was a ten-year-old I'd call them on it.

    There is a serious geographical inconsistency in this film. And seeing as how finding Atlantis is all about geography, this is important. Why does the city have a sky overhead? Are they on the surface of the Earth? I thought they were deep underwater. Even if they are on dry land underwater, there shouldn't be any sky. And what about the sun? And the city surrounded by hot magma? Sure it looks cool—but it really doesn't make much sense.

    OK, so maybe I'm being a wee bit silly. Perhaps I should shrug, admit it's for kids and move on.

    Michael J. Fox does the voice of Milo, our socially retarded and bookish hero who discovers the keys to finding Atlantis. In fact, as you can see from the cast list (see above), most of the stars of Atlantis are known talents. I tend to have a problem with this sort of thing, as I have difficulty getting into the story when the voices aren't characters' voices—they're famous people. Am I the only one who gets distracted by this? I had this same problem (among others) with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. I saw the guy up on the screen, the hero, but when he spoke, Alec Baldwin's voice emerged. That didn't jive in my head. Same with this film. I see the head honcho of the Atlantean explorers but when he talks, I hear James Garner.

    Perhaps I'm being silly again. After all, they did manage to hire the beautiful Babylon 5 alumni Claudia Christian to do the voice of Helga—which I really enjoyed. (Despite the fact that I didn't notice it was Christian's voice until over half-way through the film.)

    But I'll put geography aside. I'll put voice talent aside. Was this film good? Sure. Why not? It was good. Was it predictable? Yup. In fact, incredibly so. But then, I'm not so sure that Disney movies shouldn't be predictable? Would I really have felt better if, at the end of Atlantis, the Bad Guy wins and the ancient and beautiful (if confusing) city gets destroyed? Don't I want Milo and the Princess to get together and shag each other rotten? Sure I do? So maybe Atlantis is perfect for what it is trying to be, namely, a good rewatchable kids' film with tons of opportunity for marketing movie-related toy tie-ins.

    I guess what I'm trying to say is: the ending delivers—but getting there could've been more interesting. I try and allow many of the problems of this film to slip because this is a movie designed for children and (presumably, though my wife may argue the point) I'm able to grasp storylines that are a bit more complex.

    Atlantis is simple. Not bad, just simple. Don't expect much and you won't be disappointed.