Image courtesy of wallpapercave.com
Hello, everyone. This review has been a long time coming. I had planned this since I did my Titan A.E. review last year, where for each of their respective years, I would commemorate the 20th Anniversaries of three criminally overlooked animated sci-fi movies.
Therefore, Titan A.E. was first. The subject of this review is the second, and next year will be the third. I will reveal what that one is in an upcoming review plan post, for which I hope to have sufficient enough material.
Now, I recognize that in order to keep to this plan, I had to do this one soon, even more so if I still wanted to get at least one Anniversary Review out in general for this year.
Although in my previous review, I stated that I would consider following that up with a certain other big horror sequel for this year, this one I ultimately decided should take precedence, now that I have covered at least one new release.
Unfortunately, that review, along with numerous others I had intended to do for this year (including several Anniversary Reviews*), are going to have to wait.
However, rest assured, I do plan to increase my output going forward so I can publish new reviews more consistently and as intended. I will bring this up in more detail in the post on my review plans, so keep that in mind, folks.
Before we get started, I need to provide a brief backstory for this one, since a fair amount of readers may be unfamiliar with this.
After the Disney Renaissance ended with the release of Tarzan in 1999 up until 2008 (the “Post-Renaissance Era,” if you will), the studio did not have the best track record at the box office, regardless of critical reception. Even if the reviews were decent to very positive, as they were in some cases, it was rare when the box office reflected that, the biggest example perhaps being Lilo & Stitch. Aside from that, no matter which sides critics and audiences were on, the majority of their slate during this time either underperformed or outright bombed (as was the case with next year’s movie).
In the case of this movie, it was more of a disappointment, because despite mixed reviews, it still did alright.
There is something positive that came out of this era, though. A fair amount of underrated movies were released that have drawn enough attention to gain a following.
This one is one of them.
Much like our main protagonist setting out to discover an ancient civilization believed to be lost to time, for this review, I am here to help you uncover another hidden sci-fi gem.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present my review of Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
Set in 1914, 8,000 years after the continent of Atlantis sunk (for reasons it’s best I not go into here, as they are addressed later), the story follows Milo James Thatch, a linguist and cartographer working at the Smithsonian Institution. Through the inspiration of his grandfather Thaddeus, who often spoke of finding Atlantis, Milo is determined to finish what he started.
He first discovers that a book called The Shepherd’s Journal has somehow survived, and that in order to find Atlantis, the Journal must be retrieved, as it is said to contain directions that lead right to it.
However, he meets eccentric millionaire Preston B. Whitmore, an old friend of Thaddeus who helped find the Journal. Upon giving it to him, he tells Milo that the expedition to find Atlantis has already been funded and the team is already in place, which consists of the best in their fields. Although Milo agrees to be their guide, the journey is not a smooth one, and they may discover more secrets than why it was believed to be lost.
What Worked: There is a lot to like here. Though I will start with the voice acting, there are some performances that I have to go into here, but I will try my best to not give too much away. There are a couple newer movies that just came out where that’ll be even harder, but that’s a different story for later reviews.
Our protagonist, Milo, is voiced by Michael J. Fox, who conveys his personality very well. In fact, you can feel some parallels between Milo and his iconic role as Marty McFly in Back to the Future, especially in regards to that aspect. His determination to achieving his goal is also something anyone can get behind.
In the role of the antagonist, we have Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke, voiced by acting legend James Garner. In saying he’s the antagonist, you can tell from his demeanor that his main focus is not so much the mission, but what he plans to get in return from it. Even so, it shows that he had a lot of fun playing a villain here. One reason would be because he had prior experience within the action genre, namely with war films and Westerns. Some of his dialogue even reflects that. It brings a commanding presence (no pun intended) to Rourke. Because of this, Rourke became one of Disney’s most overlooked villains.
The other main character is Kida, voiced by Cree Summer, one of two very prolific voice actors featured here. Summer technically has two roles (one of which is as Kida’s mother in the beginning of the movie), but even with the extensive list of roles she has done in her career, Kida is one that really stands out. When you also consider the fact that she once said that Kida is her favorite role she’s ever done, it’s easy to see why. She’s a compelling female character. The relationship she comes to develop with Milo is equally compelling, because she helps Milo learn more about Atlantean society beyond their language.
The same can be said for the relationship between Kida and her father, the Atlantean King. Not only does Cree Summer give a great performance as Kida, but the King is also a standout supporting character, thanks in no small part to a fantastic performance from sci-fi icon Leonard Nimoy. One particular scene with him carries some emotional weight, and it is one of several scenes that leave an impact.
It’s also worth noting that aside from him and the fact that Rourke shares his middle name with Captain Kirk, there is another significant Star Trek connection, but I’ll get to that when I talk about the technical aspects.
Before I go into that, there is something that goes hand in hand with both the acting and said technical aspects here.
Much like other Disney movies, this one also has its fair share of humor. A lot of it comes from the team, particularly the characters of demolitions expert Vinny (voiced by Saturday Night Live alum Don Novello) and geologist Mole (voiced by Corey Burton, the other well known voice actor I was alluding to). With Vinny, all of his dialogue was improvised, which was something Don Novello was known for.
While other team members like medic Dr. Joshua Sweet (voiced by Phil Morris) and chef Cookie (voiced by the late Jim Varney, who you may also remember as the original voice of Slinky from the first two Toy Story movies) get some funny lines, Mole was the funniest character in the movie for me.
The main reason why the humor works so well here is because of the solid writing. Despite only receiving a story credit, unlike Titan A.E., where he cowrote it, there are still moments where it does feel like Joss Whedon’s style. One thing that definitely has that is how the characters are so well developed to where even their own backstories are interesting, something that would later be done to perfection when he first assembled The Avengers.
The humor also comes in at the right times. It never feels out of place. It’s used whenever the characters have a moment of downtime, which allows for them to be further developed.
When the action does kick in, it’s very tense and occasionally pretty dark. It goes right into it by opening with the downfall of Atlantis.
Both of these aspects are a huge benefit to the pacing. For 95 minutes, it goes by really fast. For evidence of that, the first big action sequence involving the creature known as the Leviathan, which one might expect to come in the middle, starts just 20 minutes in.
It’s scenes like that and the finale where the score from James Newton Howard, who had scored Dinosaur and Unbreakable the previous year, really shines**. He would go on to score next year’s underrated sci-fi gem, as well as one of the best films of 2021 in Raya and the Last Dragon.
The most notable aspect of this movie is what led to this movie rightfully earning its following, and that is the art style, especially the character design. This is because a very prominent artist in the world of comics worked on this: Mike Mignola, best known as the creator of Hellboy. In fact, as a result of his art style being used, you kind of also get a sense of the creative visions of Guillermo Del Toro in this. Even some of the symbols and inscriptions you see here somewhat convey that vibe as well, as well as those you may occasionally see in Star Trek.
The Star Trek connection is much more apparent due to having Marc Okrand, himself a linguist, create the Atlantean language here after having had sci-fi experience working on Star Trek, which also happened to have a similar central theme of exploration on top of that.
What Didn’t Work: The issues I have are more like small nitpicks, because they didn’t stick out to where they took me out of the movie.
From a narrative perspective, the plot is not wholly original, as there are parallels to other movies here, one being that major plot points are somewhat predictable as well.
The reason why I didn’t mention certain characters earlier, like Whitmore (voiced by John Mahoney, who previously voiced the General in The Iron Giant) and Packard, for example, is because they aren’t in the movie that much. Therefore, in that regard, it does feel slightly rushed, namely with Packard. One scene involves her talking with someone, although it is used for a humorous moment, but it’s not really followed up on after that.
While I do get that this was probably not featured for runtime purposes, I feel this movie could’ve used a brief epilogue of sorts with text beside character photos to more fully realize their backstories. It could’ve worked really well as Mýa’s “Where the Dream Takes You” gradually plays over the credits. Then again, this isn’t exactly historically accurate, so there is that.
As it is, the ending itself is satisfying enough on its own and what we do get of the characters’ backstories is sufficient enough to where I can forgive that when everything else around it is so good.
Overall: Atlantis: The Lost Empire is another Disney movie that should get way more attention than it initially received at the time, and it rightfully has at least started to, having begun to develop a following of its own in recent years. As mentioned in the intro, the 2000s had no shortage of that for them.
With great performances (especially from the likes of Michael J. Fox, James Garner, and Cree Summer), fantastic action sequences, perfect pacing, another excellent score from James Newton Howard, solid writing and humor, and the distinctive art style of Mike Mignola, this is one that should not be missed.
Despite some familiar plot elements from other movies and some predictable moments, this actually does them better than some of those other movies by providing a different take on them.
For fans of sci-fi and/or action adventure films, this is one that you should absolutely check out if you haven’t already, even more so for fans of Mike Mignola and his work.
This is a journey well worth taking.
To close out this review, there is one more thing that needs to be said. Given Disney’s slate of remakes as of late, this should be one that everyone would welcome a remake for, rather than another classic held to higher standards.
If it were to happen someday, and hopefully it will, in the event that the studio plays their cards right, audiences very well might just turn up for it. It could even lead to more people discovering the original.
There are two ways to do a remake that they would be interested in. The first way is to choose a movie where enough time has passed since the release of the original to where audiences might actually want to see it.
The second way is to choose a movie that not as many people talk about, yet more people should be talking about.
Either way, what’s most important is that it’s done right.
This is one example of a Disney remake that I would love to see, for it could be very cool to see in live-action to take that journey all over again.
*There were a couple of said Anniversary Reviews in particular that I had really wanted to do because one would be for another one of my favorite movies.
**It also is another example of a movie where the score can stand out after having had a couple tracks used in the trailer.