Atlantis: The Lost Empire | | Cast : | Michael J. Fox, Jim Varney | | Director : | Kirk Wise, Gary Trousdale | | Studio : | Disney Studios | | Format : | Color, Animated, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound | | Released Date : | June 15, 2001 | | DVD Released Date : | January 29, 2002 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 31, 2005 | | Summary | Great View; Excellent story | Content
 | I thoroughly enjoyed the visuals and the plot. At points the old mentor guiding Milo reminded me of so many other characters in films I have seen in the last 5 years. The crew that journey with Milo could not have more intriguingly designed; they are a wonderful bunch of characters that provide the most superb reparte and basic jokes.
Obviously it is not meant to be some sort of Alice Bailey style exposition of "The Real Atlantis" otherwise we would be looking at a History channel DVD and not a Disney show.
The fun is great, it is straightforward, and even the hint of romance with Milo and the Atlantean Princess is beautifully done.
The denouement is superb as always.
And, if you can find the DVD, get ATLANTIS:MILO'S RETURN, it is a fitting sequel, and a work that is lovingly crafted. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 29, 2005 | | Summary | Discover Atlantis! | Content
| For Disney's 40th full-length animated feature, they decided to break from tradition. Instead of going straight through Disneyland's Castle into "Fantasyland", they took a left turn into "Adventureland". They have left the soft and fluffy fairy tales for a quest worthy of Jules Verne. In fact, ATLANTIS is closer to Verne then Disney's own "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". The creators' aim was to re-create the adventure films of their youth, such as JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, ISLAND AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD and the films of Ray Harryhausen. Within that lies the films biggest problem. Those films are not great films. They pleased mostly a young male audience and the same will happen with ATLANTIS. Although ATLANTIS is arguably a better film then those.
Young linguist/museum employee Milo (Michael J Fox) is thrust to lead a "Dirty Dozen-esque" crew to find the lost continent of Atlantis. When they arrive there, they find a civilization clinging to life through a special life-giving crystal. Unfortunately, not all of the people on the expedition respect the Atlanteans need for the crystal. The final result is a beautiful widescreen rebirth of the civilization.
The expedition team is made up of some great character work. Among them is the late Jim Varney (ERNEST GOES TO SCHOOL, CAMP, COLLEGE and wherever else they'll have him.) as Cookie the chef. Florence Stanley as a monotone executive assistant offers great laughs. But my hat is off to Don "Father Guido Sarducci" Novello providing the voice for the explosives expert, Vinny. His verbal riffs and the wonderful character animation had me in stitches. Most of the character designs have more in common with comic book and graphic novels then prior Disney animations. And that is only appropriate.
The Collectors Edition DVD is an amazing collection with hours upon hours of extreme information. But, if you have several of these collectors' editions, much of the learning is reminiscent of those. The sound and animation are wonderful... Enjoy ATLANTIS as it is an extremely unique film from the Disney organization.
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| Rating | | | Date | July 13, 2005 | | Summary | A beautifully animated and classic tale by Disney | Content
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I'm not sure how this plot could confuse anyone. In essence it's about a man named Milo who is searching for Atlantis using this myustical journal and a mysterious crew. The animation is stunning, the characters are funny and their interaction is nicely worked. Good for kids, but understood by adults. A very well made Disney movie as always and I would highly recommend it. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 17, 2005 | | Summary | Too much Disney. Not enough depth. | Content
| Beautiful movie, great special effects, excellent voice talents, but weak execution. Atlantis is another one of those movies with a great amount of potential, but just sits there without really pushing the boundaries beyond your standard Disney mold. It isn't necessarily a bad movie, but it's shortcomings definitely short out what virtues it has.
There's nothing really special about the story. It seems to take ideas from other movies like Stargate, Nauiscaa, and a few others. The problem is it doesn't establish itself as anything. Is tries to fit in all these different elements such as adventure, exploration, mysticism, steampunk, action, romance, but it never accomplishes fully any of them. Part of the problem I think is the compulsion to add all those Disney-esque elements like the need for funny, one-dimensional characters and stereotypical conflicts. Story-wise nothing stands out.
Though the story is jumbled and non-inspiring other aspects of the movie are truly impressive. The visuals are dynamic and have a wonderful blend of CG and cel animation. The landscape is breathtaking and Atlantis itself is beautiful and well designed. Also the voice acting is bar-none.
To me, Atlantis didn't accomplish what it set out to do. It put too much on its plate and couldn't excel beyond average, in spite of the fact that "technically" everything seemed perfect. Still many of you might enjoy it in spite of the shortcomings and the kids will likely not care about the complexities of the script. Take this review for what it is. I wasn't impressed, but some of you might really like it. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 10, 2005 | | Summary | Cool movie. | Content
| I like this movie a lot. It's a lot of fun to watch. It's about a person (Milo Thatch) who wants to find Atlantis. I liked this movie. |
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