Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

This was the Biggest Mistake in the history of Disney..by that I mean, I absolutely loved it...and I believe this may be one of (if not the) Best animated movie I've ever seen.right now you are asking yourself,why was it a mistake?-------because this should've been a Live Action feature film ! !------the story is GREAT! if this had been done as a feature film instead of a cartoon, this movie would've easily gone down as one of the all time Sci-Fi/Fantasy giants,ranking right up there with the Star Wars,Jurassic Park, and Lord of the Rings films - YES, The story and concept IS really that GOOD. Unfortunately this was done as an Animated Cartoon Feature and now it will forever be type cast into the realm of Disney's Movies like Dumbo,Pinocchio, Lady and the Tramp, and Bambi and will never be taken seriously by the Sci- Fi/Fantasy realm.as I was watching it, I could already imagine Matt Damon as Milo Thatch, and maybe Drew Barrymore as Keeta..and I could imagine some top notch special effects -- but that will never happenI gave his film 10 out of 10 stars --but this story was WAAAAY to good for animation.........maybe (if we are lucky) 10 years from now Disney will remake it into a 1st class Feature film production (Why not- It'd be much better than 102 Dalmatians(2000) or The Jungle Book(1995)movies were!)

Throughout my life, I grew up watching a ton of Disney films both live action and animated and this film was to me awesome since I enjoy adventure films and I also enjoy the fact that Michael J. Fox is in this film. I know not a lot of people talk about it now a days, but I still think about it even though it's been nearly 16 years since this was released in theaters. The thing that really made me fascinated about it was seeing the trailer as a kid back in the early 2000s and the premise itself looked interesting. When I finally saw it in the theater at age 10 in 2001, I had a blast seeing it with my father, nanny (I think she went as well, but I don't recall), and my two sisters.

After the Disney Renaissance came this film, that tried to use the legend of Atlantis as a springboard for a good animated film.And while it has it's moments, I don't think it ranks in anywhere near the same league as classics like 'Snow White' or even 'Beauty and the Beast'.The voice cast all do good jobs, and there are some nice action sequences, but this is Disney painting by numbers, and trying desperately to get a hit. And it doesn't quite pan out the way they'd have liked it to.A solid, yet unspectacular film.

This film credits eight people for its screenplay and story, one of them Joss Whedon. And yeah, it shows. In the worst way possible.So what's the story? Milo Thatch is a linguist and cartographer, living in 1914, who believes he has cracked the case of Atlantis, believing the answers to its disappearance and lost location lie in an ancient Icelandic book written by a man who has lived on the island. After the university rejects his proposal for being ill-though and far too unlikely to produce results - not undeservedly so, I must admit - he is approached by a mysterious benefactor, who was a friend of his grandfather, the first Thatch to seek the lost Atlantis. All the classical elements for a great pulp adventure are here and this opening act is easily the strongest segment in the film story-wise. The characters are instantly identifiable, have great designs, the dialogues are interesting and funny, and as a whole the film evokes the feel of the era and style beautifully.The animation also has a style of its own and it is a gorgeous movie in every visual way possible. Especially the scenes in Atlantis are simply majestic, with amazing colours, designs and depth of field.But alas, the bad stuff. First of all, there are too many characters, which is the fault where I can see Whedon's influence the most. This is a cast for a TV series about the finding of Atlantis, not a cast for a movie only hour and a half long. They're all introduced properly and given good, funny characters, but then the film has to drop them to move the plot along. The expedition crew alone has nine members, including Milo. The movie needs Milo plus a crew of three plus the people in Atlantis. Milo plus a crew of two, if you want to be skimpy, but three wouldn't have felt crowded at all.The plot itself also has some minor problems, most notably a few gaping plot holes that could have been fixed without the story being in any way different. Usually I don't mind all that much, but the script draws attention to them and tries to handwave them away through some linguistic mumbo jumbo that's in no way believable. These holes don't ruin the film but they, combined with the general feel of rush caused by the cast overpopulation, make the film feel like it would have been significantly better with one more re-write or perhaps with a slightly longer running time.All in all the film is definitely worth a watch if you're a fan of Disney or pulp adventures. It has a distinct style, fun characters, phenomenal visuals and a story which, while flawed, still delivers good entertainment.