Atlantis: The Lost Empire

The idea of a Disney film about the fabled lost kingdom of Atlantis didn't exactly fill me with excitement but Disney come at it from such a great angle that it might just be the best thing they've ever done. Breaking the hoary old traditions that dragged down so many lesser projects, Disney set out to make a serious sci-fi/adventure story (their first). Sure, it has it's more fantastic elements (a mysterious power that holds the ancient kingdom of Atlantis in it's thrall) but it's presented in the context of an adventure serial - calling to mind Jules Verne, Indiana Jones and Studio Ghibli's Laputa: Castle in the Sky. And that just can't be a bad thing!

Milo Thatch (Michael J. Fox) is a young cartographer consigned to the forgotten depths of a museum. He has grand dreams of finding Atlantis but no one will take his research seriously. That is, no one except for the eccentric Preston B. Whitmore (John Mahoney), a former colleague of Milo's grandfather who gives Milo the last piece of the puzzle regarding Atlantis' whereabouts. Milo joins a ragtag group of mercenaries aboard a WWI submarine and together they seek out Atlantis, facing off against biblical monsters, dangerous fireflies and other awe-inspiring obstacles.

Some of the Disney baggage that Atlantis: The Lost Empire does well to dump are: talking animals, whimsical magic, characters who break into song, and the traditional Disney 'princess' figure. In fact, whilst the animators worked on this film they wore specially-made T-shirts with the slogan 'Atlantis - fewer songs, more explosions'. There's also a genuine attempt to make this a period film, allowing characters to smoke and portraying Imperial Britain in all it's pre-WWI glory. The characters themselves are a great bunch of sea-salt of the Earth types, and the villains are a bit outside the usual parameters as far as Disney villains go. I mean, it took me a good 45 minutes before I even realised who the 'villains' were. The script is a lot smarter and more adult than most Disney animated films, drawing on biblically-based mythology and a quest-format to create a great piece of steampunk adventure.

HIGHLIGHTS: The integration of traditional 2D animation and CGI is seamless, allowing for an unbelievably complex and impressive-looking full scale battle at the film's climax.

DIRECTORS: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
WRITER/SOURCE: Tab Murphy, with story input from David Reynolds, Joss Whedon, Gary Trousdale, Bryce Zabel, Kirk Wise and Jackie Zabel.
KEY ACTORS: Michael J. Fox, Claudia Christian, James Garner, John Mahoney, Leonard Nimoy, David Ogden Stiers, Jim Varney

RELATED TEXTS:
- Followed by a direct-to-DVD sequel, Atlantis: Milo's Return.
- The original Atlantis myth comes references made by Plato in his non-fictional works Timaeus and Critias.
- As mentioned in the review, a lot of Atlantis' tone feels like a traditional adventure serial ala the Indiana Jones films or the stories of Jules Verne.
- Disney also seem to be raising their game in response to the high-quality animated films made by Studio Ghibli in the 1980s and 1990s. The three Ghibli films that immediately come to mind as Laupta: Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke and Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.
- Atlantis has also been featured in the live-action films Journey to the Centre of the Earth (the 1959 version), Atlantis: The Lost Continent, Warlords of Atlantis and Island of the Fishmen.
- The Atlantis myth also forms the basis for the sci-fi television series Stargate: Atlantis and was featured in the Doctor Who serials The Underwater Menace and The Time Monster.