Rating: 
Summary: Boring much?
Review: I'm sorry, but if I had to choose one particular Disney film that really lost its audience, this would be it. Aimed at the teenage male crowd (me), it did not hit its mark. Atlantis drags on far too long for the story, and it seems that some of the scenes, like when the side characters share their personal stories, could have been left out for brevity. While it is creatively quite interesting and has really cool dvd menus, the film lacks any of the sparkle that makes other disney films attractive. It also utilizes a smattering of foolish and simple humor to try and win over the audience, but fails yet again.
I hate to do this, but it is a rental, at best.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Movie - up to a point
Review: This is one of those movies made during Disney's 'can't-quite-do-anything-right' period which unfortunately exists up to and including the current Home on the Range. Another excellent example of film making via a focus group to end up with a beautifully rendered piece of cods-wallop.
The animation - both traditional and, in the case of the numerous vehicles and special effects - CGI - is wonderful and deserves to be placed high on the Disney-o-meter. The design, based on the works of some comic-book guy who does Hell-Boy (forgive my lack of research!) is as striking and refreshingly different as that of Gerald Scarfe's for Hercules. The characters are, for the most part, free from Disney's seeming need these days to create one-dimentional marketing opportunities instead of well-rounded and fully-developed Characters (spelt with a capital 'C'). The vocal cast are uniformly excellent. And the film is fantastic ... for the first 45 minutes.
The plot's problems, rather perversely, begin once the characters reach the titular city. From then on in it's a load of old new-age boulder-dash based around energy crystals, life-forces and all of that guff. The stronger characters estabished in the first half are relegated to the side-lines and the the rest of the film leads up to a rather poor ending that leaves one quite unsatisfied.
The extras on this collector's edition double-discer are among the best that Disney has produced (and definately are the best up to that point). The menus are well themed and exciting to deal with (as well as wittily starting out as a cod promotional film on the expedition) and the documentaries range from the kid-friendly 'How To Speak Atlantean' to the fascinating 'Making Of's' including a wonderful look at the voice artist's contributions (always a favourite of mine). There is also a fully-animated alternate opening scene which was replaced at the eleventh hour and, sorry guys, you chose to go with the wrong one! The extras can be trawled through one by one or there is a tour feature for the lazy-of-thumb.
On the whole this is a DVD worth buying - just switch the feature off once they get to their destination!
Rating: 
Summary: A New Age Adventure
Review: Atlantis: The Lost Empire has the most mesmerizing, clear, crisp, animation since Fantasia. The music is also exceptional - I am going to purchase the soundtrack. The story is inventive and original, capitalizing on the intriguing mystery of the lost city of Atlantis. Michael J. Fox is wonderful as Milo, the unrecognized and unappreciated geek archaelogist who spends his time researching Atlantis and fixing the New York Museum of Natural History's cantankerous boiler in the basement. His life takes a turn when a beautiful woman (voiced by the woman who did the Fairy Godmother's voice in Shrek 2) takes him to a reclusive millionaire who is willing to fund an expedition to search for the legendary city. Other great voice talent brings the characters to life: Cree Summer as the beautiful Princess Kida, Leonard Nimoy as the King of Atlantis, the late Jim Varney as Cookie, and James Garner as the military leader of the expedition. The movie's creators brought in a linguist who had worked on the Star Trek movies to create an Atlantean language. The very last scene made me cry. Grab your crystal and some popcorn. The movie is at once dreamy and inspirational, and highly recommended.
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