Rating: Summary: A Departure and a Return; I loved the movie and characters. Review: Atlantis was as much a Departure from Tradition as it was a Return. I thought this movie was great and the characters endearing. I really enjoyed it and I have watched it several times. The plot, while not complex, certainly included the diversity that makes for a good movie. It included traits of commitment, love, greed, dry humor, suspense, betrayl, conscience, redemption and reward. There are a few inconsistancies in the storyline, but overall I thought it was well done. It was a departure for Disney, in that, it was a bit more adult subject matter than child fantasy. It was more like watching an old military movie than a Disney animated project. There is the use of guns rather than jokes; explosions of TNT rather than music. For what may be the first time in Disney's "kids" movies, a large number of humans actually die. One crew member of the sub did not make it to the bulk-head door before it shut and locked to prevent flooding. In a touching moment a candle is lit and offered to the sea in a mini make-shift boat of an up-turned helmet as a memorial to the sailors that died in the battle with the "monster lobster". The animation, while being criticized by some, really looked to me as a return in style of the older Disney films. The movies like 101 Dalmations, Resucers, Fox and Hound had much the same look to its characters that this movie did. Though I did not go back and confirm this, it was something that I noticed right away and even mentioned to a friend as we sat in the theater. Disney's animators also did this in Hercules a few years back; a little nod to former artists. I loved the submarine design, the props and equipment were fitting to the time and abilities of the era. I found the characters to be entertaining. You can't help but feel sorry for Milo (Michael J. Fox); his search for respect in his career and a need to prove worthy of his late grandfather's support. You feel suspicious of Rourke and Helga immediately but hope they might just be two of the good guys. Dr. Sweet is just that, a hunky doctor that is as kind as he is large. Preston Whitmore (John Mahoney)is the quintessential eccentric old millionaire who did his best to honor a commitment to his "close friend" Milo's late Grandfather(was he perhaps more? There were some indicators. Kinsey scale 4). The others are equally quaint but it is Mrs. Packard (Florence Stanley)that just made me LAUGH OUT LOUD! Her announcement of "Whoever took the L from the Motor Pool sign, ha ha, we are all very amused"; her tone of complete disregard for the gravity of the situation during the "monster lobster" attack "commander, I think you should hear this...commander...commander"; and her ever present "We're all gonna die". There are some twists and turns and dangers that make this movie enjoyable. It's not The Little Mermaid II but it is a fun movie to watch if you want a little action, suspense, and romance - Disney Style.
Rating: Summary: Pretty Confusing at times! Review: It was a good movie. But there were a lot of things that rather irked me. I'm going to rant for a while. If you listen to the audio comentary they tell you how a lot of the things you'll see are remnants from scrapped scenes. Since we don't have any context for certain things (like that giant catterpillar thing in the caves), you end up rather frustrated when no explanation is given. Another thing was how Rourke spontaniously turns into a crystal monster at the end! I mean, not only was it unnecesary, but we didn't have any instance of that happening before in the movie. We should have at least had that. On a funnier note, if that rune on the viking shield had been misstranslated, it wouldn't have read "Coast of Ireland," but "Roast of Ireland!" (But it was still a neat little bit.) I found it more interesting before they got to Atlantis actually. Sometimes the facial animation didn't look very nice (particularly for Audry). Something that Disney seems to like to make their heros do is sweep up a kid as it runs by. have you noticed that? Milo does this in Atlantis completely out of nowhere. the kid never seems to notice or mind! Something else that Disney tend to do is make the climaxes too intense. Way too intense. Unfortunately this is a prime example. A good example of a good climax is that of Monsters Inc. I hope someone from Disney notices this review! Don't get me wrong, it's an all around okay movie. I just needed to vent some frustration. Most of the reviewers here don't seem to like the cubic sort of animation in this movie. Hey, it's a style! And I kind of like it. Thanks for your time.
Rating: Summary: Atlantis--Interesting... Review: This movie is about a linguistics expert who is disheartedly kept from his quest--to find the lost city of Atlantis... When the main character runs into an old friend of his deceased grandfather he discovers that the Shepard's Journal was already found (by his grandfather), Milo (voice of Michael J. Fox) sets out with a makeshift crew in search of Atlantis... This movie, by Disney, is not up to the flair of other Disney movies. There is very little that can be considered truly comical, but plenty of adventure and mystery to keep you on the edge of your seat. This movie serves to spark some curiousity around the possibility that the lost city might actually exist. The movie is well done, and done with such careful precision to detail what the lost city might actually look like... The movie would be better computer animated, but we'll just have to wait and see... Not too bad, but not the usual flair... A-
Rating: Summary: One of the best Disney movies ever Review: After seeing many 'behind the scenes' segements on TV, and seeing clips of the movie(and liking what i saw), I rented Atlantis, and I was not dissapointed at all. (I plan to soon buy this movie). This movie has a good plot, great, original animation, and a great soundtrack; Disney obviously put a lot of effort into this movie. I have read other reviews off Amazon, and I must admit I was extremely suprised at a review givin 2 stars. The reviewer commented on Disney's addition of unsuitable dialoge for children and other things. Even though the mocie does contain "shut up", it is a movie from which children do not learn how to say "shut up", but they learn about loyalty and courage from the actions of the humorous (yet somehow kind of realistic) characters. I recommend this movie to people of all ages, because if a child watches this movie, and is focused on the 'bad' aspects of the movie (the "shut up"'s and such) I would be extremely suprised, because I, a 14 year old, was so ingrosed into the characters and plot that I didn't even notice the "shut up"s and I'm sure the child won't either. Also, the DVD version is extremely good, because of the additional features are a) a lot of fun to go through (you can learn how to speak some Atlantian) and actualy informative in many other sections.
Rating: Summary: FUTURE CULT CLASSIC Review: Atlantis is one of those movies that you have to watch a couple of times, before you "catch on". This is the first animated film, except for maybe-THE SECRET OF NIMH, that I can watch over and over and not get bored. In fact, the movie gets better with each viewing. ATLANTIS-THE LOST EMPIRE has an excellent story with good charactor developement and excellent voice actors/actresses. This movie also has one of the best musical scores ever put into a film animated or live action. James Newton Howard should have been nominated for an oscar! The people who wrote the story for this movie borrowed some ideas from other movies and mixed them in with original ideas of their own to create an excellent storyline. Atlantis is basically a combination of these four movies: 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, STARGATE, and THE DARK CRYSTAL. The hero MILO THATCH is obviously patterned after DR. DANIEL JACKSON of STARGATE and the basic storyline of ATLANTIS parallels that of THE DARK CRYSTAL: A civilization/world is nearly destroyed by an experiment with their All-powerful life sustaining crystal. Both movies end with a scene of the landscape restored to its former glory by these all-powerful crystals. All in all this is an excellent movie ,and I have a hard time understanding why it did so badly at the box office. It's a better movie than LORD OF THE RINGS and in some ways even better than SHREK! Hopefully ,because of it's poor reception ,DISNEY will not make a sequel or TV cartoon from it. A sequel would destroy the "AURA" around this film. I predict that this movie will eventually find an audience and become a "CULT" classic. A word of advice: If you have the DVD version, put it in subtitles the first time around. It will help you keep up with some of the charactors who sometimes speak very rapidly.
Rating: Summary: I didn't expect that much anyway... Review: I felt guilty renting this movie from the get-go. When I watched it I felt quite unfulfilled. The begginning happend too fast really rushing you into the action. The plot was quite thin, and quite the head scratcher. In the audio commentary they producers said they wanted to keep everything mysterious and not give too much of the history of Atlantis away. I thought the history part would be the most interesting, a whole movie about the history would have been better. The animation was okay (yep, the block hands were really odd) and the action was pretty good. But like a lot of Disney's other stuff it was all pretty on the outside but totally empty.
Rating: Summary: Enjoyed the movie Review: I enjoyed this movie so much I purchased the DVD only to find that it won't play on my DVD player. I have returned it and had the same problem. I contacted Disney and they were supposed to send me a new one but have not recieved it. Hope to get it eventually. I didn't think this movie was a bad choice for Disney. I really enjoyed it. Thanks Disney.
Rating: Summary: Didn't they notice all thoses mistakes?? Review: When I first heard about this movie, I thought it sounded great because one of my loves is ancient civilizations and archaeology. When I saw it, however, I noticed some MAJOR story flaws, and I am sure I am not the only one. For one, the Atlanteans would've figured out their own language runes within the time they had (a couple thousand years!). And how did they lose that knowledge, anyway? Why did Kida come back and her mother didn't? Don't you think Kida would've figure out how to use that stone fish thing (again, she only had a couple thousand years)? And what about the other Atlanteans? Were they oblivious to the runes and stone fish around them?! And about the Tower of Babel thing--English, along with some of the other languages mentioned, developed from Latin, ABOVE the surface so how could they possibly know it? One of the main focuses of this movie is on fast-paced action. If there was actually a story line with the action (like in Star Wars and Indiana Jones, which this film is supposed to have been influenced by)then it would be a good movie. Well, there are a few good things about this movie. The characters are funny and interesting (although they seem rather stereo-typed at times) and the voice work is good. It seems to me like Disney is trying to appeal to the public and they are trying a LITTLE too hard...they should try to immitate past classics such as the Lion King, the Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast. Those are true gems. And, oh yeah--songs and fuzzy animals add to the magic. ;)
Rating: Summary: It's Ok Review: It doesn't shine out like some other animation films. The underlying character art comes out looking angular and blocky (triangular fingernails?) when the movie has such a watery theme that a more gracefull style might have suited it. Technically, well done, aesthetically not quite there. Cannot remember any of the music either. Still, good enough to stay in the library.
Rating: Summary: Great for adults and kids Review: Not like Lion King? Not like... Jeez if ever Disney film was like the Lion King that would get boring after awhile. This Movie and DVD is great! I could watch it with my kids over and over again. Very funny without the "bad taste" humor associated with Dreamworks animation films. This DVD does not have the extras that the [other] version has, but if you are just looking for the movie with a few extras this is the way to go! The bottom line is that this is a great family film that you will enjoy for a long time.
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