Atlantis - The Lost Empire

My Kids love this movie, so does my husband who loves scifi ,fantasy and tech. It's exciting, fun, and the male lead isn't a machisimo just a nerd with a big heart and even bigger dreams. The pg slight adult jokes go over the kids heads . The animation is fantastic for the time period it was made in, and the idea of lost civilizations having amazing tech is well thought out. It touches on colonization and other peoples way of life with out it being post 2010 PC agenda driven garage Like the blue Avatar . In fact, I'm pretty sure Peter Jackson based his movies off this one because it came out before his Avatar did.

I recently bought this to watch again after more than a decade without, and the film holds up reasonably well. I always love seeing sci-fi tech in a film set in the past, and this is no different. It reminds one of a children's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, with a more inclusive and female cast. The action keeps one engaged, even adults, and for the most part, our quirky ingenue of a protagonist is likable, relatable, and more courageous than he ever knew. I will say that the hypersexualization of the female lead, while consistent with animators at the time and other characters in this film, detracts from the film. However, I (in my white maleness) feel this doesn't negate the film's feminist credentials in that (SPOILER-ish) the women essentially save the day in the climatic battles, both past and present. My two cents. Overall, i highly recommend the film to kids, young adults, and adults with a bit of whimsy :)

Created during the Disney experimental years, this honestly needs more love. I know it's gained a lot of it in more recent years, but it could always use just that much more.If you're genuinely looking at reviews and have never seen it: Do It. It's an experience. I can't guarantee you'll like it (taste is subjective, after all), but for me it hits the right beats. The voice acting is top notch with James Garner and Michael J. Fox leading the cast, but they don't overshadow the supporting characters or the talents behind them; and the story is engaging and still holds up.

I love Atlantis! This movie is extremely underrated; out of all the Disney movies this is one of the best! Atlantis was very funny and has some very quotable lines that my family, and I still use today! The story was a great story about fight to save lives, don’t let history repeat itself, don’t be greedy, and don’t be arrogant. The action and suspense were great. I also really loved the music; what was amazing was the music in this film was good quality and heartfelt instrumental music with no singing which is very awesome! Without doubt I strongly recommend Atlantis, and rightfully say it’s extremely underrated. Have a great day and go Atlantis!

While it would be reductive to describe a movie by simply comparing it to another film, "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" closely resembles the 1994 film "Stargate" in many respects. Both involve the discovery of an alien culture with ties to our past and star a nerdy professor who joins a crack military team only to find their leader has ulterior motives and he must protect the alien culture. Unlike "Stargate," which begins in the 1920s before moving to what was then the modern day, "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" takes place in 1914 and has a steampunk aesthetic in its depiction of technology. Despite its white male protagonist (voiced by Michael J. Fox), this is one of the most diverse Disney films, with African-American, Native American, Latina, and French characters. The Atlantean world building, from technology to characters, is gorgeous and Marc Okrand created the language the characters speak (he also created Klingon for "Star Trek"). It's one of the better films from the post-Renaissance period of Disney movies.

Despite getting alot of flack from animation buffs, Disney made a genuine effort to make a musical-free adventure movie in the spirit of Raiders. Even though very influenced by the works of Jules Verne, and the art stylings of Mike Mignola(Hellboy), this steampunk film was brilliantly animated and delivers in ways that the last Indiana Jones movie didn't.Taking place in 1914, Milo Thatch is an expert in cartography, but unfortunetly stuck working in the boiler room of a history museum. After failing to convince his curators to investigate some recent findings he believes will proove the existence of the lost kingdom of Atlantis, he is luckily hired an eccentric millionaire who was an old explorer buddy of his grandfather. Milo becomes part of an excavation team going in a totally ahead of its time submarine to find Atlantis, commanded by the opportunistic Rourke. Using an ancient journal, they track their way underwater to a tunnel that is supposed to lead to their goal, but they're attacked by a giant mechanical sea monster and have to abandon their submarine into smaller mini-subs. They manage to find a series of underground caverns, which eventually leads to the actual city of Atlantis. Milo and the others are shocked to discover that there is an actual living civilization of people there who can conveniently speak English. They are turned away by the xenophobic Atlantian king, but his daughter Kida(who is Disney's finest Princess, and the first black one!)befriends the nerdy-as-hell Milo, and together they manage to decipher where the mysterious power source that supports their society, and has kept them alive for the last few millenia. However, its revealed that Rourke and most of his team were really looking for the power source too, which is a mystic floating crystal, and after taking the king hostage, they make their way to the crystal chamber. Kida becomes infused with the crystal's powers, and Rourke makes off with her, leaving the king dying of a gunshot wound. Milo gets some of the remaning crew along with the other Atlanteans to go after them with some reactivated flying machines. After a pretty intense chase scene, they catch up with Rourke and stop him. The crystal is restored, and Kida becomes the new tribal leader. Milo decides to stay behind(who wouldn't want to spend eternity with a hot bikini babe?!)while the other explorers make it back to the surface with a bunch of treasure.Atlantis was a serious step up from some of Disney's other action/adventure films. Granted, ones like Aladdin, The Black Cauldron, and Treasure Planet had decent elements of thrills & spills, but Atlantis went that extra couple of yards to make it real swashbuckling ride. There's a fine use of CGI along with traditional 2d Disney animation, although its one of the few ones they did in anamorphic widescreen which totally broadens the scope of visual experience for an underwater adventure. The movie also has one of the finest casts in a Disney film, with Michael J. Fox as Milo, James Garner as Rourke, veteran voice actress Cree Summer as Kida, Leonard Nimoy as the king, and Jim Varney in his last film role. If you passed on this film when it was in the theatres, make sure to catch it on DVD(and hopefully soon on Blu-Ray). Even though you can sorta skip on the sequal.