Well everyone, I've made it. I wish I finished it than sooner than the night before I go back to college for the beginning of the new semester, but it's done. So behold; Disney review #51 and my 200th review: Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
Plot: Thousands of years ago, there was a mighty island called Atlantis that was suddenly struck by great wave and sank beneath the sea. The movie then moves to the year 1914 in Washington D.C. where a cartographer and linguist who works in the boiler room of the Smithsonian Institution keeps attempting the board to give him funding to start an expedition to find the Shepard's Journal - the guide to Atlantis - and to use it to find it. The board shuts him down believing that he's only chasing fairly tales. But later that night, Milo finds a woman named Helga Sinclair who takes him to her employer named Preston Whitmore. Whitmore turns out to be a friend of Milo's grandfather who was also searching for Atlantis before he died, and gives him a package that was from his grandfather that is revealed to be the Shepard's Journal. Whitmore reveals that he had already funded an expedition to find the journal with Milo's grandfather and he asks Milo to me the translator for the journal as he starts the expedition to find Atlantis.
Now I actually loved this movie to death as a kid. I might've loved it a little too much I have to admit. Watching it again, it's definitely not as good as I thought it was. It's still good, but I do see one or two points on how it's bad. Some of the dialogue doesn't make much sense, the general concept of the story is not very original, there were a couple of plot holes and it's most likely a little too violent to actually be a Disney animated film. But I still like it. I mean the action is cool, some of the stuff about Atlantis and it's culture is clever, and I though the Ulysses submarine and the Leviathan both just looked really sweet. And you can at least like it for some of the stars in the movie with Michael J. Fox, Leonard Nimoy and this is actually one of the very last films of Jim Varney.
Characters:
Milo Thatch: Milo was always my favorite. I admit growing up that his dialogue goes a little to fast so you can't always tell what he's doing. But I love him anyway because how the turns out to be the total hero of the day.
Lyle Rorke: Now he was not the most original villain ever, but you have to admit *WARNING SPOILER* that his death in the movie was pretty cool.
Kida: Well she definitely wasn't the most attractive of the Disney Princesses, but she definitely not the worst. I mean she was smart, skilled and did have a thirst for knowledge. I don't see at least that much character development in Aurora or Snow White.
Packer, Vinny, Mole, Sweet and Audrey (the side characters): They're pretty good side characters. some of them are pretty funny and even then, you have to enjoy the scene where they're all talking about their different lives.
Music: The musical score to me is very good. as far as other songs...well there's that one song that they play during the end credits. I finally decided to listen to that when the movie was over and...it's okay. Nothing original but it was alright.
And that's my review for Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It's not the best movie, but I love it anyway. And so that's my 200th review and that concludes my marathon of reviewing all 51 theatrical animated Disney films. I'm glad to have finally done it and I hope I can put my full knowledge of Disney to good use for whatever future movies they will make. Until then, here's to another 100 reviews, and I hope to make another post containing the links to all of the 51 reviews of Disney. Thank you for reading.
I agree that Atlantis: The Lost Empire was a little too violent to be a Disney movie. However, did you ever see a 20th Century Fox cartoon by the name of Titan A.E. That came out just the year before and was Don Bluth's last animated film to be made. Anyway, if you haven't seen it yet, definitely do so when you get the chance. Chances are you would find that that movie was probably way too violent to be a cartoon period. My friend Keith even said that it should've been rated PG-13 and I tend to agree. Anyway, that's my opinion. Let me know what you think regarding that.
ReplyDeleteYes i've seen that movie and you're absolutely right. It is more violent then Atlantis easily by the blood alone.
DeleteWell, I'm glad you agree as wel then. By the way, have you posted a review for Titan A.E. yet or do you have yet to do that one as well?
DeleteI've yet to do that. little trouble getting the dvd for it at the moment.
DeleteNo worries.
Deleteactually i just found out that i can see it on netflix so i might take a look at it soon.
DeleteCool, sounds good then. I look forward to seeing the review when you watch the movie and post the review soon then.
DeleteHey, by the way, I also wanted to ask you, did you think Atlantis: The Lost Empire had some similarities with say Aladdin or something like that?
ReplyDeleteNot quite. How do you figure?
DeleteWell, before I tell my reasons for this, I will say that this would probably make a good compare/contrast essay if one was to written up between these movies. Well, anyway, here's how I thought both movies had similarities to each other. (1) Obviously, there was a kingdom in both movies at some point in time. (2) Both princesses ended up marrying someone who wasn't even a prince. (3) Both rulers of the kingdom came to like the person that the princesses were soon to marry (though sadly the one in Atlantis ended up dying shortly afterwards). (4) Both villains, despite only one of them being a sorceror and the other not so much, were obsessed with claiming a certain possession (in Jafar's case the magic lamp and in Rourke's case the crystal (a.k.a the Heart of Atlantis)) and succeeded in obtaining it at least until they were defeated. (5) Both villains also had a sidekick (or sidekicks) who, whether it be in the first movie or a sequel, ended up betraying him (although in Rourke's case, all of them betrayed him except for Helga and the guys with breathing masks (although Helga obviously kind of did after Rourke turned his back on her during the fight with Thatch and the Atlanteans since she shot the hot air balloon shortly after he betrayed her)). (6) Finally, both of the main characters, and any friends accompanying him, had to escape from an erupting volcano at some point as well. Anyway, that's how I thought they had similarities to each other. If you agree with any of this, fine. But if not, that's fine too.
ReplyDeleteHuh. That's interesting. I mean those similarities aren't exactly big in the sense that they were the exact story or structure or whatever, but yeah, I'd say those are some good similarities.
DeleteWell, I'm glad you kind of agree with what I said about this as well then. Just out of curiosity, did you ever see the Aladdin sequels The Return Of Jafar and Aladdin And The King of Thieves?
ReplyDeleteAlso, did you see the Atlantis sequel Atlantis 2: Milo's Return?
ReplyDeleteYes I have seen them. I owned all three of them. btw. I have written my review for Titan A.E. So it's there if you want to see it.
DeleteYes, I just saw it and I must say that I agree with your review 100% from the lack of character development part to it being way too violent to be a cartoon, etc. You know, it's interesting, but I was watching some videos on YouTube where reviewer known as an animated heroine was doing a thing called Reel vs. Reel. She's done different episodes whether it be Tangled vs. Princess And The Frog, Madagascar vs. The Wild, Ratatouille vs. Flushed Away, etc. Anyway, she did an episode where she did Titan A.E. vs. Treasure Planet. In this one, she said she noticed that they had a lot more in common than one might think. Just out of curiosity, would you agree or disagree with this? Thank you very much for posting the Titan A.E. review by the way.
DeleteNo prob and yeah I can see the resemblance. Of coarse either way, the main things is that Treasure Planet was actually good.
DeleteYes, I agree. I actually got to watch Treasure Planet with a friend of mine and his family last night for the first time in quite a while. Yes, it was a great movie and I forgot how good it actually was. Anyway.
ReplyDeleteagreed.
DeleteYes, I agree that you have to enjoy the scene where the supporting characters are talking about their different lives. You know what's interesting though? I was watching a video where a guy named DJ Ilneige was reviewing and said that that scene kind of bugs him evidently because, well, they're summing up their lives in about 5 min. and because the makers waited until after the attack with the Leviathan to have some of those characters developed. He even said, and I quote, "take it from The Lord of the Rings. On an adventure like this, you take some time to develop the characters have them get to know each other, them you send in the cave troll." He showed the scene where the big monster with the club attacks them when he said "cave troll." Normally, I would agree with him, but I disagree in this case since it likely had to happen this way in Atlantis: The Lost Empire. By the way, while I'm commenting for hopefully the last time on this review, I thought I'd let you know that I got to watch Atlantis for the first time in quite a while with a friend and his family about a month ago. Anyway, remember how I pointed out that I noticed those minor similarites between Atlantis and Aladdin? Well, after my friend Ian, his parents, and I finished watching it, he pointed out another similarity as far Rourke and Jafar go. That being that they turned into something monstrous at the end (the only different being that Jafar's transformation was by choice while Rourke's was by force). I also failed to mention differences with the similarities, but I'm sure you know what some of the differences were when I brought them up. Anyway.
ReplyDeleteWell, if you don't mind, I may add a couple other flaws that this movie has. Those being that the characters aren't as developed as they could've been and the movie probably might have too many supporting characters. But it definitely makes up for it with the comedy, the action, and the story to an extent as well. Oh, and did you know that this Disney film, along with Tarzan and Treasure Planet used an animation style called Deep Canvas? If you're curious to know what that is, feel free to ask.
ReplyDelete