Quickie: ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE
Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)–**
Quickie Review
When it comes to an animated Diseny film, most are able to rise above the other summer movies.Atlantis barely surfaces. The movie certainly was entertaining and the premise of the film was, for the most part, above average. However, the film is drowning in boring characters with funny voices for the kids. The basic formula of a good animated movie has the hero (Milo), his love interest (Kida), the villain (Rourke) and a scene-stealer (???). The character of Mole is the obvious attempt at the scene-stealer, but beyond belching once wouldn’t get entertain anyone. I found him annoying, like most of the other bland characters.
As for the animation, Disney makes an attempt at combining traditional and computer animation for most of Atlantis. The precedent was set last summer by Titan A.E. Disney couldn’t equal it. It had plenty of chances, but most of the scenes turned out like the older (and better) films. One scene in particular resembles the lava getaway scene in Aladdin, but without the heart of a film like Aladdin, Atlantis doesn’t stand out.
Along with breaking away from tradition with the use of new animation techniques, Diseny leaves its musical past behind. Until I saw Atlantis I never realized that those musical numbers or even one song in the case of The Emperor’s New Groove added so much to the film. By the end you just hope that they’ll break into song to liven up the characters a little.
Kids will enjoy this film. The stale characters won’t matter to them, and they ignore the plot anyway. If you’re the adult who has to go with them, though, you might want to bring a book.
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