Atlantis: The Lost Empire
Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 American animated science fiction action-adventure film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise and produced by Don Hahn, from a screenplay by Tab Murphy, and a story by Murphy, Wise, Trousdale, Joss Whedon, and the writing team of Bryce Zabel and Jackie Zabel. The film features an ensemble voice cast that includes Michael J. Fox, Cree Summer, James Garner, Leonard Nimoy, Don Novello, Phil Morris, Claudia Christian, Jacqueline Obradors, Jim Varney, Florence Stanley, John Mahoney, David Ogden Stiers, and Corey Burton. The film is set in 1914 and tells the story of young linguist Milo Thatch, who gains possession of a sacred book, which he believes will guide him and a crew of mercenaries to the lost city of Atlantis.
Not to be confused with Atlantis, the Lost Continent.Atlantis: The Lost Empire
- Kirk Wise
- Gary Trousdale
- Joss Whedon
- Bryce Zabel
- Jackie Zabel
- Tab Murphy
Ellen Keneshea
- June 3, 2001 (El Capitan Theatre)
- June 15, 2001 (United States)[1]
96 minutes[2]
United States
English
$186.1 million[4]
Development of the film began after production had finished on The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Instead of another musical, directors Trousdale and Wise, producer Hahn, and screenwriter Murphy decided to do an adventure film inspired by the works of Jules Verne. Atlantis: The Lost Empire was notable for adopting the distinctive visual style of comic book artist Mike Mignola, one of the film's production designers. The film made greater use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) than any of Disney's previous traditionally animated features and remains one of the few to have been shot in anamorphic format. Linguist Marc Okrand constructed an Atlantean language specifically for use in the film. James Newton Howard provided the film's musical score. The film was released at a time when audience interest in animated films was shifting away from hand-drawn animation toward films with full CGI.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on June 3, 2001, and went into its general release on June 15. The film received mixed reviews from critics. Budgeted at around $90–120 million, Atlantis grossed over $186 million worldwide, $84 million of which was earned in North America; its lackluster box office response was identified as a result of being released in competition with Shrek and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. As a result of the film's underperformance, Disney cancelled a planned spin-off animated television series Team Atlantis, an underwater Disneyland attraction, and a volcanic Magic Kingdom attraction based on it. Atlantis was nominated for several awards, including seven Annie Awards, and won Best Sound Editing at the 2002 Golden Reel Awards. The film was released on VHS and DVD on January 29, 2002, and on Blu-ray on June 11, 2013. Despite its initial reception, re-evaluation in later years has resulted in Atlantis gaining a cult following[5] and reappraisal from critics as a mistreated classic, due in part to Mignola's unique artistic influence.[6][7] A direct-to-video sequel, Atlantis: Milo's Return, was released in 2003.
Plot[edit]
In 6,800 BC, a giant explosion sends a megatsunami toward the city of Atlantis. Leaving behind her husband, the King, and their young daughter, Princess Kida, the Queen of Atlantis merges with a floating crystal, creating a protective dome over the city's innermost district, as the tsunami sinks the continent and city beneath the waves.
In 1914, archaeologist Milo Thatch fully believes in the existence of Atlantis and is determined to have the Smithsonian Institution fund an expedition to discover it. One day, he meets eccentric millionaire Preston B. Whitmore, an old friend of Milo's late grandfather, Thaddeus. Whitmore reveals that he made a bet with Thaddeus to fund an expedition to Atlantis. Whitmore persuades Milo to join the expedition and gives him the Shepherd's Journal, a book describing the history and path to Atlantis. The expedition is headed by Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke. The crew includes Lieutenant Helga Sinclair, Rourke's German-born second-in-command and lieutenant (who had introduced Milo to Whitmore); Vinny Santorini, a demolitions expert; Mole Molière, a geologist; Dr. Joshua Sweet, a medical officer; Audrey Ramirez, a mechanic; Mrs. Wilhelmina Packard, a radio operator; Cookie Farnsworth, a mess cook; and dozens of soldiers and sailors. Their submarine, the Ulysses, is attacked and destroyed by a mechanical leviathan guarding the entrance to Atlantis. Following the journal, the crew travels through a dormant volcano and eventually arrive at Atlantis, where they are greeted by Kida, who appears to be a young adult.
Disregarding her father's wishes, Kida enlists Milo to help Atlantis recover its history, as its culture and knowledge have been decaying for centuries. Milo learns that a huge crystal, the Heart of Atlantis, gives the people longevity, and once powered their machines via smaller crystals they wear. He also discovers that Rourke plans to steal the Heart and sell it. Rourke does not care that his theft of the Heart would kill the inhabitants of Atlantis. When the king refuses to reveal the Heart's location, Rourke wounds him. Rourke eventually finds the Heart himself. Kida merges with the crystal. Rourke locks the crystal in a crate and prepares to leave. Milo convinces Vinny, Audrey, Molière, Packard, Sweet, and Cookie to turn on Rourke, unwilling to be responsible for the Atlanteans' extinction. Rourke, Helga, and the soldiers start for the surface with Kida, and destroy the bridge to trap the others behind. The dying King gives Milo his own crystal, explaining that he tried weaponizing the Heart, which caused the prior explosion and the Queen's fate. He says the Heart selects a royal host when the city is in danger, and begs Milo to save Atlantis and Kida, who will be lost to the Heart forever if not separated from it soon.
Milo and his friends rally the Atlanteans to reactivate their flying machines and pursue the mercenaries; they defeat Rourke's soldiers. Rourke and Helga try escaping with the crystal; however, Rourke betrays Helga and throws her off his airship, which contains the crate. As revenge, Helga shoots and damages the airship. While the airship burns, Milo slashes Rourke with a crystal-charged shard of glass, turning Rourke into a crystal monster; Rourke is then fatally shattered by the ship's propellers. The airship awakens the volcano as it crash-lands. Milo and the rest flee back to Atlantis with Kida, who, still merged with the Heart, rises into the sky and awakens ancient Stone Guardians, who create a dome to protect Atlantis from the lava flow. Once the danger is neutralized, the Heart returns Kida, alive, to Milo.
Milo decides to stay in Atlantis with Kida, whom he has fallen in love with. The crew returns to the surface, each gifted with a small Atlantean crystal and a portion of treasure. While reviewing photographs of the adventure taken by Mrs. Packard, Whitmore agrees to the crew's swear to secrecy to preserve Atlantis' safety. Whitmore also receives his own Atlantean crystal enclosed in a note from Milo. Meanwhile, back at Atlantis, Milo and Kida (who becomes the new Queen) orbited a carved stone effigy of Kida's late father, along with those of other past Kings, around the Heart of Atlantis as it once again hovers above the newly restored city.
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Before the film's release, reporters speculated that it would have a difficult run due to competition from Shrek and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. Regarding the market's shift from traditional animation and competition with CGI films, Kirk Wise said, "Any traditional animator, including myself, can't help but feel a twinge. I think it always comes down to story and character, and one form won't replace the other. Just like photography didn't replace painting. But maybe I'm blind to it."[61] Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly noted that CGI films (such as Shrek) were more likely to attract the teenage demographic typically not interested in animation, and called Atlantis a "marketing and creative gamble".[77]
With a budget of $100 million,[3] the film opened at #2 on its debut weekend, behind Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, earning $20.3 million in 3,011 theaters.[78] During its second weekend, it would drop into fourth place behind the latter film, Dr. Dolittle 2 and The Fast and the Furious, making $13.2 million.[79] The film's international release began September 20 in Australia and other markets followed suit.[80] During its 25-week theatrical run, Atlantis: The Lost Empire grossed over $186 million worldwide ($84 million from the United States and Canada).[4] Responding to its disappointing box-office performance, Thomas Schumacher, then-president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, said, "It seemed like a good idea at the time to not do a sweet fairy tale, but we missed."[81]
Critical response[edit]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 49% of 144 professional critics have given Atlantis: The Lost Empire a positive review; the average rating is 5.5/10. The site's consensus is: "Atlantis provides a fast-paced spectacle, but stints on such things as character development and a coherent plot".[82] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 52 out of 100 based on 29 reviews from mainstream critics; this was considered "mixed or average reviews".[83] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[84]
While critics had mixed reactions to the film in general, some praised it for its visuals, action-adventure elements, and attempt to appeal to an older audience. Roger Ebert gave Atlantis three-and-a-half stars out of four. He praised the animation's "clean bright visual look" and the "classic energy of the comic book style", crediting this to the work of Mike Mignola. Ebert gave particular praise to the story and the final battle scene and wrote, "The story of Atlantis is rousing in an old pulp science fiction sort of way, but the climactic scene transcends the rest, and stands by itself as one of the great animated action sequences."[85] In The New York Times, Elvis Mitchell gave high praise to the film, calling it "a monumental treat", and stated, "Atlantis is also one of the most eye-catching Disney cartoons since Uncle Walt institutionalized the four-fingered glove."[86] Internet film critic James Berardinelli wrote a positive review of the film, giving it three out of four stars. He wrote, "On the whole, Atlantis offers 90 minutes of solid entertainment, once again proving that while Disney may be clueless when it comes to producing good live-action movies, they are exactly the opposite when it comes to their animated division."[87] Wesley Morris of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote positively of the film's approach for an older audience: "But just beneath the surface, Atlantis brims with adult possibility."[88]
Other critics felt that the film was mediocre in regards to its story and characters, and that it failed to deliver as a non-musical to Disney's traditional audience. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C+ rating, writing that the film had "gee-whiz formulaic character" and was "the essence of craft without dream".[89] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said the storyline and characterizations were "old-fashioned" and the film had the retrograde look of a Saturday-morning cartoon, but these deficiencies were offset by its "brisk action" and frantic pace.[90] Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "Disney pushes into all-talking, no-singing, no-dancing and, in the end, no-fun animated territory."[91] Stephanie Zacharek of Salon wrote of Disney's attempt to make the film for an adult audience, "The big problem with Disney's latest animated feature, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, is that it doesn't seem geared to kids at all: It's so adult that it's massively boring."[92] Rita Kempley of The Washington Post panned the film, calling it a "new-fashioned but old-fangled hash" and wrote, "Ironically Disney had hoped to update its image with this mildly diverting adventure, yet the picture hasn't really broken away from the tried-and-true format spoofed in the far superior Shrek."[93]
In 2015, Katharine Trendacosta at io9 reviewed the film and called it a "Beautiful Gem of a Movie That Deserved Better Than It Got" and said that the film deserves more love than it ended up getting.[6] Lindsay Teal considers "Atlantis" to be "a lost Disney classic". Describing the film as highly entertaining, she praises the writing and characterisation – in particular, Sweet, Helga and Kida.[7] In particular, much praise has been given to the character of Kida.[94] Summer has regarded the character of Kida as one of her favourite roles and even considers the character among the official Disney Princess line-up.
Themes and interpretations[edit]
Several critics and scholars have noted that Atlantis plays strongly on themes of anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism. M. Keith Booker, academic and author of studies about the implicit messages conveyed by media, views the character of Rourke as being motivated by "capitalist greed" when he pursues "his own financial gain" in spite of the knowledge that "his theft [of the crystal] will lead to the destruction of [Atlantis]".[95] Religion journalist Mark Pinsky, in his exploration of moral and spiritual themes in popular Disney films, says that "it is impossible to read the movie ... any other way" than as "a devastating, unrelenting attack on capitalism and American imperialism".[96] Max Messier of FilmCritic.com observes, "Disney even manages to lambast the capitalist lifestyle of the adventurers intent on uncovering the lost city. Damn the imperialists!"[97] According to Booker, the film also "delivers a rather segregationist moral" by concluding with the discovery of the Atlanteans kept secret from other surface-dwellers in order to maintain a separation between the two highly divergent cultures.[98] Others saw Atlantis as an interesting look at utopian philosophy of the sort found in classic works of science fiction by H. G. Wells and Jules Verne.[99]
Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water controversy[edit]
When the film was released, some viewers noticed that Atlantis: The Lost Empire was similar to the 1990-91 anime Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, particularly in its character design, setting, and story.[100] The similarities, as noted by viewers in both Japan and America, were strong enough for its production company Gainax to be called to sue for plagiarism. According to Gainax member Yasuhiro Takeda, they only refrained from doing so because the decision belonged to parent companies NHK and Toho.[101] Another Gainax worker, Hiroyuki Yamaga, was quoted in an interview in 2000 as saying: "We actually tried to get NHK to pick a fight with Disney, but even the National Television Network of Japan didn't dare to mess with Disney and their lawyers. [...] We actually did say that but we wouldn't actually take them to court. We would be so terrified about what they would do to them in return that we wouldn't dare."[101]
Although Disney never responded formally to those claims, co-director Kirk Wise posted on a Disney animation newsgroup in May 2001, "Never heard of Nadia till it was mentioned in this [newsgroup]. Long after we'd finished production, I might add." He claimed both Atlantis and Nadia were inspired, in part, by the 1870 Jules Verne novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.[102] However, speaking about the clarification, Lee Zion from Anime News Network wrote, "There are too many similarities not connected with 20,000 Leagues for the whole thing to be coincidence."[103] As such, the whole affair ultimately entered popular culture as a convincing case of plagiarism.[104][105][106] In 2018, Reuben Baron from Comic Book Resources added to Zion's comment stating, "Verne didn't specifically imagine magic crystal-based technology, something featured in both the Disney movie and the too similar anime. The Verne inspiration also doesn't explain the designs being suspiciously similar to Nadia's."[106]
Critics also saw parallels with the 1986 film Laputa: Castle in the Sky from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli (which also featured magic crystals, and Atlantis directors Trousdale and Wise both acknowledged Miyazaki's works as a major influence on their own work)[100] and with the 1994 film Stargate as Milo's characteristics were said to resemble those of Daniel Jackson, the protagonist of Stargate and its spinoff television series Stargate SG-1 — which coincidentally launched its own spinoff, titled Stargate Atlantis; the plot of the 1994 film is also paralleled involving a group visiting an unknown world, a fictional language made for the other world's people, the main protagonist having apparent knowledge of the people's culture, falling in love with one of the female locals and electing to stay behind when the others return home.[107]
Legacy[edit]
On June 15, 2021, Disney posted on Twitter: "20 years ago today, Milo Thatch journeyed to Atlantis. Happy anniversary to this epic 2001 adventure!"[127] A limited commemorative pin was also released by the company for the anniversary.[128] Cast and crew of the movie also celebrated its anniversary by partaking in a 5-hour livestream on YouTube which had been organized by fans of the film through several platforms as an event and was planned the year before in advance.[129] A year later the cast and crew reunited again on another livestream as part of The Tammy Tuckey Show who had also hosted the previous year's stream.[130]
