Review of Atlantis: Milo's Return (2003) by Ethan S — 19 Dec 2013

Brace for impact. Atlantis: Milo's Return isn't just one of the worst direct-to-video Disney sequels to date, it isn't even really a sequel, and certainly isn't any good. Conceived as part of Team Atlantis, an abandoned television series that fortunately never came to pass, the "sequel" is actually three extended shorts that feel suspiciously like lost episodes of Scooby-Doo. And not classic Doo either. The animation is dreadfully mediocre, the voice acting is phoned in, the script is 20,000 leagues beneath average, and almost nothing warrants applause. (Perhaps the return of original voice actors Summer, Mahoney, Novello, Morris, Burton and Stanley, but little else.) It's no wonder Michael J. Fox declined to return, and no wonder Team Atlantis sank to the bottom of development hell. Milo's Return is a glorified special feature at best, an unwelcome intruder into the kingdom of Atlantis at its worst.

Glutton for punishment? Perhaps a quick overview of the stories will convince you to save yourself the time and misery. In the first part of the piecemeal sequel, Queen Kida (Summer) and her new husband Milo (James Arnold Taylor), now the King of Atlantis, reunite with their old friends to battle a Kraken... which someone has unleashed... but not Liam Neeson, because that joke would be too easy. With that problem solved, it's on to pseudo-episode two. Next, those meddling Atlantean kids travel to Arizona to investigate an ancient site haunted by g-g-g-ghosts! Zoinks. Finally, Milo and company have to face Odin himself (W. Morgan Sheppard), or rather Erik Hellstrom, a Whitmore nemesis who gets his hands on a powerful spear that may have come from Atlantis. Three mysteries, three baddies, three supernatural conundrums, each solved in rapid succession. Still curious? Have at. Just don't say I didn't warn you...