Review of Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) by Sharon E — 18 Nov 2010

I'll give this to Disney, it was trying to break the 90s mold, and overall did a pretty good job. But in comparison to other animated movies we love, Atlantis is lacking something. While the design animation in Atlantis is fantastic, the overall animation itself including quality is not quite up to Disney's standards.

The premise and the execution are great. Instead of a fairy tale we get a steampunk adventure story. The pace, the portrayal of the characters and the dialogue are, mostly, well done. There's even a slight relation to the works of Miyazaki in all the twists and places the story goes, except that those stories are well focused on just a few characters in a fantastic setting. The ambition of Atlantis gets almost too complicated and too out there. The problems are mainly story elements. While we like all the characters, we don't get enough time for us to really connect with them. But where the film really slumps is in its final fantasy twist, where a vague unspecfied magic power starts going crazy and we don't get any information on why its doing what its doing. Well, we get a very hurried and vague explanation which isn't nearly enough to satisfy the audience.

It's also disappointing how what started as a cool adventure story turned into Pocahauntas.