Atlantis: Lost Empire

Year: 2001

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Trousdale/Wise

Review

one of the better late-era disney films. doesn’t have the music that makes little mermaid, beauty and the beast and aladdin so good, but the characters and animation are there. james garner and michael j. fox are both good and able to make a good showing in a film despite being 70+ years old and having parkinson’s disease. many of the disney films have different animation leaders for each major character, but it seemed to really make a difference with this one. the audrey ramirez character looked like something out of archie comics (round and sweet). the commander rourke (james garner) character looked more like something out of g.i. joe (angular and menacing).

the film wasn’t as sweet as many disney films and the main character is a boy instead of a girl, which is somewhat unusual, but not unprecedented (101 dalmatians, aladdin, hercules, bolt). it also had some jokes that would play mostly to older audiences. i don’t know how much the kids would like it, but i suspect that the parents would enjoy it.