Hey folks, Harry here with a review of ATLANTIS from our trusty Dale Cooper. I see this one Saturday morning, and I'm hoping for the best. I'm hoping to get a great report from Jim Hill about the development process for ATLANTIS... what was lost to budget considerations and lack of faith in the project... But no matter, the trailers have me excited and dying to see this one... I'm ready for a great summer movie... For the record, MOULIN ROUGE while I consider it a great movie, well... it isn't a summer movie, it was a fall or holiday film. Sigh... Here's Dale.....
Hey Harry!
Dale Cooper here. I attended a free screening of Disney's Atlantis tonight at NYU as part of NYU's Director Series. The directors and producer were present after the film and answered questions. They had a few interesting tidbits to add as well.
First off, the film. For those who hate spoilers, avoid reading past this paragraph. The film was middle-of-the-road fun for the most part with one really cool set piece at the end. It doesn't reach the dizzying heights of a Shrek or a Toy Story 2, but it has some funny moments and moves along at a brisk enough pace. If you're a parent or have a younger brother or sister, the kids will enjoy it thoroughly. You might not have as much fun, but there are worse ways to spend your time.
Alright, so now for the meat of the review. Why call it middle-of-the-road?? Mainly because I had high expectations for the film. The mythology of Atlantis just seems ripe for a great adventure and I wanted Disney to thrill me. I wasn't really thrilled until the end.
The movie starts with Atlantis in the process of being destroyed. We see things crashing and a giant wave. Briefly, we glimpse a young Atlantian, Kida, who will be the female heroine later in the film. The wave crashes over Atlantis, burying it, and the real story begins. Right away, I had a real problem with the opening. It was extremely short and felt very rushed. In the Q & A with the directors afterward, I found out why. They had an alternate opening already in the can when they came up with the one that now opens the picture. It involved Vikings off the coast of Iceland finding a journal that is later used to find Atlantis. The directors decided late into the production to try a new opening that could introduce us to Atlantis. Unfortunately, it barely does this. I would have liked to have spent a few more minutes here before it's buried under the waves. However, the opening is rushed and confusing, lasting now more than a minute and a half.
Next, the real story begins. We meet Milo (Micheal J. Fox), a linguist who is trying to fulfill his grandfather's lifelong dream of finding Atlantis. He gets the chance in a form of a wealthy benefactor who is putting together an expedition to find the lost city. So, we meet the members of the team and the expedition begins.
For about half an hour, we see the group on the start of their expedition, underwater and on the way to Atlantis. My main problem with this time is how pedestrian and semi-boring the material is. There are a few funny jokes, but for the most part it feels like any run-of-the-mill Saturday morning cartoon. The film picks up once they reach Atlantis (and lose about 200 crew members), but I had to groan when I realized the villain wasn't part of the Atlantis mythology but a greedy member of the expedition team looking to exploit the crystal that gives Atlantis its lifeforce.
Crystal, you say?? The crystal seems to give the city its power, and at times can awaken Iron Giant looking robots to protect the city when under attack. I wasn't really clear about where the crystal came from or how Atlantis came into possession of it, but the Atlantian King (Leonard Nimoy) speaks briefly about it having a consciousness of its own. I thought this mythology could have been clarified better, but it never is. You just have to kind of go with it.
Once Atlantis is found, it becomes Milo and Kida, Atlantian Princess, trying to keep the leader of the exepedition (James Garner) from coming into possession of the crystal and ruining life in Atlantis. I wish this adventure could have been grander in scope, but Disney played it pedestrain with an obvious villain and an obvious conclusion.
What's good about the film?? The vocal work is excellent and totally unintrusive. There are quite a few good one liners along the way. There are no songs, a welcome departure. They used deep canvas to good effect after the overkill of Tarzan (the directors commented on this, saying with Tarzan Disney was basically just infatuated with the technology and added a bunch of vine surfing as a result). And the final set piece delivers the thrills the rest of film was lacking.
This film could have been so much better. I wish it was. However, it could have been worse and kids should enjoy it.
As for the Q & A afterward, a couple of interesting things. First, I don't know if this was reported yet, but Beauty and the Beast is getting an IMAX re-release on Jan. 1. A cut musical number has been added. As well, because the entire film was digital to begin with, nothing but the data had to be tinkered with to make the transfer to IMAX. I loved the film and look forward to the release. Second, Atlantis has its own language. They approached the man who created the Klingon/Vulcan languages and created an entirely new language for the people of Atlantis. The directors commented on how tough it was for most of the actors to learn and speak it, but Leonard Nimoy came in and nailed the language on the first read-through (all those years of Vulcan-speak, they guessed).
That's it! Dale Cooper, off for another cup of coffee!
