Review: Atlantis: The Lost Empire — Sunken treasure rises

Geoff Carter

Tuesday, June 12, 2001 | 5:07 a.m.

Atlantis: The Lost Empire Grade: Three and one half stars

Starring: The voice talents of Michael J. Fox, Claudia Christian, Don Novello, Cree Summer, Leonard Nimoy and James Garner.

Screenplay: Tab Murphy and Joss Whedon.

Director: Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise.

Rated: PG for action violence.

Running time: 95 minutes.

"Atlantis: The Lost Empire" is a real adventure. I use the word real in the sense that it features no "Matrix"-like effects, no standoff gun battle and the hero begins and ends the film a scraggly, bookish twerp. "Son, if you turned to the side and stuck out your tongue," a character advises linguist Milo Thatch (voiced by Michael J. Fox), "you'd look like a zipper."

Unfortunately, the fact that it's an animated film from Walt Disney Pictures earns it some baggage it doesn't necessarily deserve. Already some boneheaded reviewers are comparing it to "Shrek" (would they compare "Tomb Raider" to "Croupier?) and wondering if Disney didn't overreach. Certainly, "Atlantis" does take Disney off its well-worn track: there are no songs, no cuddly critters. The characters are flawed and more human than anyone in "Pearl Harbor." And there are deaths - sensitively and conscientiously handled, perhaps, but deaths all the same.

But all of Disney's great recent artistic successes have come from reaching out. Henry Selick and Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" remains the final word in stop-motion animation; "Fantasia 2000" redefined the way animation is presented; Pixar's hat trick of "A Bug's Life," "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" make "Shrek's" success possible. If Disney wants to transpose "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" and "Star Wars" into the animation medium, wouldn't the results be worth seeing?

They are. "Atlantis" offers no end of visual wonders: a beautiful lost city, a Jules Verne-ish submarine, an amazing dogfight between gliders and unearthly, flying metallic fish. The fact that "Atlantis" is a terrific adventure yarn - one that never shoots low and pulls out a few honest-to-goodness surprises -- and is almost secondary to the eye-popping visuals. And they're believable visuals, too. The idea of a flying fish is much more believable than that of a flying Keanu Reeves, isn't it?

"Atlantis" follows the fortunes of a group of adventurers, funded by eccentric billionaire Preston B. Whitmore (John Mahoney). Milo Thatch is just one part of a team that includes Rourke, a square-jawed commander (James Garner); a dirt-obsessed excavation expert called The Mole (Corey Burton); a no-nonsense mechanic (Jacqueline Obradors); the crew's big-hearted doctor (Phil Morris); and a wisecracking demolitionist (Don Novello, in Father Guido Sarducci mode, who all but steals the picture). After a quick round of hardships, they find Atlantis, where an amazing series of secrets will be unearthed - and the explorers reveal a few dark secrets of their own.

As the voice of Thatch, Fox draws from and expands upon his regular Joe persona - a stammering but determined young man, unbothered by what others think of him and wholly focused on his goals, even when it makes him blind to all else. He's an easy mark for Kida (Cree Summer), the Atlantean princess who wants to learn the history that her father (Leonard Nimoy) is keen to bury.

"Our way of life is dying," she argues; he counters with "Our way of life is preserved." It's a heady message for a kid's movie, which must mean that "Atlantis" isn't exclusively for kids. Concentric statements about manifest destiny and industrialization are also made in the course of the proceedings; it's a credit to screenwriters Tab Murphy and Joss Whedon that all the audience concerns itself with is the wonderment of discovering Atlantis -- its towers, glowing pools and handsome citizenry.

"Atlantis" has weaknesses, but they're minor and will be forgotten in time. I wonder if "Shrek's" references to "The Matrix" and Hollywood corporate politics will fare as well in 10 years. Animation is just another means of telling a story; it is not a reliable means to drive a studio's stock upward. It's an invigorating thing indeed when Disney remembers that, and makes an animated film as satisfying as "Atlantis." That its a superb adventure is just a happy coincidence.