Disney has done it again. I don't know how, but they made another great, animated adventure. This is not a typical Disney summer movie; for one, it's not a musical. The only song in the movie comes during the credits and is performed by Mya.

Now the story: Plato, in 360 B.C., said, "in a single day and night of misfortune the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea." Milo Thatch (voice by Michael J. Fox), a specialist in ancient and modern languages, dreams of finding it. Milo believes that the only was to find Atlantis is to acquire a journal that actually had all the maps and details to Atlantis. After many unsuccessful proposals to fund his expedition by a museum, an old friend of his grandfather's, Preston P. Whitmore (John Mahoney), recruits Milo to head up the expedition to Atlantis. To Milo's surprise, Whitmore gives him the journal, which was actually found a long time ago by Milo's grandfather. Whitmore also supplies Milo with the finest crew around, including Commander Lyle T. Rourke (James Garner), explosives expert Vinny Santorini (Don Novello - a.k.a. Father Guido Sarducci), "Cookie" Farnsworth (Jim Varney), and telephone operator Wilhelmina Packard (Florence Stanley) -- a character who in my opinion got the biggest laughs in the film.

Milo leads everyone to Atlantis, but in the process, they lose their main ship and a lot of men to a sea creature in a beautifully animated scene. Atlantis is also beautifully imagined as put on paper. It is, pretty much, heaven. Milo and the gang meet Princess Kida (Cree Summer), who shows them the island and introduces them to her father, King Kashekim Nedakh (Leonard Nimoy), who doesn't want visitors, but let's them stay one night. Milo and Kida strike a romance and Kida tells Milo that Atlantis is dying because it's losing it power. By myth, Atlantis possessed this power source that let the Atlantians have a stronger civilization then any other countries of the time. Milo promises to help Kida save Atlantis.

But wait, who is the villain? If you are familiar with Disney movies, you know, there is a villain. For example, The Lion King had Scar; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs had the Queen/Witch. In Atlantis, the story does not reveal the villain until more than half-way through the movie. It is also a nice twist in the story -- that is why I am not saying another word.

Atlantis is a beautiful film for both kids and adults, standing up there with Disney's Tarzan, which I thought was very close to the greatness of The Lion King. Atlantis is a beautifully animated movie with a very good story line and great voice-over work. I guess this summer's best films so far are not live action; along with Shrek, Atlantis is my choice for a summer movie at this point.

Note: Another bone to pick the ratings committee. This movie does not deserve a PG rating. Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, another very good one, had much violence and sexual innuendo, but got a G. The movie had a song about lust, for God's sake. I am actually anti-ratings, but if you have a system, stick to it. Give an R to What's the Worst the Could Happen? and Little Nicky, they deserved it, but Atlantis getting a PG is just wrong.

Saturday June 16, 2001: CNN - Paul Clinton

Design wonderful, script pedestrian
Review: 'Atlantis' a place that's nothing special

(CNN) -- Blending digital with traditional hand-drawn effects, "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" is an action-filled adventure flick that will undoubtedly appeal to younger audiences. However, it doesn't ascend to the lofty heights achieved by other Disney classics, where the film enchants adults as much as it does children.

"Atlantis" certainly has a pedigree. It was created by the team of producer Don Hahn and directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, who made "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1996). The cast of voices is also terrific, including those of Michael J. Fox, James Garner, Leonard Nimoy, David Ogden Stiers, John Mahoney, the late actor and comedian Jim Varney, and veteran voice-over actress Cree Summer.

But even with all that, "Atlantis" never soars.

The story was inspired by the legend of the lost continent of Atlantis. The time is 1914. At the center of the story is a bespectacled naive museum cartographer/linguistics expert, Milo Thatch (Fox). He's convinced, based on stories from his eccentric grandfather, that Atlantis actually existed, and he is determined to prove it. With the help of a reclusive billionaire (Mahoney), Thatch embarks on his search in the company of Commander Rourke (Garner) and his band of mercurial misfits.

Traveling in Ulysses, a state-of-the-art -- for the time -- submarine, Thatch is armed with a long-lost journal that gives clues to the location of the fabled place. Along the way, Thatch and his gang battle a gigantic mechanical lobster -- yes, a lobster -- before finally reaching their goal.

But instead of discovering empty ancient ruins, Thatch and company find a lost city where the inhabitants have stayed alive for centuries surviving with the help of powerful (and healing) crystals. Of course, in this city there is a princess (Summer). And of course, Thatch falls in love with her.

But suddenly, Rourke and his men turn on Thatch and attempt to steal the powerful crystals -- and the princess. Yadda, yadda, yadda -- the battle between good and evil begins.

"Atlantis" is the first pairing of Disney with animator Mike Mignola ("Hellboy," "Bram Stoker's Dracula"). His flat graphic style, blended with Disney's traditional animation, is being called "Dis-nola" by the studio. Mignola likes bold designs and works well with shadows and silhouettes, and all his characters have very angular faces. Everything in the film has a vaguely Southeast Asian feel to it, from the city to the costumes to the landscape. The animators really have created a whole new world.

Even a language was designed for the people of Atlantis. Linguistics expert Marc Okland, who also made up the Vulcan language for "Star Trek," came up with the Atlantean vocabulary and a corresponding 29-letter alphabet.

The studio calls the blending of Mike Mignola's flat graphic style with Disney's tradional animation "Dis-nola"

Yes, Disney's attention to detail continues to be amazing. But the script by Tab Murphy ("Tarzan," 1999) is predictable and pedestrian, with only occasionally witty dialogue sprinkled here and there.

"Atlantis" is good, and kids will love it, but it doesn't achieve greatness. It's beginning to look like the exit of Jeffrey Katzenberg -- who left Disney to form DreamWorks with Steven Speilberg and David Geffen -- was the loss of more then just a mere "suit." DreamWorks' latest animated film, "Shrek" -- Katzenberg's baby -- contains the type of imaginative material that allows a movie to become magic for the whole family. "Atlantis" doesn't.

"Atlantis: The Lost Empire" opens nationwide Friday and is rated PG.

Journey to 'Atlantis' 'a roller coaster ride'

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Don Hahn, the producer of the new Disney animated adventure "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" and an artistic force at the studio for two decades, admits that in a world of technological advances, the secret to making a good animated film comes down to one simple element: the ability to tell a good story.

He realized this when he was executive producer on "The Emperor's New Groove" (2000). He'd come home from work and pitch the ever-changing story line to his young daughter, who's now 9.

"Every night I'd come home and say, 'OK, try this: There's this prince that's turned into a llama and he's this vain, spoiled guy,'" recalled Hahn during a recent "Atlantis" publicity tour in Atlanta. "And she'd say, 'Oh, that's good.' And the next night, after the story would change, I'd say, 'OK, now the llama is kind of like this.'"

Hahn finds nothing out of the ordinary with basing productions costing millions of dollars on his daughter's varying opinions.

"That's all we're doing anyway" when we're making movies, he said. "You're setting a child on your knee and reading them a story. 'Atlantis' happens to be a big roller coaster ride of a story."

'A broad-based adventure'

"Atlantis: The Lost Empire" is also a trip into the past and the future. It's based just before the first World War, and it follows a linguist named Milo (voiced by Michael J. Fox) and an archeological team as they dig their way to the lost city of Atlantis, a society that's not only still alive, but still possessing technology that dwarfs anything seen today, thousand of years after myths and scientific hypothesis tells us it sank into the sea.

When the "Atlantis" archeological team reveals its true plans -- to steal the Atlantis power source and leave them for dead -- Milo must come to the rescue. There's also a love interest for Milo -- Princess Kida, voiced by Cree Summer.

"We just wanted to make it a broad-based adventure film that everyone could enjoy," said Kirk Wise, co-director of "Atlantis."

While many popular animated films these days use computer animation -- DreamWork's "Shrek," in fact, has been a top grosser this summer -- "Atlantis" uses old-school animation to bring the characters to life.

It's a painstaking process, and depending on whom you talk to, the experience of the creators is completely different. The producer, the director, and the animator have completely differently version of the creation of "Atlantis."

"You stay at a little cubicle day after day, month after month, year after year," says John Pomeroy, the lead animator on the project and the one in charge of Milo.

'Exhausted and bruised'

It took four years to make "Atlantis," but it was worth the hard work and wait, said Pomeroy.

"Our reward is when we get to sit in the halls of the dark theater amongst a crowd and watch a direct reaction of our work."

Meanwhile, Wise spends an energetic day at the front of the battle lines.

"On Mondays, for instance, you'd find me with a red Radio Flyer outside my office, stacked about four feet high with scenes I had to hand out to animators," explained Wise. "And the line of animators stretches out into the hallway. And they would come in individually, and we would open up the scene and look at the layout and start talking about the acting and the choreography and the blocking of the shot.

"Nine times out of ten, if you opened my door on any given day you might find me standing on a table and jumping off and rolling onto the floor to illustrate how Milo should be thrown from the truck when it explodes.

"By noon, I would be exhausted and bruised," he said.

And Hahn says his producing duties take on psychotherapy responsibilities.

"It's 350 egos and people who have tremendous artistic drive and aspiration and passion," he said. "And you have to herd those calves into a little niche. That's what I do all day long."

'An insane occupation'

The work environment is intense, but it's also a fun time at Disney's studios. Hahn tells of the animator who arrived to work one day with his Cadillac covered with Q-tips. And then there was the time another worker dressed up as a gorilla to pass out candy.

And then there are the recording sessions, working with actors like Fox and James Garner and Leonard Nimoy, who also voice characters in the movie.

Hahn praised Fox in his lead role.

"Michael is a great actor with a lot of range and could not only give us a lot of warmth and heroism, but could give us a lot of comedy, because he was a great improviser," said Hahn.

Now, it's up to summer movie audiences to decide for themselves. Hahn, Wise and Pomeroy aren't sure what Disney project they'll work on next. But they're certain of one thing: They work in a rewarding profession.

"I love the fact that I'm making a movie that's going to make my nephew's eyes bug out," said Wise. "And considering I started this movie when he was four -- I said to myself, when this movie is done, he's going to be the perfect age."

"Trying to make a movie one frame at a time is an insane occupation," said Hahn. "But I think I have the best job in the world."

Atlantis rises!
Disney animated adventure is the best in years

Disney's annual animated extravaganza is usually one summer movie the whole family can look forward to, and this year's entry, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, is by far the best such film in years.

Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise and produced by Don Hahn -- the same team that created Beauty & The Beast -- Atlantis is a fantastic, old-school adventure filled with danger, mystery, exotic beasts and locales and big events. And jokes.

Michael J. Fox voices the lead character, Milo James Thatch, an earnest cartographer and linguist who toils away in a museum. He is convinced he has located the lost continent of Atlantis, a fabled land alleged to have sunk beneath the sea thousands of years ago.

Milo gets funding for his exploration. With the money comes a team of experts, and together they set off to find Atlantis.

Well. Their adventure takes them underwater, past a bizarre mechanical monster crustacean, through eerie underground spaces and finally to Atlantis. Peril and risk -- and jokes -- are their constant companions.

Atlantis proves to be inhabited and beautiful.

Alas, Milo's excitement quickly gives way to the terrors of betrayal. There are chases, fights, monsters, a beautiful and fascinating civilization to ponder, tidal waves, volcanoes, fireflies that actually set fire, a princess and a wise old king, crystal power, fantastic vehicles, a rather appealing rumination on the higher powers, and heaps of all the other eye-popping, high energy stuff that children love in a movie.

Along with Michael J. Fox, the characters are voiced by the late Jim Varney, who plays the crusty old cook; James Garner, who is the commander of the expedition; Leonard Nimoy as the king; Cree Summer as the princess, and, as head of most laughs, Don Novello as a demented exposions expert. Also in the vocal cast are Florence Stanley, Corey Burton, Claudia Christian, Phil Morris, Jacqueline Obradors, John Mahoney and David Ogden Stiers, and kudos all around.

Along with the usual cast of thousands of artists, animators, effects creators, 2D and 3D blenders and gawd-and-Sheridan-College-only-knows-who-else, Atlantis owes some of its general visual verve to the work of comic book artist Mike Mignola. The film has a distinctive look and great visual splendor and excitement. And it was shot in CinemaScope, which is very cool. Entirely lacking in catchy songs sung by warbly divas, free of sappy moments, and energized throughout in an oddly '50s-style adventure sort of way, Atlantis is a sure bet for kids at the movies. Frankly, we're lining up right now. (More on: Atlantis: The Lost Empire ).

Disney sets course for Adventureland in animated flick

HOLLYWOOD -- The idea of an animated movie about the fabled lost city civilization of Atlantis has been kicking around the Disney cartoon arena for a decade.

Nothing much was done until a bunch of the boys got together at a Mexican restaurant near the studios in Burbank and, over the chimichanga appetizer course and between burps, kickstarted the idea into action.

When it came time to sell the idea to Michael Eisner, Disney's head honcho, and to Roy E. Disney, Walt's nephew and the animation department's independent guru, producer Don Hahn put it over in unique fashion by using a few Disneyland attractions as references.

According to Hahn now, this was his "boneheaded" pitch: "We've been to Fantasyland a lot. We've done a lot of fairytale musicals and been through the castle at the end of Main Street a few times. Let's go down to the end of Main Street and turn left, because there's this whole place there called Adventureland. Let's make an Adventureland movie!"

The pitch worked. On Friday, Atlantis: The Lost Empire opens across North America as a big-screen animated adventure, the first of its kind for the studio.

Atlantis is animated in an intricate combination of computer-generated images and traditional hand-drawn cel animation -- all in rare (for animation) anamorphic widescreen. It's a gamble.

"Because we've done so many (movies with) fuzzy sidekicks and people breaking into songs, this is a big departure," Hahn says. "So that represents a certain amount of risk and trepidation. Animation itself is not a genre. It's a medium where you can do a lot of different genres.

"So the first question is, 'Why animate that?' And it's a valid point these days. Ten years ago, you could have argued that animation does these things well -- creatures, special effects -- and live action doesn't.

"Now, all those lines are grey and kind of blurred because, arguably, The Mummy Returns is an animated movie. In the end, you have to come back to storyline and character and come back to a level of fantasy in our movies that we think is interesting."

In Atlantis: The Lost Empire, producer Hahn and co-directors Kirk Wise and Trousdale -- this trio was also responsible for Disney's Beauty And The Beast and The Hunchback Of Notre Dame -- give us a story set in 1914 that starts with a humble New York museum worker who aspires to be a famous archeologist like his grandfather.

Because he holds some of the keys to the secrets of Atlantis, he is recruited by a philanthropist to join an expedition searching for the legendary lost empire. As the expedition enters the bowels of the Earth, there are monsters and mythic creatures and battles and double-crosses and heroic acts and selfless moves and romance in the air.

Hahn says the spark was a passage in Jules Verne's Journey To The Centre Of The Earth. "There was a part of that book where they passed through a dusty ruin that was Atlantis on the way to the centre of the Earth. We thought, well, why not just pluck that out and make that the nut of our movie?"

The voices behind the characters include Michael J. Fox as the young hero Milo, James Garner, Leonard Nimoy, Don Novello (famous as Father Guido Sarducci on Saturday Night Live), the late Jim Varney (in his last role), John Mahoney, David Ogden Stiers, Claudia Christian (Babylon 5), Phil Morris, Corey Burton and Cree Summer as the Atlantean princess-warrior Kida.

"To be part of a Disney classic, are you kidding?" Burton teases when asked if he is juiced about playing the half-black, half-Native American doctor on the expedition. "It's the ultimate achievement. That we can continue to entertain long after we've gone is wonderful to me."

Adds Christian: "To walk down that aisle of Toys R Us and see your little figure there -- wow! It is very prestigious."

"They're watching the nuances, watching the way your face moves when you phrase words," Fox says in a prepared video interview (he was unable to do print interviews). "So it's really cool when you're watching the animation and, while the character doesn't necessarily look like me, he would move in ways I move. It's a spooky feeling. You kind of feel that they've got your soul."

John Pomeroy, the supervising animator in charge of Fox's character, explains the process: "We try to take everything that makes up Michael J. Fox, his gestures, his attitude. We take this information as animators and we fuse it into the animation, trying to create a character that is believable for you, that is convincing for you, that will captivate you. Because we as filmmakers and artists want to engage you in that willing suspension of disbelief."

Another key was the creation of a near-seamless blend of computer-generated images and hand-drawn images, according to co-directors Wise and Trousdale.

"Our contribution artistically," says Wise, "was to make sure those two worlds merged so that the CG elements didn't leap out at the audience and holler, 'I'm computer generated!' We wanted those two worlds to blend seamlessly. I think we get pretty close on Atlantis, the closest we have ever gotten."

The filmmakers were not satisfied with that process on Beauty And The Beast, Trousdale says. "When you go into that ballroom, you know you're in Computerland. Everyone's dancing around and they're falling in love and everybody's happy so you don't care that much. But it's still pretty clear that you're in Computerland, and suddenly you're back in Cartoonland. We wanted to not have that division this time."

There is also a strong moral message at the heart of Atlantis, as there is in all Disney animation.

"There is always a thematic centre," says Thomas Schumacher, head of Disney's animation studio. "There is an agenda about how to be true to yourself, to honour yourself, respect your parents, search for the truth, that the light always emerges, that good always triumphs over evil and that sacrifice is important.

Schumacher believes the story ends with Milo's true heroism shining through.

"Not only did he do the right thing, stick to his guns, convert all these people to his side, heroically save the day in a very Star Wars kind of move, but then he protects the place in a kind of noble move. I think that's beautiful. That's what it's about."

EW GRADE: C+
Genre: Animation

The hero of Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a terrifyingly enthusiastic young museum scholar named Milo who wears giant circular specs and talks (in the voice of Michael J. Fox) with a breakneck alacrity you rarely hear outside of cartoons. On a submarine voyage to find the mythical city of Atlantis, Milo is accompanied by a crew of ''colorful'' assistants who babble on in the same tone of tireless jovial zeal; we might be watching ''20,000 Leagues Under the Sea'' starring the cast of ''Scooby-Doo.'' The sub reaches Atlantis, a series of ruins in paradise, but with its pristine cliffs and forests and waterfalls, the place just looks like the world's most ancient biosphere.

Has my eye, seduced by the devious and tactile delights of ''Shrek,'' already evolved in tandem with the technological leaps in computer animation? Or is ''Atlantis'' simply a Disney dud? A bit of both, perhaps. But it does feel as if the studio's animators are huffing and puffing to create new marvels out of an arsenal of image tropes -- water flowing, lava erupting, earth cracking, a mystical crystal glowing -- that we long ago gawked at and digested.

''Atlantis,'' with its gee-whiz formulaic characters, is the essence of craft without dream, but the movie, in a strange way, is more personal than the artists who made it realize. Its real lost empire might almost be the day that hand drawn animation in the conventionally Colorform Disney style could still saturate us with wonder.

For years people have been coming up to me. "Oooh! (insert 90's animated Disney movie here) that has music, singing, I just hate when they sing." Well here's a movie for you. ATLANTIS. Disney's first animated adventure film. Now last year there was Dinosaur, with no musical elements, but had that annoying "love monkey". This year we have a tight little adventure film with no annoying-cute-talk-able-animal-sidekicks. This is the film Mulan and Tarzan should have been.

This is adventure.

Jules Verne vehicles, guns, death, hot scantily clothed ladies, Kick-ass-rock-giants, Horny-Peter-lorre-character, subtitles, and massive chase scenes, just doesn't sound like your normal Disney film. It isn't. I know your probably saying, Dude.. take lithium and get out more often. But really it's great. The only film I can compare it to is Titan AE. That was a fun film barely anyone saw.

Michael J Fox's character was annoying, but he'suppose to be.

The Commander: voiced by James Gardner, delightfully ruff even with animated muscle sag. Cool.

The saggy Operator lady: Dry and hilarious.

The Demolitionist: Great voice by Father Sardecio(sp) (I usually hate this actor) one of the delights in this film.

Mole-iere: the cute character kinda like the Lorre-ish guy in Titan AE also. Creepy in an "M" sort of way.

The doctor and engineer: excellent.

HELGA: I put her letters in caps, cause she is way cool! She's in her own movie. She's a 40's Laura croft. She is unfortunately used the least. But is way cool.

Kida: great love interest, I think the animators really loved animating her. Lot's of curves.

Old Atlantian: voiced by Leonard Nemoy, liked his work more in Transformers.

Jim Varney's character was great. Too bad no more Jim Varney. (One blessing is, no more Ernest movies.)

Visual: Filmed in 2:35:1. This is rarely,rarely used for Disney films, usually it's the T.V. video babysitter friendly 1:85:1. Some Cgi, but rarely noticeable, I wished the water was Cgi, especially when it covered the city in the beginning. Just me being picky. Also I felt the shadow and fx dept. was playing it safe for some of the movie. I wanted it darker.

Sound: Excellent sound. In SDDS 6, DTS, SRD-EX. Lots of bass, The beginning kinda freaked me out. There was a lot of surround and great seperation.

The score by James Newton Howard, was tremendous. After his great work in Unbreakable, Dinosaur, and Vertical Limit (lousy movie), he is in his own personal golden age. A perfect buy for any score lovers. I could've done without the credit's song, kinda like Mummy returns.

Is this film for kids? Hell yes! It's truly a family film, like Indy or today's Mummy. Everyone can go see it, and see something different. I'm looking forward for more adventure this summer. Hopefully Tomb raider delivers also.

Go see it.

I am Project Rage