ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE

reviewed by: ReelReviewz@aol.com

 

 

MOVIE BIASES: We know how THE REEL DEAL feels about kid flicks, we've seen better animation this year, but could this be the next Prince of Egypt? MAJOR PLAYERS: Michael J. Fox (TV's Spin City), James Garner (Space Cowboys), and Cree Summer (The Rugrats).

Since I'm not a big fan of kid flicks, y'all may be wondering why I even bothered with "Atlantis." Well, THE REEL DEAL has always been something of a closet mythology geek AND this movie seemed more geared toward the adventure route. The result? A middling mixture of a little of both.

Milo Thatch (Fox) is a struggling, timid cartographer, stuffed in the boiler room of a DC museum whose board of trustees is content to never again have to hear his jibber-jabber about financing a trip to find the lost city of Atlantis. When wealthy Preston B. Whitmore (John Mahoney) agrees to finance Milo's trip as a favor to his dead grandfather, it seems like a dream come true. Well, until Milo meets the diverse, yet mercenary ragtag crew - a Howard graduate black doctor (Phil Morris), a Latina mechanic (Jacqueline Obradors), a dirt-digging Frenchman (Corey Burton), a dominatrix of a lieutenant (Claudia Christian), and a chain-smoking, wisecracking communications officer (Florence Stanley), among others. Led by the money-hungry Commander Rourke (Garner), they set out in search of Atlantis, with Milo as their guide. But when they find it - and Milo the beautiful Princess Kida (Summer) - personalities conflict and the health of the underwater city hangs in the balance.

Michael J. Fox, surprisingly, does a capable job of voicing the squeaky voiced, unsure of himself Milo. I thought I would get tired of the high pitch of his voice, but it truly fit the character. The international crew shines well, too, particularly Stanley's off the cuff remarks on the ship's intercom and general blasé attitude toward life. The writers did a good job of trying to flesh out each of the crew members' lives, whether it be the mechanic's desire to be a boxer or the explosives expert's wish to own a flower shop. And, as always, hats off to the hardest working woman in vocal animation, Cree Summer. Not only is she the voice of Susie Carmichael in the wildly popular Rugrats series, but also she does a fine job as the sexy and sweet Atlantean princess that Milo falls for. In this capacity, the script, and the movie, is not too bad.

But in other ways, the movie falls short. The plot, despite the likable characters, is predictable and Disney-by-the-numbers. The graphics, in this age of advanced computer imaging and the like, are a little outdated, not nearly as layered as those in the "Prince of Egypt" or as smooth as those found in "Shrek" and "Antz." While this movie may maintain your interest on video as you babysit a shorty, "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" may be lost on you at the box office.

@@ REELS (TWO REELS) Extra medium.

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