The Disney Studio was built on innovation in animation, so it seems ironic that Atlantis is both a bold departure and highly derivative, borrowing heavily from anime, video games, and graphic novels. Instead of songs and fuzzy little animals, the artists offer an action-adventure set in 1914: nerdy linguist Milo Thatch (Michael J. Fox) believes he's found the location of the legendary Lost Continent. An eccentric zillionaire sends Milo out to test his hypothesis with an anachronistic crew that includes tough Puerto Rican mechanic Audrey (Jacqueline Obradors), demolition expert Vinnie (Don Novello), and butt-kicking blond adventurer Helga (Claudia Christian). When they find Atlantis, its culture is dying because the people can no longer read the runes that explain their mysterious power source--but Milo can. Nasty Commander Rourke (James Garner) attempts to steal that power source, leading to the requisite all-out battle.

Atlantis offers some nifty battle scenes, including an attack on a Jules Verne-esque submarine by a giant robotic trilobite and fishlike flying cars. But the film suffers from major story problems. If Princess Kida (Cree Summer) remembers her civilization at its height, why can't she read the runes? Why doesn't Milo's crew notice that the Atlanteans live for centuries? The angular designs are based on the work of comic book artist Mike Mignola (Hellboy), and the artists struggle with the characters' stubby hands, skinny limbs, and pointed jaws. The result is a film that will appeal more to 10-year-old boys than to family audiences.

Excellent take on Atlantis

I really liked this story from start to finish. I thought it did give a different take on the lost city and how it was lost and possibly forgotten by most. I also did like the part of the story about the "use of crystals" and what message that did send. Don't abuse power, respect and honor it. See this movie for yourself and make your own opinions of it. I liked it very much and will be watching it over and over again!!!

Very authentic source for Atlantean language (Dig Adlantisag)

The added features have great appeal to those interested the on-going work toward the discipherment and codification of Atlantean, the language made up for the movie.

The journal pages on disk 2 are very legible (compared to the movie) and contain actual Atlantean - just as Don Hahn said in an interview with ReelFilms.Com. And according to Okrand, the written Atlantean that appears in the film is the largest portion of the language exihibited anywhere (as opposed to speaking parts). Other interesting linguist features are "How to Speak Atlantean", the transcription of which can be found online at LangMaker.Com and in the book "Subterranean Tours" on page 61.

The "hub" and archives of most discipherment efforts is the Yahoo Tech Group The Atlantean Language Group. There's also a messy Wikipedia article and many low-profile online webpages. It's a historic conlang with a vocabulary that's primarily Proto-Indo-European and a grammar that's mostly Latin, only with post-positions and no variety in grammatical case endings: there's one declension and no grammatical gender.

Just make sure the DVD you order has no viruses before you send feedback. Mine has a virus that shuts down my computer for long periods of time.

The language is awesome. That's the only reason I'd buy a movie like this. The movie is highly Wiccan in influence and, as such, completely spiritually corrupt and lamentably geared toward children. Buyer, beware!

Does just as much things right as it does wrong

When one looks at the studio's Walt Disney-approved output to the recent input, there's almost a kind of "yeah they're good but they're not as good as ". It's quite unfair to continually compare everything they do to their best but when they've done as much popular movies as they have, it's hard not to. We have Atlantis, the first movie Disney has done in recent years that breaks the mold of the so-called "Disney formula": wisecracking comic reliefs, lovable non-talkative pets, songs fit for Broadway and a bit more toned-down as far as violence and scariness are concerned. Maybe that's the reason the film didn't make as big a profit? Or is just simply audiences knew when an okay film was in theatres.

Milo Thatch, a historian/adventure seeker has been searching for the lost continent of Atlantis for years. Being aided financially and a crew, Milo searches for the continent, braving obstacles set in place to dissuade travellers. Eventually the crew reach the lost city and meet Kida, the King's daughter who along with Milo, tries to solve a mystery involving the city and rescue it for those who want to exploit the city itself.

It's always strange but Disney is underrated when it deals with heavy scenes. From Bambi's mother to Maleficent the dragon to Chernabog from Fantasia to my favorite, the Headless Horseman in Legend of Sleepy Hollow, there have been moments of a more darker quality. Yet some of them seemed toned down in fear that kids wouldn't like it. So it's nice to see Atlantis break that tradition a bit. The opening sequence of Atlantis (including a fantastic opening shot, sound and animation-wise), the encounter with a mechanical Atlantis guardian and the ending are just as thrilling for adults but maybe a bit too intense for little kids. Speaking of animation, it's also some of their animators' best from the backgrounds to the art direction and character designs and thanks to a stellar transfer, it allows you to be see their efforts in the best way.

However, the problems come from 2 key areas: the story and characters. I've watched plenty of animes so I'm a bit more receptive to strange plots but this is one of those where at times it's like "uh...I don't get that part." And the film just kind of chugs along, there's no real emotional connection so we go from scene to scene and feeling a bit disconnected. And it's strange that the old Disney films had one-dimensional characters but we still loved them anyway. There's even the Seven Dwarfs that were pretty one-note but each one became a favorite regardless. Aside from a weird dirt-obsessed character named Moliere and the occasional funny line from the bomb-obsessed Vinny, we never really care for anyone.

Finally no songs or cutesyness yet the story itself just doesn't feel right. But at least they had the balls to at least try something new for a change. I love the animation and its tone but the main areas that should've got more attention got shortchanged. Not really a throwaway film, just an interesting flawed one.