Flat cartooning, boring premise drowns 'Atlantis'

By Jack Garner
Gannett News Service

ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE (Rated PG for action violence) Two Stars (Fair) A disappointing effort by Disney to distance itself from its fairy tale tradition with a bland, overly familiar human adventure in a paradise lost, presented in a rather flat cartoon style. Michael J. Fox and James Garner contribute voices for directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise. Disney, 95 mins.

So there are no songs, no cute talking animals, no sense of fable or fantasy, and not much charm.

As for its animation, the studio leans toward the flat, angular and efficient style of Japanese "anime" and comic books. The characters resemble paper-doll cutouts. You know you're in trouble when the most appealing parts of a cartoon are the landscapes.

With that in mind, let's hope "Atlantis" is a temporary sidestep, a bump in the road, an anomaly generated by artists too eager to do something different, just to be different.

Like an episode of "Young Indiana Jones," "Atlantis" serves up Milo Thatch (enthusiastically voiced by Fox). He's an idealistic, youthful adventurer who teams up with explorers in 1914. They're searching for remnants of the ancient civilization of Atlantis, supposedly buried under a tidal wave several centuries before Christ.

Our heroes eventually discover a bizarre underwater biosphere, housing an Atlantis that's a Shangri-La where citizens are able to live for thousands of years, and all is hunky-dory, thanks to glowing crystals with mystical powers.

Soon, certain members of the exploration team turn greedy, and try to steal the life-extending crystals. And we all know that'll never do.

Compounding the problem is a tired, overly familiar script about human adventurers on the hunt for a lost world. And, of course, the discovery threatens to destroy that world.

It's yet another story of paradise lost, already overworked in such recent cartoons as DreamWorks' "The Road to El Dorado" and Disney's "Pocahontas"

"Atlantis" could have been a live-action adventure; making it an animated feature makes as much sense as wishing Disney's memorable "20,000 Leagues under the Sea" had been a cartoon.

At a preview screening of "Atlantis," pre-schoolers ran the aisles, squirmed in seats, and generally ignored the film (clearly because the film ignored THEM).

Despite Disney's obvious efforts to create a more adult cartoon, and the presence of a PG rating, the Disney name and promotion will continue to draw young children.

But, if they're not at least school-aged, they'll be lost and bored. Adults will merely be bored.

Jack Garner is chief film reviewer for the Gannett News Service.