By Robert Scucci
| Published
If you’ve got kids and you’re tired of Inside Out 2 after your hundredth viewing, you may want to check out one of the more fantastic adventures put out by Walt Disney Feature Animation during the early aughts: Atlantis: The Lost Empire. While I’m not necessarily throwing shade at Disney’s newer intellectual properties, I’m definitely fatigued from overexposure to new releases, and I’ve watched Aladdin too many times as a kid myself to even think about working that into my family’s Disney animation rotation for the sake of my own mental health.
Since I was too cool for school by the time Atlantis: The Lost Empire was making its rounds, I only saw it for the first time recently. While some of the character development seems a little rushed in this sci-fantasy action-adventure epic, the animation and voice-acting is brilliantly done. And if you’re a Trekkie who needs further convincing, you’ll be pleased to know that Leonard Nimoy’s talent is prominently featured with his portrayal of the King of Atlantis.
An Unlikely Adventure
Atlantis: The Lost Empire first points its focus to 6800 B.C. to show us just how the lost city of Atlantis became lost in the first place. In case you were wondering, it was a megatsunami that pushed the city underwater, introducing us to Kashekim Nedakh (Leonard Nimoy), the King of Atlantis, and his young daughter, Kidagakash “Kida” Nedakh (voiced by Natalie Strom during this sequence) after being mysteriously left behind by the Queen of Atlantis.
Flash forward to the year 1914, and we’re introduced to a clumsy and bumbling linguist named Milo Thatch (Michael J. Fox), who’s obsessed with the lost city of Atlantis but can’t get the proper funding from the Smithsonian Institution to go on the expedition based on his extensive research.
Unbeknownst to Milo, his late grandfather Thaddeus was in the good graces with an eccentric millionaire named Preston B. Whitmore (John Mahoney), who decides to fund an elaborate expedition to Atlantis out of his own pocket. Gifting Milo his treasured copy of The Shepherd’s Journal, the map that describes the path to Atlantis, and introducing him to the expedition crew, Whitmore sends him on his way, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire leaves the streets, and plunges into the sea for the remainder of the film.
Never Trust A Mercenary
Milo is beyond enthusiastic about his opportunity to put his knowledge of dead languages and navigation to the test, and he finally has the financial backing to live out his grandfather’s wildest fantasy of locating Atlantis, and seeing the lost empire for himself.
Joining Milo is a rag-tag group of misfits led by Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke (James Garner), including his second-in-command, Lieutenant Helga Katrina Sinclair (Claudia Christian), a demolitions expert named Vinny (Don Novello), Dr. Joshua Strongbear Sweet (Phil Morris), an eccentric cook named Jebidiah Allardyce “Cookie” Farnsworth (Jim Varney), Wilhelmina Bertha Packard (Florence Stanley) the radio operator, and a French geologist who acts like a mole named Gaetan “Mole” Molière (Corey Burton).
After an unexpected mechanical leviathan attack that kills off most of the crew’s supporting soldiers and sailors in an epic series of explosions, Milo and company finally locate the lost city of Atlantis and introduce themselves to Kashekim Nedakh and an adult Kida (Cree Summer). While Kida is receptive to the idea of allowing Milo to recover the history of Atlantis through his unique expertise, Kashekim is wary of the crew, and pushes back under the assumption that they’re up to no good.
As luck may have it, and to the shock and disgust of Milo, Commander Rourke is only trying to locate the ancient crystal that’s located in Atlantis, and he’s only visiting the lost city to ransack it for his own personal gain. Having figured out his sinister plot, Milo, Kida, and the rest of the crew put their heads together to reclaim the lost city of Atlantis before the ancient civilization is stripped of its lifeforce.
An Underwater Adventure For The Whole Family
As much as I love the visuals and snappy dialogue found in Atlantis: The Lost Empire, one thing that truly bothered me was how quickly Milo transformed from a nervous wreck who can’t run down the Smithsonian hallway without tripping over his own feet into an underwater hero with god-like reaction time and agility. But since we’re talking about a kid’s movie with break-neck pacing and action sequences, I’m willing to suspend some disbelief while watching a movie about a secret ancient underwater society that’s controlled by glowing blue crystals.
At the end of the day Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a visually stunning, witty, and action-packed family film streaming on Disney+ that will bring out the explorer in you.
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