I don't "hate" Atlantis, but it certainly was a one and done film for me. There was so much potential with this premise to make something truely epic & remarkable. But what did we get? Poorly-drawn characters (with square fingers) who I stopped caring about within 15-min of this thing, a very predictable storyline, a protagonist who was hard to understand at times, and quite possibly the most boring & lifeless villain to ever grace the movie screen under the Disney name.
Take our hero, Milo Thatch. As much as I like Michael J. Fox, even he couldn't save this dimwitted leading role. By the time this bumbling idiot actually makes it to the submarine-boarding scene, I had completely lost my give-a-damn as far as what happens to him or his comrads. Granted, Disney *
tried* to make us like these characters by doing a decent job of telling their backstory, what their occupation was, and why they were needed for this expedition. But the characters are just put together so awfully, drawn so horribly, that it's really hard to like or care about them the way we do of other roles in Disney classics.
Moving on to our villain. The villain is such an important role in any Disney animated film. What does Atlantis have? A dull, middle-aged man with no personality and easily the worst one-liners ever.
"I love it when I win." Really?? That's the best you can come up with, Commander Rourke? I've heard more intense banter coming from 3rd graders after a tug-a-war. Then you have Rourke's 2nd in command who is like an evil Jessica Rabbit of sorts. At least she was somewhat of an interesting character, which is more than can be said about the rest of this cast.
Rourke would have been better off as a villain in a live-action film. But he was WAY too lifeless for a Disney animated feature. Had Rourke been in a live-action film of some kind, he would be a decent bad guy; the way he leads his forces to attack an innocent civilization and...
Son of a gun, James Cameron, you also ripped off Atlantis? (Seriously, watch Avatar and tell me the villain isn't Commander Rourke from Atlantis).
Disney had so much opportunity to go further with this story than they did, but instead, it fell flat when it should have leaped.
Hate the film? I wouldn't go that far. But I certainly would not want to re-live that hour+ of what I felt to be a major letdown.
As much as I love Disney animation, that summer belonged to Dreamwork's
Shrek. There was no way this "Titan A.E. meets 20K" could compete with the Ogre. Nice try, Disney, but giant robot lobsters and blue crystal people really aren't your thing. Just my two-cents worth.
