Luke wrote:Atlantis, on the other hand, is a genuine stinker, at least as much as a Disney animated film can be. Instead of characters, there are accents - people swing from protagonist to antagonist and back, with no rhyme or reason. The concept is interesting, but the execution of the plot is anything but. I own it, bought it unseen. Do I regret buying it? No. Have I watched it much in the past two years? No, not at all.
Gasp! As much as it pains me, I have to disagree with Luke on this one (I know, please forgive me Luke - I know not what I do). In fact, I could not disagree more.
Atlantis
I will admit that some of the characters are
caricatures , but I find this part of the charm. It harks back to the old adventure stories that were full of people with various expertise or qualities. This dynamic served
Gilligan's Island well for years (ok, not helping my case am I?
)! In fact, I would say it was far more interesting have these types of characters, rather than say...
Mulan or
Pocahontas, which was going soooo far out of their way so as not to be culturally offensive that they come off as bland.
Ok, even if you disagree with me on the above point, to go so far as to call the film a stinker I think is a bit harsh (I won't say it is wrong, because that would be a little too Ernest Risterish).
I think Disney really needed a good adventure tale, which seemed to have died along with Disney's successful non-comedy live action movies. And from go to woe,
Atlantis is one of the best adventures yarns ever put down on animated films. It has all the elements (maybe a little cliché, but that is half the fun).
The animation itself is also quite stunning. As a comic-book fan, the Mike Mignola inspired characters were brilliant, and the design of the various set pieces were quite stunning.
I would have like to have seen more of the characters and adventures. Judging from the
Milo Returns DVD, the series would have been great.
Anyhoo, I bought it blind and not only did I love the movie, but the DVD is a fantastic buy. It is probably one of the most comprehensive looks at the making of an animated film you are ever going to get.
The Emperors New Groove CE
This film is simply fun. I enjoyed the fact that the animators and writers just let go and had a bunch of silly stuff happen. And there was a cow joke.
Once again, the DVD is brilliant, and is in much the same format as the above. Perhaps the only thing missing is details of the partially completed "Kingdom of the Sun", which was deemed to boring and serious for the punters. I would have like to have seen some of the completed animation, or a doco on how the changes were made and came to be the film I know and love. Otherwise, a damn near perfect set.
