Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 American animated science-fantasy action-adventure film created by Walt Disney Feature Animation, marking the 41st entry in Disney's animated features canon and its first science-fiction film. Written by Tab Murphy, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, and produced by Don Hahn, the film features an ensemble cast with the voices of Michael J. Fox, Cree Summer, James Garner, Leonard Nimoy, Don Novello, Phil Morris, Claudia Christian, Jacqueline Obradors, Jim Varney (in his final role), Florence Stanley, John Mahoney, David Ogden Stiers and Corey Burton. Set in 1914, the film tells the story of a young man who gains possession of a sacred book, which he believes will guide him and a crew of mercenaries to the lost city of Atlantis.
Development of the film began after production had finished on The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Instead of another musical, the production team decided to do an action-adventure film inspired by the works of Jules Verne. Atlantis was notable for adopting the distinctive visual style of comic book creator Mike Mignola. The film made greater use of computer-generated imagery (CGI) than any of Disney's previous traditionally animated features, and it remains one of the few to have been shot in anamorphic format. Linguist Marc Okrand constructed an Atlantean language specifically for use in Atlantis. James Newton Howard provided the film's score. The film was released at a time when audience interest in animated films was shifting away from hand-drawn animation toward films with full CGI.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on June 3, 2001, and went into general release on June 15. Released by Walt Disney Pictures, Atlantis performed modestly at the box office. Budgeted at around $90-120 million, the film grossed over $186 million worldwide, $84 million of which was earned in North America. Due to the film's lackluster box office performance, Disney quietly canceled both a spin-off television series and an underwater attraction at its Disneyland theme park. Some critics praised it as a unique departure from typical Disney animated features, while others disliked it due to the unclear target audience and absence of songs. Atlantis was nominated for a number of awards, including seven Annie Awards, and won Best Sound Editing at the 2002 Golden Reel Awards. The film was released on VHS and DVD on January 29, 2002, and on Blu-ray on June 11, 2013. Atlantis is considered to be a cult favorite, due in part to Mignola's unique artistic influence. A direct-to-video sequel, Atlantis: Milo's Return, was released in 2003.
==Plot==
Many centuries ago, a tsunami threatens to drown the continent of Atlantis. In the midst of an evacuation from the capital city, the Queen of Atlantis is caught by a strange, hypnotic blue light and lifted up into the "Heart of Atlantis," a powerful crystal protecting the city. The crystal consumes her and creates a dome barrier that defends the city's innermost district. She leaves behind her young daughter, Princess Kida, as the island sinks beneath the ocean. Her husband, King Kashekim Nedakh, is blinded during the event as he protects Kida from the light. The legacy of Atlantis disappears from existence henceforth to have been described by Plato in 360 B.C.
In 1914, Milo Thatch, a cartographer and linguist at the Smithsonian Institution is marginalized for his research on Atlantis. Milo's late grandfather, Thaddeus Thatch, who was an archaeologist, had been scorned by the academic community remarking his conviction in Atlantis as disillusioned. Milo is determined to vindicate his grandfather's theory. He believes to have found the location of The Shepherd's Journal, an ancient manuscript that contains directions to the fabled lost continent preserved somewhere in Iceland. Though the museum board declines Milo's proposal to search for the Journal, a mysterious woman, Helga Sinclair, introduces Milo to Preston B. Whitmore, an eccentric millionaire, and lasting best friend of Milo's grandfather. Whitmore has already funded a successful effort to retrieve the Journal as repayment of a debt to Thaddeus, recruiting Milo to lead an expedition to Atlantis, as soon as he receives it. Milo immediately accepts the task. Whitmore also built a journeymen task force 200 - strong, equipped with military grade weapons and munitions.
The expedition departs with a specialist team led by Commander Lyle Rourke, who also led the Journal recovery expedition. Among the crew are Vinnie Santorini, the crew's Italian demolitions expert; Gaetan 'Mole' Molière, the borderline crazy geology specialist; Dr. Joshua Sweet, the ship's medical officer; Audrey Ramirez, the tomboyish mechanic; Jedidiah 'Cookie' Farnsworth, the ship's Western redneck cook; and Wilhelmina Packard, the elderly communications expert. They set out in the Ulysses, a massive submarine. During the voyage, they come to a sight of ruined Vikings ships and are attacked by the monstrous Leviathan, a robotic lobster-like creature that guards Atlantis. The Ulysses is subsequently destroyed, but Milo, Rourke, and a small complement of crewmembers escape sub-pods and a cargo hauler to a cavern, described in the Journal as the entrance to Atlantis.
After traveling through a network of caves and a dormant volcano, the team reaches the borders of Atlantis, where they are greeted by Kida and Atlanteans. However, Kida's father is not pleased with any outsiders, but agrees with Rourke for a one-night stay. Kida enlists Milo in deciphering the Atlantean written language and culture, long forgotten by the natives. By diving deep within the city's submerged ruins and translating underwater murals, Milo helps Kida uncover the nature of the Heart of Atlantis: it is a fragment of a comet that passed over the Earth and landed in 100,000 B.C. founded by Atlanteans that supplies the natives with longevity and technological advancements through the crystal shards worn around their necks. Milo is surprised this is not mentioned in the Journal but guesses a page is missing.
Returning to the surface with Kida, Milo found out Rourke has the missing page. Rourke and the crew are actually hired mercenaries, intending to bring the crystal to the surface and sell it. Rourke mortally beats Kashekim while trying to extract information of the crystal's location, instead finds it himself hidden beneath the king's throne room. The crystal detects a threat and merges with Kida, whom Rourke and the mercenaries lock in a crate, and then prepare to leave the city. Knowing that when the crystal is gone the Atlanteans will die, Milo berates the crew for renouncing their consciences, and ultimately convinces Sweet, Audrey, Vinny, Mole, Cookie, and Packard to leave Rourke and remain in Atlantis. Kashekim explains to Milo that the crystal has developed a consciousness; it thrives on the collective emotions of the Atlanteans and will find a royal host when Atlantis is in danger. He then reveals that the sinking of Atlantis was caused when he attempted to use it as a weapon of war, so he hid the crystal to prevent history from repeating itself and Kida suffering the same fate as her mother. As he dies, he gives his crystal to Milo, entrusting him to save Atlantis and Kida. Milo rallies the crew and Atlanteans to stop Rourke by teaching them how to operate Ketaks, stone combat vehicles powered by means of energy components with crystal shards, Kida shown him earlier.
In the ensuing battle inside the volcano, Rourke's men blown a hole through the top of the volcano and attempt to fly out on a zeppelin-like balloon, Milo crashes his Ketak to make it lose altitude but ends up fighting Rourke who gets the balloon ascending again. A dying Helga uses the last of her strength to get back at Rourke for betraying her and fires a flare gun destroying the balloon to descend permanently. Rourke and his mercenaries are all killed. Milo survives and the others successfully retrieve and fly the crystal back to the city, when a huge impact of the balloon causes the volcano to erupt. With lava flowing towards the city, Kida (in her crystal form) rises into the air and creates a protective shield. The lava freezes and breaks away harmlessly, showing a restored Atlantis and the crystal returns Kida to Milo. Having fallen in love with Kida, Milo becomes the new king of Atlantis, along with Kida as the next queen, and stays behind to help her rebuild the lost empire. The surviving crew members return to the surface, donned with crystal shards and rewarded with piles of gold, promising to keep the discovery of Atlantis a secret. Whitmore received a package from Milo on behalf of helping his family realize their dream. Milo completes the construction of a stone effigy of Kashekim to join the other past kings orbiting the Heart of Atlantis as it once again hovers above the newly improved city.
==Cast==
*Milo James Thatch (voiced by Michael J. Fox) — A cartographer and linguist, and 12th (current) King of Atlantis.
*Kidagakash "Kida" Nedakh (voiced by Cree Summer) — The 8,500-year-old princess of Atlantis and (current) Queen Matriarch Savior of Atlantis.
*Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke (voiced by James Garner) — An army commander and expedition leader.
*Gaetan "Mole" Moliére (voiced by Corey Burton) — A French geologist.
*Vincenzo "Vinny" Santorini (voiced by Don Novello) — An Italian demolitions expert.
*Dr. Joshua Strongbear Sweet (voiced by Phil Morris) — An African-American medical officer.
*Lieutenant Helga Katrina Sinclair (voiced by Claudia Christian) — Rourke's second-in-command.
*Audrey Rocio Ramirez (voiced by Jacqueline Obradors) — A young Hispanic mechanic.
*King Kashekim Nedakh (voiced by Leonard Nimoy) — Princess Kida's father and 11th King of Atlantis.
*Preston B. Whitmore (voiced by John Mahoney) — An eccentric millionaire and an old friend of Milo's grandfather.
*Wilhelmina Bertha Packard (voiced by Florence Stanley) — A communications expert.
*Jedidiah Allardyce "Cookie" Farnsworth (voiced by Jim Varney) — A cook.
*Fenton Q. Harcourt (voiced by David Ogden Stiers) — Milo's boss at the Smithsonian Institution.
== Keepers of the Journal ==
At some point between the sinking of Atlantis (6586 B.C.) and when Solon first hears about the lost continent (640 B.C.), Aziz, a nomadic shepherd, happened upon a deep schism in the earth. Over a two year period, Aziz learned about it's culture, language, and, most of all, the crystals that serve as their power source. As King Kashekim Nedakh would have had outsiders killed on sight to protect Atlantis, the shepherd would conduct his research as secretly and discreetly as possible. Upon returning to the surface, Aziz was declared a madman and sent to an asylum. While imprisoned, he wrote down on numerous scrolls about his discovery in great detail. However, he document all of this in the Atlantean Language and thus they would be immediately dismissed as incomprehensible scribbles. These writings originally be christened The Scrolls of Aziz, but it later be converted into a book known as The Shepherd's Journal.
A secret society founded in the year 997 AD soon after a failed attempt by a Viking expedition to find Atlantis with the aid of the Shepherd's Journal, when their longboat was destroyed by the Leviathan and the crew lost except for one survivor Thorfinn Karlsefni. Thorfinn vowed to find the Journal, which had been lost in the incident, and preserve it to its rightful home in Iceland. After Milo becomes the new king of Atlantis, he would used the Journal as an educational guide for the natives thanks to Aziz's records.
==Quotations (in Atlantean)==
*Atlantean Pilot #1: "NEE-puk! GWEE-sit TEE-rid MEH-gid-leh-men!" ("You fool! You've destroyed us all!")
*Atlantean Pilot #2: "Shoam KOO-leh-beh-toat! LOO-den-tem WEE-luhg KAH-behr-seh-kem!" ("It's gaining! We have to warn the city!")
*Atlantean Pilot #2 (cont'd): "Nahl YOH-deh-neh-toat!" ("Too late! AAAAAAAGHHH!")
*Additional Pilots: "GWEE-sit khoab-DEH-sheh-toat! SOH-lesh-tem MOO-tih-lihm-kem!" ("We're doomed! All is lost!")
----
*Princess Kida: "MAH-tihm!" ("Mother!")
----
*Princess Kida: "Deh-GEEM, TAH-neb-toap. Way-DAH-go-sen NEH-bet behr-NOH-tib-mick." ("Greetings, Your Highness. I have brought the visitors.")
*King Kashekim Nedakh: "MOAKH TAH-mar GWEE-sin puhn-NEB-leh-nen KEE-duh-toap. WEEL-tem neb GAH-moh-seh-toat deg DOO-weh-ren TEE-rid." ("You know the law, Kida. No outsiders may see the city and live.")
*Princess Kida: "TAHB-toap, LOO-den NEH-bet kwahm GEH-soo BOH-geh-kem deg YAH-seh-ken GEH-soo-goan-tokh." ("Father, these people may be able to help us.")
*King Kashekim Nedakh: "GWEES DOH-sep-tem SOH-bin kwahm AH-lih-teh-kem." ("We do not need their help.")
*Princess Kida: "Uhd TAHB-toap..." ("But Father...")
*King Kashekim Nedakh: "Puh-SEEL-leh-toat. TAH-ges DOH-tesh-tem neb YOO-teh-poan-kem." ("That is enough. We will discuss this later.")
----
*Princess Kida: "MOH-khit GWEH-noag-loh-nick!" ("I will kill you for that!")
----
*Princess Kida: "NEE-shen-toap AHD-luhn-tih-suhg, KEH-loab-tem GAHB-rihn KAH-roak-lih-mihk bet gihm DEH-moat-tem net GEH-tuh-noh-sen-tem behr-NOAT-lih-mihk bet KAH-gihb LEH-wihd-yoakh." ("Spirits of Atlantis, forgive me for defiling your chambers and bringing intruders into the land.")
----
*Princess Kida: "SOH-lesh MAH-toh-noat, MY-loh THATCH-toap. Kwahm TEH-red-seh-nen." ("All will be well, Milo Thatch. Be not afraid.")
==Production==
===Development===
The idea for Atlantis: The Lost Empire was conceived in October 1996 when Don Hahn, Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise, and Tab Murphy lunched at a Mexican restaurant in Burbank, California. Having recently completed The Hunchback of Notre Dame the producer and directors wanted to keep the Hunchback crew together for another film with an Adventureland setting. Drawing inspiration from Jules Verne's A Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864), they set out to make a film which would fully explore Atlantis (compared to the brief visit depicted in Verne's novel). While primarily utilizing the Internet to research the mythology of Atlantis, the filmmakers became interested in the clairvoyant readings of Edgar Cayce and decided to incorporate some of his ideas—notably that of a mother-crystal which provides power, healing, and longevity to the Atlanteans—into the story. They also visited museums and old army installations to study the technology of the early 20th century (the film's time period), and traveled 800 feet underground in New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns to view the subterranean trails which would serve as a model for the approach to Atlantis in the film.
The filmmakers wanted to avoid the common depiction of Atlantis as "crumbled Greek columns underwater", said Wise.[26] "From the get-go, we were committed to designing it top to bottom. Let's get the architectural style, clothing, heritage, customs, how they would sleep, and how they would speak. So we brought people on board who would help us develop those ideas."[27] Art director David Goetz stated, "We looked at Mayan architecture, styles of ancient, unusual architecture from around the world, and the directors really liked the look of Southeast Asian architecture."[28] The team later took ideas from other architectural forms, including Cambodian, Indian, and Tibetan works.[29] Hahn added, "If you take and deconstruct architecture from around the world into one architectural vocabulary, that's what our Atlantis looks like."[30] The overall design and circular layout of Atlantis were also based on the writings of Plato,[29] and his quote "in a single day and night of misfortune, the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea"[31] was influential from the beginning of production.[20] The crew wore T-shirts which read "ATLANTIS—Fewer songs, more explosions" due the film's plan as an action-adventure (unlike previous Disney animated features, which were musicals).[32]
====Language====
Marc Okrand, who developed the Klingon language for the Star Trek television and theatrical productions, was hired to devise the Atlantean language for Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Guided by the directors' initial concept for it to be a "mother-language", Okrand employed an Indo-European word stock with its own grammatical structure. He would change the words if they began to sound too much like an actual, spoken language.[27] John Emerson designed the written component, making hundreds of random sketches of individual letters from among which the directors chose the best to represent the Atlantean alphabet.[33][34] The written language was boustrophedon: designed to be read left-to-right on the first line, then right-to-left on the second, continuing in a zigzag pattern to simulate the flow of water.[7]
===Writing===
Joss Whedon was the first writer to be involved with the film but soon left to work on other Disney projects. According to him, he "had not a shred" in the movie.[36] Tab Murphy completed the screenplay, stating that the time from initially discussing the story to producing a script that satisfied the film crew was "about three to four months".[37] The initial draft was 155 pages, much longer than a typical Disney film script (which usually runs 90 pages). When the first two acts were timed at 120 minutes, the directors cut characters and sequences and focused more on Milo. Murphy said that he created the centuries-old Shepherd's Journal because he needed a map for the characters to follow throughout their journey.[38] A revised version of the script eliminated the trials encountered by the explorers as they navigated the caves to Atlantis. This gave the film a faster pace because Atlantis is discovered earlier in the story.[39]
The character of Milo J. Thatch was originally supposed to be a descendant of Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard the pirate. The directors later related him to an explorer so he would discover his inner talent for exploration.[41] The character of Molière was originally intended to be "professorial" but Chris Ure, a story artist, changed the concept to that of a "horrible little burrowing creature with a wacky coat and strange headgear with extending eyeballs", said Wise.[42][43] Don Hahn pointed out that the absence of songs presented a challenge for a team accustomed to animating musicals, as solely action scenes would have to carry the film. Kirk Wise said it gave the team an opportunity for more on-screen character development: "We had more screen time available to do a scene like where Milo and the explorers are camping out and learning about one another's histories. An entire sequence is devoted to having dinner and going to bed. That is not typically something we would have the luxury of doing."[27]
Hahn stated that the first animated sequence completed during production was the film's prologue. The original version featured a Viking war party using The Shepherd's Journal to find Atlantis and being swiftly dispatched by the Leviathan. Near the end of production, story supervisor John Sanford told the directors that he felt this prologue did not give viewers enough emotional involvement with the Atlanteans. Despite knowing that the Viking prologue was finished and it would cost additional time and money to alter the scene, the directors agreed with Sanford. Trousdale went home and completed the storyboards later that evening. The opening was replaced by a sequence depicting the destruction of Atlantis, which introduced the film from the perspective of the Atlanteans and Princess Kida.[44] The Viking prologue is included as an extra feature on the DVD release.[45]
===Animation===
At the peak of its production, 350 animators, artists and technicians were working on Atlantis[46] at all three Disney animation studios: Walt Disney Feature Animation (Burbank, California), Disney Feature Animation Florida (Orlando), and Disney Animation France (Paris).[47] The film was one of the few Disney animated features produced and shot in 35mm anamorphic format. The directors felt that a widescreen image was crucial, as a nostalgic reference to old action-adventure films presented in the CinemaScope format (2.39:1), noting Raiders of the Lost Ark as an inspiration.[48] Because switching to the format would require animation desks and equipment designed for widescreen to be purchased, Disney executives were at first reluctant about the idea.[27] The production team found a simple solution by drawing within a smaller frame on the same paper and equipment used for standard aspect ratio (1.66:1) Disney-animated films.[48] Layout supervisor Ed Ghertner wrote a guide to the widescreen format for use by the layout artists and mentioned that one advantage of widescreen was that he could keep characters in scenes longer because of additional space to walk within the frame.[49] Wise drew further inspiration for the format from filmmakers David Lean and Akira Kurosawa.[27]
The film's visual style was strongly based upon that of Mike Mignola, the comic book artist behind Hellboy. Mignola was one of four production designers (along with Matt Codd, Jim Martin, and Ricardo Delgado) hired by the Disney studio for the film. Accordingly, he provided style guides, preliminary character and background designs, and story ideas.[50] "Mignola's graphic, angular style was a key influence on the 'look' of the characters," stated Wise.[51] Mignola was surprised when first contacted by the studio to work on Atlantis.[52] His artistic influence on the film would later contribute to a cult following.[53]
The final pull-out scene of the movie, immediately before the end-title card, was described by the directors as the most difficult scene in the history of Disney animation. They said that the pullout attempt on their prior film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, "struggled" and "lacked depth"; however, after making advances in the process of multiplaning, they tried the technique again in Atlantis. The scene begins with one 16-inch (40.5 cm) piece of paper showing a close-up of Milo and Kida. As the camera pulls away from them to reveal the newly restored Atlantis, it reaches the equivalent of an 18,000-inch (45,720 cm) piece of paper composed of many individual pieces of paper (24 inches [61 cm] or smaller). Each piece was carefully drawn and combined with animated vehicles simultaneously flying across the scene to make the viewer see a complete, integrated image.[54]
At the time of its release, Atlantis: The Lost Empire was notable for using more computer-generated imagery (CGI) than any other Disney traditionally animated feature. To increase productivity, the directors had the digital artists work with the traditional animators throughout the production. Several important scenes required heavy use of digital animation: the Leviathan, the Ulysses submarine and sub-pods, the Heart of Atlantis, and the Stone Giants.[56] During production, after Matt Codd and Jim Martin designed the Ulysses on paper, Greg Aronowitz was hired to build a scale model of the submarine, to be used as a reference for drawing the 3D Ulysses.[55] The final film included 362 digital-effects shots, and computer programs were used to seamlessly join the 2D and 3D artwork.[57] One scene that took advantage of this was the "sub-drop" scene, where the 3D Ulysses was dropped from its docking bay into the water. As the camera floated toward it, a 2D Milo was drawn to appear inside, tracking the camera. The crew noted that it was challenging to keep the audience from noticing the difference between the 2D and 3D drawings when they were merged.[58] The digital production also gave the directors a unique "virtual camera" for complicated shots within the film. With the ability to operate in the z-plane, this camera moved through a digital wire-frame set; the background and details were later hand-drawn over the wire frames. This was used in the opening flight scene through Atlantis and the submarine chase through the undersea cavern with the Leviathan in pursuit.[59]
===Music and sound===
Since the film would not feature any songs, the directors hired James Newton Howard to compose the score. Approaching it as a live-action film, Howard decided to have different musical themes for the cultures of the surface world and Atlantis. In the case of Atlantis, Howard chose an Indonesian orchestral sound incorporating chimes, bells, and gongs. The directors told Howard that the film would have a number of key scenes without dialogue; the score would need to convey emotionally what the viewer was seeing on screen.[60]
Gary Rydstrom and his team at Skywalker Sound were hired for the film's sound production.[61] Like Howard, Rydstrom employed different sounds for the two cultures. Focusing on the machine and mechanical sounds of the early industrial era for the explorers, he felt that the Atlanteans should have a "more organic" sound utilizing ceramics and pottery. The sound made by the Atlantean flying-fish vehicles posed a particular challenge. Rydstrom revealed that he was sitting at the side of a highway recording one day when a semi-truck drove by at high speed. When the recording was sped up on his computer he felt it sounded very organic, and that is what is heard within the film. Rydstrom created the harmonic chiming of the Heart of Atlantis by rubbing his finger along the edge of a champagne flute, and the sound of sub-pods moving through water with a water pick.
== Release ==
Atlantis: The Lost Empire had its world premiere at Disney's El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on June 3, 2001 and a limited release in New York City and Los Angeles on June 8; a wider release followed on June 15. At the premiere, Destination: Atlantis was on display, featuring behind-the-scenes props from the film and information on the legend of Atlantis with video games, displays, laser tag, and other attractions. The Aquarium of the Pacific also loaned a variety of fish for display within the attraction.
=== Marketing and promotion ===
Atlantis was among Disney's first major attempts to utilize internet marketing. The film was promoted through Kellogg's, which created a website with mini-games and a movie-based video game give-away for UPC labels from specially marked packages of Atlantis breakfast cereal. The film was one of Disney's first marketing attempts through mobile network operators, and allowed users to download games based on the film. McDonald's (which had an exclusive licensing agreement on all Disney releases) promoted the film with Happy Meal toys, food packaging and in-store decor. The McDonald's advertising campaign involved television, radio, and print advertisements beginning on the film's release date. Frito-Lay offered free admission tickets for the film on specially marked snack packages.
===Soundtrack===
The soundtrack to Atlantis: The Lost Empire was released on May 22, 2001. It consists primarily of James Newton Howard's score and includes "Where the Dream Takes You", written by Howard and Diane Warren and performed by Mýa. It was also available in a limited edition of 20,000 numbered copies with a unique 3D album cover insert depicting the Leviathan from the film. A rare promotional edition (featuring 73 minutes of material, compared to the 53 minutes on standard commercial editions) was intended only for Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voters but was bootlegged and distributed with fan-created artwork. Concerning the promotional edition, Filmtracks said, "Outside of about five minutes of superior additional material (including the massive opening, "Atlantis Destroyed"), the complete presentation is mostly redundant. Still, Atlantis is an accomplished work for its genre."
===Video games===
There are several video games based on the film. Atlantis The Lost Empire: Search for the Journal (commonly known as Atlantis: Search for the Journal) was developed by Zombie Studios and published by Buena Vista Games, a subsidiary of Disney Interactive. It was released on May 1, 2001, for the Microsoft Windows platform and was a first-person shooter game, the first of two games based on the film developed by Zombie Studios and released for UPC labels from Kellogg's products for promotion. Atlantis: The Lost Empire—Trial by Fire (commonly known as Atlantis: Trial by Fire) was the second game developed by Zombie Studios and published by Disney Interactive, and was released May 18, 2001, for the Microsoft Windows platform.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire is an action game developed by Eurocom for the PlayStation console which was released June 14, 2001. The player controls Milo, Audrey, Molière, Kida and Vinny as they traverse Atlantis, unlocking its secrets. Some features in the game unlock others (such as a movie) by finding items hidden throughout the game. THQ released Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire for the Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Color. It is a platform game in which the player controls Milo and three other characters from the film across 14 levels on a quest to discover Atlantis. The game was met with average to mixed reviews upon release. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 74% and 73 out of 100 for the PlayStation version; 65% for the Game Boy Color version; and 56% and 51 out of 100 for the Game Boy Advance version.
===Home media ===
Atlantis: The Lost Empire was released on VHS and DVD January 29, 2002. During the first month of its home release, the film led in VHS sales and was third in VHS and DVD sales combined. Sales and rentals of the VHS and DVD combined would eventually accumulate $157 million in revenue by mid-2003.Vancheri; Weiskind 2003 p. D–2 "Consider what happened with Atlantis: The Lost Empire. It earned $84 million at the box office and rebounded with another $157 million in DVD and VHS rentals and sales, according to Video Business." Both a single-disc DVD edition and a two-disc collector's edition (with bonus features) were released. The single-disc DVD gave the viewer the option of viewing the film either in its original theatrical 2.35:1 aspect ratio or a modified 1.33:1 ratio (utilizing pan and scan). Bonus features available on the DVD version included audio and visual commentary from the film team, a virtual tour of the CGI models, an Atlantean-language tutorial, an encyclopedia on the myth of Atlantis, and the deleted Viking prologue scene. The two-disc collector's edition DVD contained all the single-disc features and a disc with supplemental material detailing all aspects of the film's production. The collector's-edition film could only be viewed in its original theatrical ratio, and also featured an optional DTS 5.1 track. Both DVD versions, however, contained a Dolby Digital 5.1 track and were THX certified. Disney digitally remastered and released Atlantis on Blu-ray on June 11, 2013, bundled with its sequel Atlantis: Milo's Return.
== Reception ==
=== Box office ===
Before the film's release, reporters speculated that it would have a difficult run due to competition from DreamWorks' Shrek (a wholly CGI feature) and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (an action-adventure film from Paramount Pictures). Regarding the market's shift from traditional animation and competition with CGI films, Kirk Wise said, "Any traditional animator, including myself, can't help but feel a twinge. I think it always comes down to story and character, and one form won't replace the other. Just like photography didn't replace painting. But maybe I'm blind to it." Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly noted that CGI films (such as Shrek) were more likely to attract the teenage demographic typically not interested in animation, and called Atlantis a "marketing and creative gamble".
With a budget of $100 million, the film opened at #2 on its debut weekend, behind Lara Croft: Tomb Raider earning $20.3 million in 3,011 theaters. The film's international release began September 20 in Australia and other markets followed suit. During its 25-week theatrical run, Atlantis: The Lost Empire grossed over $186 million worldwide ($84 million from the United States and Canada). Responding to its disappointing box-office performance, Thomas Schumacher, then-president of Walt Disney Feature Animation, said, "It seemed like a good idea at the time to not do a sweet fairy tale, but we missed."
===Critical response===
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 49% of 143 professional critics have given Atlantis: The Lost Empire a positive review; the average rating is 5.51/10. The site's consensus is: "Atlantis provides a fast-paced spectacle, but stints on such things as character development and a coherent plot". Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 52 out of 100 based on 29 reviews from mainstream critics; this was considered "mixed or average reviews". CinemaScore polls conducted during the opening weekend revealed the average grade cinema-goers gave Atlantis: The Lost Empire was an "A" on an A+-to-F scale.
While critics had mixed reactions to the film in general, some praised it for its visuals, action-adventure elements, and its attempt to appeal to an older audience. Roger Ebert gave Atlantis three-and-a-half stars out of four. He praised the animation's "clean bright visual look" and the "classic energy of the comic book style", crediting this to the work of Mike Mignola. Ebert gave particular praise to the story and the final battle scene and wrote, "The story of Atlantis is rousing in an old pulp science fiction sort of way, but the climactic scene transcends the rest, and stands by itself as one of the great animated action sequences." In The New York Times, Elvis Mitchell gave high praise to the film, calling it "a monumental treat", and stated, "Atlantis is also one of the most eye-catching Disney cartoons since Uncle Walt institutionalized the four-fingered glove." Internet film critic James Berardinelli wrote a positive review of the film, giving it three out of four stars. He wrote, "On the whole, Atlantis offers 90 minutes of solid entertainment, once again proving that while Disney may be clueless when it comes to producing good live-action movies, they are exactly the opposite when it comes to their animated division." Wesley Morris of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote positively of the film's approach for an older audience: "But just beneath the surface, Atlantis brims with adult possibility."
Other critics felt that the film was mediocre in regards to its story and characters, and that it failed to deliver as a non-musical to Disney's traditional audience. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C+ rating, writing that the film had "gee-whiz formulaic character" and was "the essence of craft without dream". Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said the storyline and characterizations were "old-fashioned" and the film had the retrograde look of a Saturday-morning cartoon, but these deficiencies were offset by its "brisk action" and frantic pace. Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "Disney pushes into all-talking, no-singing, no-dancing and, in the end, no-fun animated territory." Stephanie Zacharek of Salon wrote of Disney's attempt to make the film for an adult audience, "The big problem with Disney's latest animated feature, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, is that it doesn't seem geared to kids at all: It's so adult that it's massively boring." Rita Kempley of The Washington Post panned the film, calling it a "new-fashioned but old-fangled hash" and wrote, "Ironically Disney had hoped to update its image with this mildly diverting adventure, yet the picture hasn't really broken away from the tried-and-true format spoofed in the far superior Shrek."
===Themes and interpretations===
Several critics and scholars have noted that Atlantis plays strongly on themes of anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism. M. Keith Booker, academic and author of studies about the implicit messages conveyed by media, views the character of Rourke as being motivated by "capitalist greed" when he pursues "his own financial gain" in spite of the knowledge that "his theft [of the crystal] will lead to the destruction of [Atlantis]".Booker 2009, p. 68. Religion journalist Mark Pinsky, in his exploration of moral and spiritual themes in popular Disney films, says that "it is impossible to read the movie ... any other way" than as "a devastating, unrelenting attack on capitalism and American imperialism".Pinsky 2004, p. 202. Max Messier of FilmCritic.com observes, "Disney even manages to lambast the capitalist lifestyle of the adventurers intent on uncovering the lost city. Damn the imperialists!" According to Booker, the film also "delivers a rather segregationist moral" by concluding with the discovery of the Atlanteans kept secret from other surface-dwellers in order to maintain a separation between the two highly divergent cultures.Booker 2009, p. 69. Others saw Atlantis as an interesting look at utopian philosophy of the sort found in classic works of science fiction by H. G. Wells and Jules Verne.Montalbano 2010, p. 183.
===Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water controversy===
When the film was released, some viewers noticed that Atlantis: The Lost Empire bore a number of similarities to the 1990–1991 Japanese anime television program Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, particularly in its character design, setting, and story. The similarities, as noted by viewers in both Japan and America, were strong enough for its production company Gainax to be called to sue for plagiarism. According to Gainax member Yasuhiro Takeda, they only refrained from doing so because the decision belonged to parent companies NHK and Toho. Another Gainax worker, Hiroyuki Yamaga, was quoted in an interview in 2000 as: "We actually tried to get NHK to pick a fight with Disney, but even the National Television Network of Japan didn't dare to mess with Disney and their lawyers. [...] We actually did say that but we wouldn't actually take them to court. We would be so terrified about what they would do to them in return that we wouldn’t dare."
Although Disney never responded formally to those claims, co-director Kirk Wise posted on a Disney animation newsgroup in May 2001, "Never heard of Nadia till it was mentioned in this [newsgroup]. Long after we'd finished production, I might add." He claimed both Atlantis and Nadia were inspired, in part, by the 1870 Jules Verne novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.Patten 2004, p. 187. However, speaking about the clarification, Lee Zion from Anime News Network wrote, "There are too many similarities not connected with 20,000 Leagues for the whole thing to be coincidence." As such, the whole affair ultimately entered popular culture as a convincing case of plagiarism. In 2018, Reuben Baron from Comic Book Resources added to Zion's comment stating, "Verne didn't specifically imagine magic crystal-based technology, something featured in both the Disney movie and the two similar anime. The Verne inspiration also doesn't explain the designs being suspiciously similar to Nadias."
Critics also saw parallels with the 1986 film Laputa: Castle in the Sky from Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. Atlantis directors Trousdale and Kirk both acknowledged Miyazaki's works as a major influence on their own work. Critics also drew parallels with the 1994 film Stargate. Milo's characteristics were said to resemble those of Daniel Jackson, the protagonist of Stargate and its spinoff television series Stargate SG-1—which coincidentally launched its own spinoff, titled Stargate Atlantis.
===Accolades ===
Award 	Category 	Name 	Result
29th Annie Awards 	Individual Achievement in Directing 	Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise 	
29th Annie Awards 	Individual Achievement in Storyboarding 	Chris Ure 	
29th Annie Awards 	Individual Achievement in Production Design 	David Goetz 	
29th Annie Awards 	Individual Achievement in Effects Animation 	Marlon West 	
29th Annie Awards 	Individual Achievement in Voice Acting – Female	Florence Stanley 	
29th Annie Awards 	Individual Achievement in Voice Acting – Male 	Leonard Nimoy 	
29th Annie Awards 	Individual Achievement for Music Score 	James Newton Howard 	
2002 DVD Exclusive Awards 	Original Retrospective Documentary 	Michael Pellerin 	
2002 Golden Reel Award 	Best Sound Editing – Animated Feature Film 	Gary Rydstrom, Michael Silvers, Mary Helen Leasman, John K. Carr, Shannon Mills, Ken Fischer, David C. Hughes, and Susan Sanford	
Online Film Critics Society Awards 2001	Best Animated Feature 	 	
2002 Political Film Society 	Democracy 	 	
2002 Political Film Society 	Human Rights 	 	
2002 Political Film Society 	Peace 	 	
World Soundtrack Awards 	Best Original Song for Film 	Diane Warren and James Newton Howard 	
Young Artist Awards 	Best Feature Family Film – Drama 	Walt Disney Feature Animation 	
==Cancelled franchise==
Atlantis: the Lost Empire was meant to provide a springboard for an animated television series entitled Team Atlantis, which would have presented the further adventures of its characters. However, because of the film's under-performance at the box office, the series was not produced. On May 20, 2003, Disney released a direct-to-video sequel called Atlantis: Milo's Return, consisting of three episodes planned for the aborted series. In addition, Disneyland planned to revive its Submarine Voyage ride with an Atlantis theme with elements from the movie and the ride was promoted with a meet-and-greet by the movie's characters. These plans were canceled and the attraction was re-opened in 2007 as the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, its theme based on the 2003 Disney·Pixar animated film Finding Nemo, which was far more successful commercially and critically.
==Trivia==
*The flying craft in the movie are remarkably similar to the Vimana, ancient aircraft appearing in texts of ancient India, the concept of which was rumored to have been adapted by the Atlanteans into their own craft.
*Eason Chan and Karen Mok provided the voice of Milo and Kida respectively in the Cantonese version of the film.
*In the shot of the Ulysses going down into the depths of the ocean, one of the crewmen is seen waving to the camera. He is visible for a few frames, right after Milo goes out of camera range.
*After Milo gets seasick on the first ship, his line, "Carrots? Why are there always carrots? I didn't even eat carrots!" was ad-libbed by Michael J. Fox.
*Because the movie was planned out as an action/adventure, the production crew wore T-shirts to work that read "ATLANTIS - Fewer songs, more explosions."
*The written Atlantean language is to be read left to right, drop down a line, and read right to left, continuing this cycle. It was done to create a flowing, water-like movement reminiscent of the Atlantean culture. This style, called boustrophedon, was also how Ancient Greek was written.
*Vinnie's last name, "Santorini," is also the current name of an ancient chain of volcanic islands in the Mediterranean that erupted with many times the force of Mount Vesuvius (and predated it by many centuries), devastated the Minoan civilization, and may have been an origin of the Atlantean legend. This might also explain Vinnie's profound obsession with explosives.
*At the tattoo parlor in the Atlantean city, there is a sign that says "EAT FISH."
*The spiral "Atlantis" symbol can be found hidden in many places in the movie, particularly because it is supposed to substitute for the letter "A."
*The Leviathan Graveyard contains ships from every Disney movie, a fact seemingly noted by Milo.
*One of the Gargoyles from The Hunchback of Notre Dame is in Preston Whitmore's library.
*This was the first Disney animated feature to receive a PG rating since The Black Cauldron, 16 years earlier (although The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, and Dinosaur were rated PG, they are not usually put in the canon of Disney animated features).
*This would start a series of several Disney animated features rated PG, including Lilo & Stitch, Treasure Planet, and Home on the Range. Ironically, The Princess Diaries which released that year was rated G, something rare in a live-action film at the time (most of the Disney live-action films at that time were almost always rated PG). Unfortunately, none of these PG-rated Disney animated features (except for Lilo & Stitch) turn out to be successful.
*When Helga is hitting the ground, there is not blood and gore visible in Disney movies. It most likely that Blood and gore were censored that it would disturbing for young children.
*The teaser trailer was attached to Dinosaur on May 2000 in theatres and the scene shows the Vikings were edited out in the movie.
*The alternate scene is Helga is consumed by lava and burned to death May upset young children so it would be removed so it was very scared for Disney movies.
*The Ulysses is reminiscent of the Nautilus from the 1954 version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
*In Preston B. Whitmore's office, there are coelacanths swimming in the tank behind him, but coelacanths were not officially discovered until 1938, while the film is set in 1914.
*This was Disney's first 70 mm film since The Black Cauldron.
*According to the writings of philosopher Plato dating back to 360 B.C., "...in a single day and night of misfortune, the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea."
*The filmmakers turned to real-life linguistics expert Marc Okrand to create an original readable, speakable language for the film. Using a 29-letter alphabet, Okrand made up hundreds of Atlantean words for the actors to speak.
*To prepare for the production, the filmmakers visited museums to study World War I-era clothing and machinery, and toured old army installations to look at submarines and tanks. They also traveled 800 feet underground in New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns to observe the subterranean trails that would serve as the model for the approach to Atlantis in the film.
*When it came to creating the look of the city of Atlantis, the filmmakers wanted to avoid the common conception of "Greek columns under the sea somewhere," says art director Dave Goetz. Instead, they modeled their Atlantis on the architecture of ancient civilizations in China, South America, and the Middle East.
*More recently, the Doge's Elite Guards unit from the 2006 real-time strategy computer game Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends seem to be modeled after the soldiers from the Ulysses crew, though it is unknown whether Big Huge Games intended to model the unit after them.
*Jim Varney (the voice of Cookie) died just before finishing the film. The "I ain't so good at speechifying" line near the end is the only line not spoken by Varney. Steve Barr did the voice for that scene.
*The car that Helga drives to Whitmore's mansion is nearly identical to the one Cruella De Vil drives in One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
*The Atlantean King bears a striking resemblance to Yensid, the sorcerer in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" from Fantasia.
*Originally, the final battle was to be only on land, but the creators decided put the action in the air to create a more dramatic sequence.
*When the surface-dwellers first meet the Atlanteans, the Atlanteans address them in French, Spanish, Italian, Hebrew, German, Greek, Chinese, and Taiwanese. Milo speaks to them in Atlantean, Latin, and French.
*Lloyd Bridges was originally cast as Preston Whitmore, but he died shortly after production began.
*Tommy Lee Jones, Jack Davenport, and Kurt Russell were considered for the role of Commander Rourke.
*Whitmore crosses his fingers behind his back during the launch of the Ulysses, denoting that he is not fully confident of this.
*Despite being a princess, Kida is not considered one of the official Disney Princesses. This is most likely due to the lack of commercial success of the film.
==See also==
*Atlantis in art, literature and popular culture
*Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water
==References==
==External links==
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