Review: Atlantis 117
A new Disney Animated Feature is a happy day for me. I've filed in to see them all for so many years now. Even if they are wretched (Pocohantes anyone?) I'm there, usually opening night, hoping for the magic that I've found in so many of them (Fantasia, Bambi, The Little Mermaid). I love animation. I love eye candy. And so help me, I love a good 75 minute action/comedy animated by Disney, and written by the disney-borg-committee that panders to a lowest common denominator of blandness and PC blah. And this time I was surprised.
Atlantis is good. Not knock-your-socks-off good, but solidly entertaining. It has its shortcomings (more on that later) but at its core it is a solid adventure movie, with great visuals and a plot that keeps you wondering what's going to happen next. I found the characters weak for my tastes (but nothing compared to Suck Raider which I saw only hours before and simply wanted every character to die a painful death just as soon as possible).
Allright, the general plot. We've all heard of Atlantis right? Well Milo wants to find it. Of course his Grandpa was an archaeologist too. A master researcher in the field who's long left our hero. Milo lucks out by finding a wealthy old man who's going to back his search for the lost city because he owes the old man a favor. A crew of misfits is assembled, and they set out for the city. Of course they discover the city, have a few adventures, scuffle with the locals, an enemy is revealed from among them, and gigantic battles and sacrifices must be made to save Atlantis, and perhaps even the whole world.
Nothing hugely original. And neither are the characters. Milo is of course the geeky one. In this case Linguist and Cartographer voiced by Michael J Fox. He's fairly unoriginal, and while capably voiced, I can't help but having a problem with Fox. I keep expecting him to proclaim that if the submarine can only get up to 88 miles an hour, then they'll be able to save the professor. I know, its my fault.
The captain is voiced by James Garner, and his sexy (and uniquely designed for a disney character) assistant solier Claudia Christian for all you Bab 5 fans. We also have a cast of misfits including the bland, forgettable and obnoxious Mole obviously inserted to appeal to the brain dead. A crazy flourist turned bomb specialist who has most of the best funny lines. "Cookie" the cook is voiced by Jim 'Hey Vern' Varney in his last role unless there are Earnest movies in hell. And who are we kidding, there will be.
The major Atlantians are the predictable king type voiced not unsurprisingly my Leonard Nemoy, and Princess Kida, the Love Interest, voiced by Cree Summers (most familiar as the white chick on A Different World, but she's been doing voices for cartoons for awhile including Elmyra on Tiny Toons, and Penny on Inspector Gadget. Not the freaky looking broderick flick, the TV show. Doesn't that one take ya back?) who does a pretty darn solid job considering the part seemed sorta weak.
The story is fairly predictable, but never boring. The dialog is fairly sharp, all the voice work is respectable. Except when The Mole does anything the movie is entertaining.
Largely this is due to the excellent visuals throughout. From the submarine, to the first battle with a monstrous sea robot at the mouth of the cave that leads to Atlantis, right to the final battle between the Good Guys and The Bad Guys, each action sequence looks good. The computer effects are seamlessly integrated with the 2D hand drawn stuff. And even more scary is the amazing shots where the backgrounds are actually more or less fully 3D sets, but look convincingly 2D even as we rotate around them. The guys responsible for those shots deserve pats on the back.
Basically, what we have here is a finely crafted film. Skilled film makers have created a fun ride. Most surprisingly is that this one panders a lot less to children then, say, The Emperors New Groove. The kid jokes are there, but they're much more spaced out for a change, and instead, we get to enjoy a story.
I wish the characters were stronger. Most disney movies we get a few characters that hold their own, but I feel like none of the characters here are exceptional. They look good. They sound good. But they don't feel so good. If it wasn't for the fact that the plot is fun and doesn't take any breaks, we'd probably notice that they're fairly bland.
Anyway I recommend this one to anyone who likes Disney, Animation, or a decent Adventure story told with great visuals. It doesn't have the Magic of Beauty and the Beast, but then again, it never breaks out into a terrible song either. It's definitely a different direction for a Disney flick, but I think its worth the time.
Re:To any anime fans who've seen the movie (Score:1)
mAlda you make me wanna PUKE u faggot!!!! (Score:1)
TRoLL.
Not the Doctor, John Henry! (Score:1)
Uhh, Disney was in the running but didn't get nominated for an animated short-subject Oscar this year for John Henry, which had an African-American human character named, hmm, let's see... uh... oh yeah, John Henry.
Re:Interesting Stuff (Score:1)
Fucking Disney ripoffs. There are dozens of ways that you would have been able to go to Atlantis in the ass end of the 19th century. The only thing that could possibly explain the similarity is that Disney totally ripped off some anime company.
Who, in turn, owe fucking nothing to Jules Verne, right?
Saw it today myself... (Score:5)
While I did not see Titan AE, I did see WB's "The Iron Giant", which takes the attitude and approach of this film one step further with a few more deeper insights (eg nuke war) without candy coating it. It got snubbed at the theaters, mostly due to poor advertizing by WB.
What I thought was most impressive here was that people did die from violent actions as well as a few 'monstrosities' as determined lately by Disney. For example, the communcations lady was smoking most of the time; Disney has taken some liberal edits in the past to cut out all references to smoking in some of their films from the 60s released to VHS today. Given the attitude of late of "won't someone think of the children!" this was a nice thing to see that they are facing up the realities of the genre.
The other thing that I liked was that there was humor, not forced, and in some cases rather subtle. It's not a laugh-riot throughout like "Emporer's New Groove", but it certainly helps to liven up some of the slower parts. And the humor is not just kiddie-stuff; there's some that will put a smile on adults' faces as well.
Overall, it's not a waste of $5-$8 (depending on when you see it), at least to see how Disney tackles 'serious animation'. However, because of Shrek's early appearence in the summer, I suspect this will barely break even (it doesn't have the repeat viewing for kids as Lion King did), and will probably have Disney revert back to the Song and Dance animation that people typically expect.
Re: Dear God does this website suck now (Score:4)
By the way. For a much more insightful review:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/atlan15f.
Re:Ms. Cree Summer (Score:2)
Re:Climax, Characters, Era, PG (Score:2)
I saw it tonight. The kids thought it was ok, but I wouldn't pay for it again. I found the political correctness stuff annoying, but what else do you expect from Hollywood these days. What bugged me was that Atlantis is supposed to be a Greek/Mediterranean(sp) myth, but the people and buildings looked to me like they should be in the south Pacific (some things reminded me of those huge stone heads...can't remember what island they're on). The explosives guy was the only one I liked. Also, did Disney get lazy and decide to not put the effort in drawing faces for the soldiers and put them all in gas masks all the time. The time period was supposed to be 1914, so that would have been before most of the gas warfare in WWI. I'm not sure why it got a PG rating either. The scantily clad sexy princess? Chain smoking radio operator who sleepwalks in the nude? The gunfights? Better than the content in Shrek.
It sucks that in order to enjoy any movie nowdays, you have to turn your brain off.
Want to know what the runes in the commercial say? (Score:1)
NADIA - THE SECRET OF BLUE WATER
COPYRIGHT 1990, STUDIO GAINAX
Actually, it would be interesting to translate those. They supposedly got the guy who invented Klingon to invent their version of Atlantean, so it probably really does say something.
----------
Spelling, anyone? (Score:1)
Re:Climax, Characters, Era, PG (Score:1)
Re:Are you sure about that? (Score:1)
Making fun of dead people (Score:1)
Getting one's news/opinions unfiltered is one of the cool things about slashdot, but in a perfect world Rob would have been cool enough to cut the Jim Varney joke on his own without needing an editor to tell him it 1) made him (Rob) look like an ass, and 2) wasn't terribly funny, anyway.
John
ABC cross-promotion? (Score:2)
So, you're saying that in this movie, The Mole is The Mole?
Well, that's about right, seeing how Moliere (who on occasion looks frighteningly like Totoro, but then the directors are avowed Miyazaki fans) is the one major concession to the kids in the audience.
For what it's worth, here's my one-sentence review of Atlantis: The Lost Empire. I enjoyed and am quite fond of this movie, but I'm somewhat disappointed that it had a lot of things that could and should have been tightened up.
Re:No More Movie Reviews Please (Score:1)
Damn, you mean you can't believe everything you read on the internet? not even on Slashdot? I am crushed!!
I'm a broken record (Score:1)
USE A GODDAMN SPELL CHECKER YOU FOOLS! The typos in this review are EMBARASSING.
Re:Ms. Cree Summer (Score:1)
M&M COMMERCIAL (Commercial, 1998) - green m&m
Re:Dude, they were fake... (Score:1)
But if you're really using Laura Croft for the same purposes of titillation (hee hee), doesn't it all come down to the same thing? She's as much a sex object as any pr0n you could find online; the fact that she doesn't take it off in the movie or the game is almost immaterial, since you can pretty much see what's there anyway.
Bottom line: porn is all in the head, and if you like Laura Croft that much, you can't say that porn is automatically wrong.
Caution: contents may be quarrelsome and meticulous!
Tomb Raider represents a leap forward in gaming (Score:2)
I didn't die once! Perhaps that's a sign it was easy, but there was none of the frustration of having to try several times to hit the swinging log just right to beat the boss in the first tomb, and the revolving planets contraption, while tricky, was mastered on the first try. Good thing I didn't get caught in those arms - ouch!
Between the gameplay were some movie sequences which were very smooth, well-rendered, and for a video game, the acting was passable as well.
I guess my only complaint was that I didn't really get the chance to figure some of the stuff out, like the right spot to place the clock key and that you had to ring the bell to destroy the ice wall (though I probably could have maybe figured the bell one out if I had a couple hours to just sort things out in my mind.)
oh, it's a movie?
--
Atlantis is a complete ripoff of a popular anime (Score:1)
Re:Interesting Stuff (Score:2)
Isn't this a little like comparing the jesus myth to that of Mithra and the rest of the godmen? [religioustolerance.org]
Through denial or ignorance, people just don't care that it's the same thing rehashed.
"Hey, it's a good story!"
-- but is it really?
Grammar would be good also. (Score:1)
USE A GODDAMN SPELL CHECKER YOU FOOLS! The typos in this review are EMBARASSING.
Please check your grammar. You should have written:
It's been said before, and it will be said again: use a god damned spell checker, you fools! The typographical errors in this review are embarrassing.
Re:You asked for it (Score:3)
Taco: you're doing a good job buddy. Keep 'em coming
Re:No More Movie Reviews Please (Score:1)
Oh yeah, Slashdot has been designed so you can filter what you don't like, so RTFM and get a life.
Re:Not German OR Italian! (Score:1)
Re:cause / effect (Score:1)
Re:Just because... (Score:1)
Re:Dear Malda (Score:1)
Re:Just because... (Score:1)
At least tell me why not to see tomb raider. BTW I saw it, and felt it did the game justice.
Re:Dude, they were fake... (Score:1)
Re:OFFTOPIC: REWARD (Score:1)
When you need a technical problem solved, where do you turn? To technical people. Slashdot is a resource of several thousand knowledgeable people...and several hundred thousand trolls. I was simply using the resources available to me.
The assumption that I will do 'anything i am told' is ludicrous. I am aware that there is a specific resolution to my problem, and solicited THAT information...not 'tips-n-tricks'.
Fortunately, nearly everyone saw it for what it was, and attempted to help or to at least provide useful information. Except you.
:-) Have a great day.
Oh, by the way, nothing has worked yet, KEEP TRYING GUYS!
Not German, Italian! (Score:5)
Don't know it this makes it more or less politically correct, but demolition expert Vincenzo Santorini is Italian. From Palermo. The heavy accent is Italian, not German.
Re:OFFTOPIC: REWARD (Score:1)
Inconsistencies (Score:1)
I saw this movie, and thought it was funny. Damn funny. One of the major moral lessons of the movie is that capitalism/greed/etc. are bad. This fits in the the cutesy public Disney image, but a glimpse at the corporate side provides laughable irony. Carl Hiaasen's Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World [amazon.com] is a short book, but quite interesting about the corporate greed that is Disney. At a few points during the movie, I found myself laughing out loud due to this irony.
Additionally, there were quite a few glaring plot inconsistencies. As they're going through the underground highway, one scene shows the team driving along in their expedition vehicles. In the next, they are all struggling over steep cliffs with no vehicles in sight. The next scene shows them back in their vehicles as if nothing had happened. The trucks are later driven over a rickety wooden bridge that was wide enough only for a person.
Milo, the linguist, could read Atlantian fluently. (An intersting note, Atlantian in the film is just modern English with different characters, as is evident during a few of the translations, despite the hogwash Milo throws around about it being a root language or a mix of multiple.) However, none of the Atlantians could read a word/letter/whatever of their own language...they had become reliant on oral communication. Their culture was dying, and Milo saved it.
When the princess is captured and taken, and the king dies, the next in succession is Milo. How this happens is unknown, the King just says it as if it were preordained and Atlantian law provided that the next in succession was some scrawny surface-dweller who led an invading and pillaging party to their city.
I saw the movie Friday night (opening night). Including my friend and me, there were maybe 15 people in a normal-sized theater that fits maybe 300-400. I suppose that was a result of the Sixers' game being on (I'm about 30 mins. outside of Philadelphia) but that struck me as a little odd.
Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone, but I don't completely regret seeing it.
Are you sure about that? (Score:1)
Except that it was a TV series in 39 episodes:
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0096591
spock chick fetish (Score:1)
all i have to say about ". Some of us aren't controlled by the organ between our legs. " is; if you dont use it you lose it and if you aint usin it theres probably a good sociological reason for it.
What is wrong with that? (Score:1)
So tell me now, what is wrong with having an opinion like that? Angelina Jolie might just not be "your thing".
All too familiar (Score:3)
Ahhh yes. First come the dilated pupils, then come the paranoid delusions of persecution. This is a path I know well. Go with the feelings Taco - don't try to fight it.
Re:Are you sure about that? (Score:1)
STOP WITH THE FAG MOVIE REVIEWS (Score:1)
Re:heh, that reminds me (Score:1)
Re:Tomb Raider (Score:2)
Re:I'm a broken record (Score:1)
Re:Um...Color Blind? (Score:1)
She had a white guy for a cousin.
Re:OFFTOPIC: REWARD (Score:1)
I had to do this with a motherboard once after a failed overclock attempt--it kept hanging on POST because the FSB was set too high in BIOS and the system wasn't stable enough to even start. On-off-on-off-on-off and finally the CMOS cleared.
But, some people may be a wee bit squeamish about that, if they don't trust the motherboard maker and power supply maker enough to have made a product which can take a little abuse.
Alternatively, most new motherboards have a jumper onboard to discharge CMOS manually. The reason I had to reset CMOS the hard way that one time was because it was an older mobo with no discharge jumper.
So, just RTFM for the motherboard, and discharge the CMOS through the jumper, if it has one. Of course, this guy with the laptop might not have the luxury of a manual which says or a motherboard with such a jumper, since laptop makers don't like us to crack
Tomb Raider suck but... (Score:1)
That along was worth my 8 dollars.
Re:Interesting Stuff (Score:1)
Re:I'm a broken record (Score:5)
Re:All too familiar: OT (karma be damned!) (Score:1)
<rant intensity="militant">
How is that a paranoid delusion? The editors around here get ripped for a lot of shit around here. I must have read your post wrong. Quite honestly I would have had much the same attitude as Taco. So far as I know, writing an editorial means giving your take on something, yet the
"WTF is this doing on slashdot?!"
"Get off your high horse (insert hated editor here)"
"Blah blah blah, now that Taco and Hemos are millionaires, how can they cater to us?"
IMNSHO, I could only hope to have an editorial job and retain right of creative control (not sure if this is true with
Pissed off because
</rant>
Apologies, but the shit the editors take (while it comes along with the job) is oftentimes unwarranted, and as such, an occasional negative outburst is justified.
Dude, they were fake... (Score:1)
That's a better option even if you put aside the whole girlfriend possibility, which I realize may not be possible for some readers of this site.
The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned.
Re:Dude, they were fake... (Score:1)
The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned.
Re:You asked for it (Score:1)
Not German OR Italian! (Score:1)
Re:You asked for it (Score:1)
Tried to make it look like a PSX video game (Score:1)
Square head, square ears, square fingers... square everything! Is it a kind of artistic style
The target audience (teens, a bit older than that of previous Di$ney "masterpieces") is used to that style because it's the easiest style to reproduce on PlayStation and Nintendo 64 because the speed limitations of their vertex transformation units force game developers to reduce polygon counts, resulting in boxy characters. (Take a close look at in-game Mario from Super Mario 64 to see what I mean.)
HλLF-LIFE is no different (Score:1)
difference between capital "Lambda" and "Alpha"
Regarding TLNTIS: Lowercase lambda () is the symbol of the half-life of a radioactive element. It's also the logo for the game HLF-LIFE. Do a Google search for hllf-life [google.com] to see people using the Symbol font to attempt to approximate the stylized logo.
(I wonder ifMs. Cree Summer (Score:5)
Re:Just because... (Score:1)
BTW does true to the original mean the only camera angles were tight on her ass and tight on her breasts?
Re:Just because... (Score:1)
Re:Interesting Stuff (Score:1)
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/06/15/173823 1 [slashdot.org]
Hahah (Score:2)
It's funny 'cuz it's true!
Re:No More Movie Reviews Please (Score:1)
Fer cryin out loud... you created an account, now customize it and remove those two subjects!
____
Re:Tomb Raider (Score:2)
I guess I can stop submitting the "Not enough bouncing breasts" bug i found...
Re:Tomb Raider represents a leap forward in gaming (Score:3)
Usually:
1) I finish a level.. .
2) screen goes dark...
3) lara has new clothes...
this version:
1) finish level...
2) DAMN <whistle/>!!!
3) lara has new clothes...
Tomb Raider (Score:5)
Jury's out on that for me. (Score:1)
No More Movie Reviews Please (Score:2)
Re:A comment. (Score:2)
But about the Mole... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1)
Laputa-common source of Nadia & Disney's Atlantis (Score:1)
remove battery (Score:1)
find c-mos battery
remove it
Re:Interesting Stuff (Score:2)
> ripping off Anime like that
Nah, they've been this low before. Look
around the net about "The Lion King", which ripped
off large chunks of Tezuka's "Jungle Emperor"
(parts of which were released in the US as
"Kimba the White Lion").
Chris Mattern
Re:The Good News: Taco is a Poet (Score:3)
I thought that CmdrTaco reads the Filthy Critic [bigempire.com].. he could at least pick up a few gems in there. He sounds like the local sour movie critic you expect in a city newspaper.
A good example from a reader of said site: "I saw this movie on an airplane, and despite the obvious danger, I almost walked out."
--
Sentence Fragments (Score:2)
Re:Um...Color Blind? (Score:1)
Um...Color Blind? (Score:4)
Re:To any anime fans who've seen the movie (Score:1)
Re:Dear Malda (Score:1)
Re:Ms. Cree Summer (Score:1)
Re:"Finely crafted" my @$$ (Score:1)
1. Note what Milo said to Audrey after Kida was able to finally communicate with Milo. He said something about the Atlantean language being a mother tongue of sorts, and that some Atlanteans had the ability to parse out what other people speak and eventually speak their language, abeit a bit slowly. The linguist brought in as a consultant on the movie specifically mentioned that in several interviews.
2. Better watch the sequence in the movie again. Note when Rourke held up the page it had a full-page depiction what looked like a star in a very light blue tint. You forget that Rourke has been a treasure hunter for a number of years, and something like that is bound to attract his attention even if he couldn't read the language on the page.
Re:No More Movie Reviews Please (Score:1)
This is because in the geek community watching lots of movies is quite common, mostly to relieve the stress of sometimes 60+ hour work weeks. After all, if you've read the biography of Bill Gates, one of the common things Microsoft did when they started at Albuquerque (sp?), NM was to watch a lot of movies to relieve the stress of frequently seven-day work weeks working almost around the clock.
That's why I don't blame Slashdot for doing the occasional movie review.
My two US cents (Score:2)
I actually agree with most of your sentiments of Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
However, I have a gripe about the movie: the expository section of the movie (e.g., the first 15 minutes after the destruction of Atlantis) felt very choppy and rushed. I hope they expand out that part of the movie (maybe add in 10-12 minutes) in the near future to better flesh out the characters of Milo Thatch and Preston Whitmore, the benefactor that financed the expedition.
But once the expedition got going, the movie definitely got WAY better.
By the way, Princess Kidagakash (aka Kida) is one of the more interesting female characters to come out of a Disney animated feature. Kidagakash has the sexy look of Ariel from The Little Mermaid and Princess Jasmine from Aladdin, the earthy look of Pocahantas, the intelligence and curiousity of Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and (initially) some apsects of San from Mononoke Hime.
I should warn people that if they are prone to motion sickness I would be leery about watching this movie--some action sequence have fast-moving up-down motion that can be quite disorienting.
By the way, try to see this movie in the largest screen possible and make sure the theatre has THX-certified sound system installed. I saw the movie in such a theatre and it tremendously improves the enjoyment of the movie.
I am definitely looking forward to the DVD release (likely next February).
"Finely crafted" my @$$ (Score:2)
- How could Milo speak Atlantean, a language that didn't even use a modern alphabet, if it's a dead language? He'd only read it, no one alive (well, outside of the lost city) had ever heard it spoken.
- How could Kida speak modern French and English perfectly? Both those languages had yet to exist when Atlantis sank 8,500 years ago.
- How could the captain know what any page in the book would represent based on the pictures alone? Milo was the only one of them who could read it, and they repeatedly said so.
Sorry, Disney, try hiring writers that pay attention to detail next time you want to appeal to a more grown-up audience.Re:"Finely crafted" my @$$ (Score:2)
As the other poster said, this was a cheap attempt to justify something that's patently impossible. Atlanteans haven't spoken any language other than Atlantean for centuries. And there's no rational way that knowing a "mother tongue" of modern English would give you a working knowledge of its grammar and vocabulary on your first time out.
2. Better watch the sequence in the movie again. Note when Rourke held up the page it had a full-page depiction what looked like a star in a very light blue tint. You forget that Rourke has been a treasure hunter for a number of years, and something like that is bound to attract his attention even if he couldn't read the language on the page.
Yes, I saw the page with a big blue star on it. So what? There's no reason he should have thought that was anything other than, say, a depiction of their creation myth or a picture of the sky. Nothing in the illustration indicated it was a jewel he could take home with him.
And while I'm feeling sour about this film, one more thing that occurred to me since the first post: Who the heck wrote the Shepherd's Journal, and how did he acquire knowledge about Atlantean culture that no one but the king, not even his own daughter, knew about? That's something they never did get around to explaining....
Re:Jury's out on that for me. (Score:1)
that series would be Nadia, secret of blue water, a 39 (?) eipsode series which is far better than a 90 minute movie....
Re:Are /. Users / Moderators Retarded? (Score:1)
I'm thinking of picking random threads to modreate up just to have fun.
I know, I know, you can turn it off, but I just can't shake that god-like rush of omnipotence every time it happens
No Singing! (Score:3)
Roight! Stop that! Stop that singing!
Re:All too familiar: OT (karma be damned!) (Score:1)
Hmm... I think I agree with you. Even though I believe the person you replied to was only joking. People say some pretty mean stuff to editors sometimes. It really bothers me, because I know that if people said that kinda stuff to me on a regular basis it would really hurt my feelings. I'm from the South, tho, so maybe it's just how i was raised. It's pretty much mandatory to be nice to strangers down here.
-- juju
Great movie!!! (Score:2)
They did a great job of giving Atlantis the mystique it needed to be interesting. It's like they borrowed the appeal of Egyptology and applied it to a similarly intriguing myth... and pulled it off.
I'll probably go see it again, if only because I had lousy seats after getting busted trying to bring drinks into the theatre and having to stand outside and gulp them down.
Re:"Finely crafted" my @$$ (Score:1)
Another bad plot element was the "illiterate" Atlanteans. If Princess Whatsername was a little girl when Atlantis sank--and she is "100 years old" as she says in a conversation with Milo--then we are supposed to believe two ridiculous things:
- Atlantis sank only 100 years ago, not 8000 years ago.
- The Atlanteans lost their ability to read Atlantean over the same period of time--i.e., over the single lifetime of a little girl.
Bad sci-fi. Bad.You asked for it (Score:2)
Honestly, you should jusr shut up now, because you're evil.
And dear God! Has anyone else noticed how this website SUCKS now?
Re:Climax, Characters, Era, PG (Score:1)
I have to say that this movie was not at all what I expected. It reminded me a lot of Titan AE
I have to say that the PG rating was warranted for the violence. Sure, Disney has killed some of its characters before, but never in such quantities.
First, most of the original city of Atlantis is wiped out. Only the palace and satelite buildings are saved. Besides these unseen citizens, the guys flying around are also swept by the enormous tidal wave.
Later, the submarine sets out with 200 people, about 180 of which die after the attack by the giant lobster. Then later, the villains are thrashed by the heroes (the main characters live, but some unfortunate Antlanteans die on their flying fish), which in the end leaves only the main characters alive.
Finally, the lava that sends fiery rocks towards Atlantis before the giant robots put the force field around the city presumably killed several more people.
In the end, the body count was probably in the thousands, about 200 of which happend during main sequences. I think PG is pretty good considering. At least none of the deaths were bloody.
By the way, I agree that the Italian Florist was easily the funniest character in the movie. His lines are instant classics.
PS: Bambi didn't die, his mother did!
Re:A comment. (Score:1)
That's what I get for doing third-hand knowledge-spreading. (Someone told me my original "information" from an essay
~
Re:A comment. (Score:2)
~
A comment. (Score:4)
Some questions about Taco's review: "And even more scary is the amazing shots where the backgrounds are actually more or less fully 3D sets, but look convincingly 2D even as we rotate around them. The guys responsible for those shots deserve pats on the back. "
Does he mean "more or less 2d but manage to LOOK convinciginly 3d?" Why would anyone want something to look convincingly 2d?
And secondly,
I found the characters weak for my tastes (but nothing compared to Suck Raider which I saw only hours before and simply wanted every character to die a painful death just as soon as possible).
I agree with you that the characters are weak, but how on Earth did you manage to come up with an off-topic phrase like "Suck Raider" just so you can include it in the sentence?? C'mon Taco. And "wanted every character to die a painful death just as soon as possible" is so unoriginal that the last time I laughed at that I fell off my stegosaurus.
And last, but not least, Taco, pal, I value your opinion, however evil you may be and dear god however much this website sucks now. C'mere you big lug.
~
Interesting Stuff (Score:4)
http://www.newgrounds.com/frames.php?location=/li
(warning: pop-ups aplenty)
Climax, Characters, Era, PG (Score:3)
What I found unusual was that even though Roger Ebert said the ending had a "turning, brilliant climax" the ending itself was actually really weak. You pretty much know halfway through how it's going to end, and the movie doesn't really excite in that sense.
I thought some of the characters were more memorable than the actual plot, and the guy who blows stuff up is one of the funniest Disney characters in a long time. My favorite part is when he's describing his childhood: "My parents worked in a flower store. We had to make those little flowers people wore to proms. And they'd come in and say 'This doesn't match my dress!' But then, one day, I saw a gas explosion across the street. No more Chinese laundry. I had found my calling."
The time period (it's supposed to be 1920-30) also leads to a few weird instances. Not with the technology (which you can let go in a flick), but the montage of characters, who are suprisingly mixed for a "undersea crew" of the 1920's. There's a black doctor, and even a noticable female Spanish mechanic. Didn't know political correctness was ripe back then. :)
Finally, I was more than a little confused by the movie's rating: PG. I wracked my brain and couldn't think of any previous Disney feature cartoons that were rated anything other than G (I know a few of the live-action movies are automatically PG and above). What was really strange is that the violence was no worse than some previous Disney cartoons. Most villians die in their flicks (Oliver & Company had a car hit by a train, The Great Mouse Detective had the villian fall from Big Ben), but there wasn't one kid in the theater even remotely perturbed by the explosions (presumably with people in them). I remember more kids crying when Bambi died (which was rated G).
Overall, it's a pretty good flick. Definitely "matinee" material, but if you have kids you really can't go wrong (lines like: "I have the four basic food groups: Bacon, Grease, Whiskey, and Lard" are for the adults). Also, very much different than most Disney animated films (not a musical, only action) so catch the anime-like goodness while they're free to copy it. :)
The Good News: Taco is a Poet (Score:4)
Such a brave metaphor for someone who is famous for flagrantly violating certain rules of spelling and construction. I think our Commander has been holding out on us, and will soon inundate us with such opulent metaphors as "this film sucked with the voracity, but not the skill, of Monica Lewinsky" or "rough winds do shake the darling buds of May". Everyone will soon be talking about "that guy who started slashdot".
Taco: You're a poet, though you don't know it.
Too bad they had stupid ads all over the place (Score:2)