Poll of the Day > Atlantis has to be one of the most underrated Disney movies

(+) Yeah! (+)

I just watched it for the first time in like 15 years, and enjoyed it.

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I saw it one time

I didnt hate it but at the same time I didnt think it was anything special. I felt the same way towards Treasure Planet

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I really enjoyed Atlantis as well. Pity the "sequel" was nothing more than 3-4 episodes merged into a "movie".

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When will Kingdom Hearts get an Atlantis level? And Treasure Planet? And, most importantly, The Black Cauldron?

JigsawTDC posted...

When will Kingdom Hearts get an Atlantis level? And Treasure Planet? And, most importantly, The Black Cauldron?

Well, we don't need a Black Cauldron level. That movie was actually really bad.
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Atlantis was a movie that I went into with no real expectation and I ended up really enjoying it.

Phantom_Nook posted...

Well, we don't need a Black Cauldron level. That movie was actually really bad.

Whether a movie is good or bad has no relevancy if it will make a good Kingdom Hearts level. A fight with The Horned King would be sweet!

Personally I find any Disney movies with out music scenes to be the best. But my favorite is probably Emperors new Grove.

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JigsawTDC posted...

Whether a movie is good or bad has no relevancy if it will make a good Kingdom Hearts level. A fight with The Horned King would be sweet!

Take the Frozen level as an example them having no relation. Often considered to be one of the best Disney movies ever (though overrated imo, it is a good movie) but everything i hear about KH3 it is the worst zone of pretty much all KHs games. Dunno if thats true, i never really got into the series so i cant confirm or deny that.

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It is absolutely positively not underrated at all. It's generally considered an enjoyable movie in and of itself, but in the broader view of Disney absolutely killing it in the previous decade with hit after hit, Atlantis is considered and should be considered a lesser entry.

Atlantis was Disney getting self conscious about upstarts like Dreamworks and the continued and frankly baffling ability of Don Bluth to find work despite any objective measures of box office performance.

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I liked how Atlantis and Treasure Planet had their own distinct art styles

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Atlantis is even more interesting when you realize a lot of the backstory for it is based on real stuff. It references a lot of the traditional Atlantis myth sources, from Plato to Ignatius Donnelly to Theosophy ideas, with a dash of just general New Age and sci-fi tropes thrown in.

It basically feels like someone sat down and did like years worth of research on every single major idea involving Atlantis that had been written for the last 2000 years and tried to hammer them all into one cohesive whole that could represent a single culture. It feels like so much effort wasted on an animated movie for kids who will mostly never appreciate any of that anyway.
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hypnox posted...

Personally I find any Disney movies with out music scenes to be the best. But my favorite is probably Emperors new Grove.

Emperors New Groove is the best.

Kungfu Kenobi posted...

It is absolutely positively not underrated at all. It's generally considered an enjoyable movie in and of itself, but in the broader view of Disney absolutely killing it in the previous decade with hit after hit, Atlantis is considered and should be considered a lesser entry.

Atlantis was Disney getting self conscious about upstarts like Dreamworks and the continued and frankly baffling ability of Don Bluth to find work despite any objective measures of box office performance.

This about covers it. It had a lot of potential with the cool setting, mystery surrounding Atlantis, no songs, and slightly more mature tone. While it wasn't bad, it ended up kind of bland for everything it had going on paper.
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Treasure Planet was great too. I'm also pissed Watcher in the Woods never wound up on Disney+. It's their movie, so where is it?!

Why did I have the bowl, Bart? Why. Did I. Have. The bowl.

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it and treasure planet both deserved way more love than they got.

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I still haven't seen either Atlantis movie. It didn't really appeal to me when they came out. I don't know if it's underrated, but it's certainly a more forgotten Disney film (alongside Treasure Planet)

Phantom_Nook posted...

Well, we don't need a Black Cauldron level. That movie was actually really bad.

Boo! Boo!

Then again, I haven't seen it since the 80s.

Ogurisama posted...

Often considered to be one of the best Disney movies ever (though overrated imo, it is a good movie)

I'd put it in the top 10. I have no idea what I'd pick as number one, though.


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Mead posted...

I saw it one time

I didnt hate it but at the same time I didnt think it was anything special. I felt the same way towards Treasure Planet

this

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ParanoidObsessive posted...

Atlantis is even more interesting when you realize a lot of the backstory for it is based on real stuff. It references a lot of the traditional Atlantis myth sources, from Plato to Ignatius Donnelly to Theosophy ideas, with a dash of just general New Age and sci-fi tropes thrown in.

It basically feels like someone sat down and did like years worth of research on every single major idea involving Atlantis that had been written for the last 2000 years and tried to hammer them all into one cohesive whole that could represent a single culture.

Or they just ripped off all the work Miyazaki and Gainax did for Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water.

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ZeldaMutant posted...

Or they just ripped off all the work Miyazaki and Gainax did for Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water.

I was just about to say this.

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It's kind of an odd one. It's got plenty of decent moments, but there are a lot of weird inconsistencies that mess with tying everything together (one of the more glaring ones being the entire civilization completely forgetting the written language despite it having been in regular use within living memory for most of the population), and something about the pacing just feels weird.

InfestedAdam posted...

Pity the "sequel" was nothing more than 3-4 episodes merged into a "movie".

That was most Disney "sequels" around that era. I'm pretty sure they were basically just making pseudo-pilot episodes for potential TV series to try and see which ones would be worth producing.

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When you say 3-4 episodes merged together, are you talking separate plots as well or just a multi-part single storyline?

And while I liked the fact that Disney spun some of its movies into shows, the one kinda issue I had was when they completely revamped the concept for the show. So while the Aladdin series was alright, Hercules felt completely different from the movie given the new characters, etc (and that's not getting into the fact that it was set between events in the film which posed additional continuity nonsense)


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Zeus posted...

When you say 3-4 episodes merged together, are you talking separate plots as well or just a multi-part single storyline?

You've got Disney+, don't you? You can check any of them out to see. Off the top of my head, I can think of Atlantis 2, Cinderella 2, and Tarzan & Jane (did become a TV series), plus a whole bunch of different holiday specials that follow a similar structure. Basically, they're "feature-length films" consisting of half-hour stories (basically TV episodes) played in sequence to make up a full hour and a half. There's sometimes an overarching plot linking them together, but generally it's just the bare minimum needed to have the series of episodes make sense. It's not a matter of having a single storyline told over three "acts."

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Yeah, but I asked specifically because I didn't want to have to check them out, especially since I'd want to watch the first films before the sequels =p

There's a lot of stuff on D+ I need to get around to eventually, which now also includes a re-watch of Black Cauldron.


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That's fair. For what it's worth, I don't remember any of them depending enough on the first films' stories to really make it necessary to rewatch them, but if it better puts you in the mood, you do you.

Also, for what it's worth, none of them are particularly good. If you never get around to them, you won't be missing much.

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At least none of the failed pilots are as bad as Lady and the Tramp 2.
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adjl posted...

That's fair. For what it's worth, I don't remember any of them depending enough on the first films' stories to really make it necessary to rewatch them, but if it better puts you in the mood, you do you.

Eh, the problem there is more that they may have spoilers for the original film which I might watch at some point (which admittedly is a more a possibility with Atlantis than Tarzan). There were quite a few Disney movies I skipped during the last 90s / early 00s. I hadn't bothered to see Lilo & Stitch back when it came out either, but I started to watch it several months ago (or longer?) and it seemed surprisingly fun... although unfortunately it kinda coincided with something else coming up on streaming that I wanted to see more.

And, of course, many of the ones I *didn't* see wound up being the things people remember -- like the Emperor's New Clothes (which I finally watched and didn't like), A Goofy Story, and Finding Nemo. Just the law of averages, I suppose.

Actually, looking at the list of Disney's animated films (and excluding Spirited Away), it looks like I hadn't seen a Disney movie between Fantasia 2000 (in 2000) and... idk, might have been Rattatouille. I think Fantasia 2000 was the last animated Disney film I saw in theaters. (And I would have seen Zootopia in theaters, but I wound up going to Deadpool instead.)

Phantom_Nook posted...

At least none of the failed pilots are as bad as Lady and the Tramp 2.

Kind of the problem you run when you try to make a sequel to something where a sequel just sounds weird >_>

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It's a bad freaking movie.

- no character growth. It's just about some shmoe who wants to go to Atlantis, so he does that, roll credits.
- a crew of 200+ men die just so he can fulfill his dream
- although it's probably more so for plot convenience that they die, so the animators don't have to draw them later or explain how they escape at the end along with the main ensemble
- giant robot lobster that has nothing to do with the rest of the movie
- The film takes forever to get to Atlantis
- when they finally do get there it's a dump
- the gods forced Atlantians to be dumb and forget everything (i.e. midochlorians) (i.e. bad writing)
- the idea that they forget how to work the ignition on their own hoverbikes is beyond suspension of disbelief, especially since we're explicitly shown how straightforward this procedure is.
- campfire scene (tells each character's backstory rather than showing them)
- as if that wasn't lazy enough the french dirt loving guy is omitted from having his backstory explained, and the film instead resorts to joke about how you'd rather not know his backstory.
- While watching that I immediately assumed "oh, we're going to find out his backstory later" but this never happens. The joke was there for its own sake. Are you serious. .__.
- the characters, supposedly each of them criminals, who have hurt people, turn good at the last second to side with protagonist. No explanation for this provided.
- But then again, we never convincingly viewed them as villains to begin with, so the transformation never actually occurred
- everything that happens after this point is just a light show and doesn't make any sense.
- ice monster!!
- Iron Giant ripoffs.

Like half of that should have been in spoiler tags.

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dude, you spoiled Disney's 2001 film Atlantis: The Lost Empire for Zeus. He's never gonna be able to enjoy it now! Fuck!

Oliver and Company

GunslingerGunsl posted...

Oliver and Company

Why should I care?
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JigsawTDC posted...

dude, you spoiled Disney's 2001 film Atlantis: The Lost Empire for Zeus. He's never gonna be able to enjoy it now! Fuck!

Not your best work.

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Phantom_Nook posted...

Why should I care?

Why should I worry?

GunslingerGunsl posted...

Why should I worry?

I may not have a dime

Oliver and Company was on heavy rotation during my childhood. The only movies that got more airtime were probably The Lion King, Toy Story, and Tarzan.

I recently watched Oliver and Company for the first time in like 20 years, and it's held up quite well. I don't remember ever noticing as a kid how low-budget the animation was, though. Pretty much any scene with a lot of moving parts was basically just sketched. I guess they blew their whole budget on the soundtrack.

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I feel Disney underrates emperor's new groove. There's so little merchandise of that movie, it's almost like Disney didn't like it. I know it was a rough movie to make, but it's hilarious and most people I talk to love that movie.
I think if it came out like 5 years or so later, it would have been more liked.

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adjl posted...

I recently watched Oliver and Company for the first time in like 20 years, and it's held up quite well. I don't remember ever noticing as a kid how low-budget the animation was, though. Pretty much any scene with a lot of moving parts was basically just sketched. I guess they blew their whole budget on the soundtrack.

they blew their budget on Billy Joel.

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Atlantis was pretty good. Definitely not in the upper echelon of disney classics but it's pretty solid.

I found the first half of the movie, when they were actually trying to get to atlantis, more enjoyable than the second half. The villain was pretty weak but the supporting cast was great, especially the crew members.

Movie had just gorgeous animation as well.

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adjl posted...

I recently watched Oliver and Company for the first time in like 20 years, and it's held up quite well. I don't remember ever noticing as a kid how low-budget the animation was, though. Pretty much any scene with a lot of moving parts was basically just sketched. I guess they blew their whole budget on the soundtrack.

tbh, a lot of Disney animation is surprisingly spotty at times. Even rewatching some of the songs from the Lion King I was kinda struck by the apparent cut corners.

pedro45 posted...

I feel Disney underrates emperor's new groove. There's so little merchandise of that movie, it's almost like Disney didn't like it. I know it was a rough movie to make, but it's hilarious and most people I talk to love that movie.
I think if it came out like 5 years or so later, it would have been more liked.

A lot of Disney movies don't seem to get much merch.

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Zeus posted...

tbh, a lot of Disney animation is surprisingly spotty at times. Even rewatching some of the songs from the Lion King I was kinda struck by the apparent cut corners.

They've cut plenty of corners over the years, certainly, but I'm not sure Oliver and Company had any corners left to cut. It was VERY noticeable there.

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I actually really like the look of the movies from Disney's "sketchy era". 101 Dalmations, Sword in the Stone, etc.

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