Deep Dive Disney: Wes Look at Atlantis: The Lost Empire

Welcome everyone. Today, Deep Dive Disney dives a lot deeper than usual as we look at the underrated classic, Atlantis: The Lost Empire. This is one of those movies that I personally love more and more every time I watch it. The characters are engaging, the action is fantastic and the setting is unique and interesting. Instead of a traditional fantasy tale as is Disney’s wheelhouse, this feels more akin to an Indiana Jones/Lara Croft style treasure hunting adventure. It’s animated phenomenally and I simply cannot wait to get into this one. Our story begins with Milo Thatch, a brilliant linguistics expert who, much like his dearly departed grandfather, is obsessed with proving the existence of the lost continent of Atlantis. Milo also believes that the ancient Atlanteans possessed a power source that allowed them to become one of the most technologically advanced civilizations in history. Unfortunately, most see Milo’s theories as crack-pot fairy tale nonsense and do not take Milo seriously despite his painstaking research. Instead, Milo is forced to work a dead-end job in the museum’s boiler room. That all changes when Milo is contacted by eccentric billionaire, Preston Whitmore, an old friend of his grandfather. Whitmore has agreed to fund Milo’s expedition as a way of keeping an old promise to his old friend. After Whitmore assembles a crew comprised of the best of the best in their respective fields led by the tough as nails Commander Rourke, the expedition to Atlantis begins. The crew encounters many dangerous obstacles and many lives are lost but eventually the crew reaches their destination and finds to their shock that not only does Atlantis exist, but its civilization still lives and thrives. While Milo befriends Kidagakash, the princess of Atlantis, and learns that the power source that he’s read about, the Heart of Atlantis, may be more than it seems, Rourke reveals his true colors. Turns out Rourke and the crew are actually ruthless and greedy mercenaries who plan to steal the crystal and sell it to the highest bidder, dooming the entire civilization of Atlantis in the process. Now it’s up to Milo to save Atlantis or die trying. So, with all that out of the way, let’s look at this underrated Disney classic, Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

Main Character:

I absolutely love Milo. Milo is voiced by Marty McFly himself, the wonderful Michael J. Fox, and Fox does a brilliant job portraying Milo's wide-eyed innocence and optimism. Milo is not a badass like Tarzan or a powerhouse like Hercules, he's just a regular guy who follows his dreams. Milo is about as much of a lovable dork as a person could be without actually becoming Spider-Man. I guess there’s a reason that Tom Holland was rumored to play Milo in a potential live-action remake of this movie. In any case, there is just something wonderful about Milo’s enthusiasm and frantic energy. You can tell he’s a true believer and the very idea of getting a chance to prove his theory puts a massive smile on his face. How can you not love seeing someone so passionate. I actually appreciate that Milo isn’t some stalwart hero with exceptional skills like some of the other male Disney heroes who have come before. Milo’s strength comes from his smarts, but more so, from his idealism. Unlike the other members of the crew, who are only in it for the money, Milo simply wants to find Atlantis for the sake of discovery and knowledge. He immediately rejects Rourke’s offer to join up with the crew and get a cut of the profits because he doesn’t want to see anyone hurt just so a bunch of thugs can make some quick cash. What I especially appreciate about Milo is how his optimism and idealism seem to be almost contagious. He seems to have this uncanny knack for getting people to open up just by being his lovable self. He gives Kida hope that her people can be saved from themselves. And remember, the entire crew outside of Milo was in on Rourke’s scheme, and because of Milo’s willingness to stand up for what he believes in, nearly all of them are inspired to join Milo’s side by the end. He’s not an action hero, he’s a hero of a different kind, and a character that fits this film perfectly.

Villain:

So far, we’ve covered two characters who can be said to have been “Twist Villains,” characters who start out of good, or at the very least on the side of the heroes, until it’s later revealed that they were the big bad all along. Our first was Clayton from Tarzan, who was very obviously a villain in his mannerisms and just left the audience waiting for the other shoe to drop. The second was The Prospector from Toy Story 2. Unlike Clayton, Prospector was able to convince the viewer that he was a good guy, making his eventual heel turn an actual surprise, but likewise unlike Clayton, Prospector was never truly evil, just desperate and misguided due to having been driven mad by his unfortunate circumstances. I bring all this up because with Rourke, Disney finally perfected this formula, and more than a decade before Hans from Frozen came along. When you first meet Rourke, he’s definitely gruff and sarcastic and can even be hostile if someone pisses him off but Whitmore seems to trust him and he definitely comes across as a competent no-nonsense leader who cares about the well-being of those under his command. When several members of the crew die in the encounter with the Leviathan, you buy it when Rourke eulogizes them. He may not be the nicest guy in the world, but he is still a character you grow to like before he shows his true colors. Interestingly enough, Rourke’s true nature is actually revealed before his big heel turn. Upon learning that Atlantis was actually populated, Rourke’s second in command, Helga, says that there being people there changes everything. Rourke simply says “This Changes Nothing.” With that, Rourke has shown his true face. In actuality, Rourke is a greedy, heartless mercenary planning to steal the heart of Atlantis and sell it to the highest bidder. Rourke only seems to care about two things, himself and where his next paycheck is coming from. In essence, Rourke personifies everything evil about capitalism. In all likelihood, any compassion or humanity Rourke showed in the first half of the film was a rouse to keep up appearances since Rourke shows no regard for human life after his heel turn. He seems indifferent to the fact that by stealing the Heart of the Atlantis, he’s committing genocide on an entire civilization and is perfectly happy to leave the crew to die in Atlantis once they choose to side with Milo. Even his own second in command, who does not side with Milo and shows no intent of betrayal, is expendable to him as he has no problem dropping her to her death just to make his escape easier. Rourke is also not afraid to get physical, even with a defenseless opponent, gleefully pummeling the elderly king of Atlantis so he’ll spill the beans about the crystal and sucker punching Milo out of spite once he has what he wants. All in all, Rourke is an irredeemable monster who truly deserves a higher place in the greater pantheon of Disney Villains.

Side Characters:

Okay, I’m just going to warn you right now, this movie has a huge supporting cast with more side characters than it knows what to do with. Unlike A Bug’s Life where I could pick and choose who was important enough to discuss, here, I feel that all of these guys are worth discussing. Around the time this film was coming out, I had a subscription to Disney Adventures magazine, which, in preparation for the film, had a section dedicated to the upcoming movie including full dossiers on all the characters. They even included some information that wasn’t in the movie, showing how dedicated Disney was to making these guys well-rounded three-dimensional characters. As such, this is going to be a really, really long section. I’ll try to get through these characters as efficiently as I can but no promises.

We’ll start with Whitmore. First thing’s first, Whitmore is voiced by the late John Mahoney, making this… I don’t know, how many Frasier actors at this point? Whatever, I actually really liked Whitmore. He’s your typical eccentric and reclusive billionaire. While he’s not a true believer in Atlantis like Milo, he did have a great deal of respect and admiration for Milo’s grandfather and was willing to spare no expense in order to honor his dearly departed friend. There's also a reading of this film that seems to point to Whitmore being a secret gay lover of Milo's grandfather. It's an interesting theory and one that makes sense given the way he talks about old grandpa Thaddeus, so maybe there's something to this.

Now on to the crew. I’d like to start with Cookie Farnsworth, the ship’s cook. Cookie is an elderly, hard-nosed, southern chuckwagon chef who believes in the four basic food groups, beans, bacon, whiskey and lard. I find it amusing that the crew is supposed to be the “Best of the Best” and their cook does not know what lettuce is. Also, I’d be remiss if I did not mention that Cookie is voiced by the late Jim Varney in what would be his final film roll before his passing.

Gaetan “Mole” Moliere is the ship’s geologist. Mole is brilliant in his field, able to identify the origin and composition of a pile of dirt simply by tasting it, but he’s also a bit of a weirdo, loving dirt so much he never bathes and sleeping in a hole in the ground. I also love that Mole’s backstory is apparently so disturbing that any inquiry about it is met with an emphatic “You Don’t Want to Know.”

Wilhelmina Packard is the ship’s crotchety communications expert. She’s not an especially deep character, she’s just a grumpy old lady who occasionally gets a funny one-liner. I actually like the scene where Rourke gives this big speech about how all of the crew’s hopes of survival rest with Milo and Wilhelmina responds with a dry “We’re All Gonna Die.”

Audrey Ramirez is the ship’s teenaged mechanic and engineer. I actually like her backstory about how her dad wanted two sons, one to be a mechanic like him and one to be a world champion boxer. Even though he ended up with daughters, they both still follow in their father’s footsteps. Apparently, Audrey’s sister is undefeated with a shot at the middle-weight title coming up.

Dr. Joshua Sweet is the ship’s medical officer. He’s voiced by Phil Morris who many of you may recognize as Jackie Chiles from Seinfeld but I bet a lot of you didn’t know that he also played Third Remata’Klan in the Star Trek Deep Space Nine episode Rocks and Shoals. I’ve said it several times in the past and I’ll say it as many more times as I need to, nobody puts Deep Space Nine in the corner, not on my blog. Anywho, Sweet certainly lives up to his name as a friendly and kind-hearted man. He’s the first member of the crew to raise objections to Rourke’s actions and seems to have great bedside manner with his patients, maybe a bit too much bedside manner since he seems to have a bit of a tough time with the concept of personal space.

Far and away my favorite character is Vinny, the Italian demolitions expert. Vinny is kind of like this movie’s Kronk in that every word out of his mouth is comedy gold. His delivery is absolutely brilliant, and you can never quite tell if he’s being sarcastic or sincere. In real life, that would drive me insane but for a cartoon character it’s brilliant. Apparently actor Don Novella improvised a lot of his dialogue and it shows.

I want to give a brief shoutout to the king of Atlantis because there’s no way in hell I’m going to let an appearance by Mr. Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy just slip by. I appreciate how he loves his daughter, doesn’t buy Rourke’s bullshit for a second and deeply regrets how his actions led to the sinking of Atlantis.

Finally, there’s Kidagakash, or Kida for short, the Princess of Atlantis. First thing's first, Kida is voiced by voice-acting royalty in the great Kree Summer. Many of you may know Kree Summer for her roles as Susie Carmichael from Rugrats or Elmira Duff from Tiny Toon Adventures but those of you who followed my Gargoyles retrospective will recall Summer as everyone’s favorite psychotic cyborg assassin with an unsettling robot fetish, Hyena. Serious question, why is Kida not an official Disney Princess? I mean, with Esmerelda or Megara I get it since they’re not actual princesses (even though Mulan shows that that is not a prerequisite and if you do the math, Meg technically is a princess but whatever), but Kida is unquestionably royalty, so why doesn’t the ball gown and glass slipper crowd let her into the club? Is it because she doesn’t wear a fancy dress? Is it because she’s a queen by the end of the movie? Is it because Disney Princesses are rarely older than eighteen and Kida is well over eighteen hundred? Whatever the case, I think Kida got the shaft and deserves to sit at the cool kids table. Kida is a great character and I love her natural curiosity combined with her love for her people. She loves and respects her father but also calls him out when she knows he’s wrong. She might not be official, but for my money, she’s one of Disney’s best Princesses.

No Songs This Time Around so Let's Keep Moving.

Memorable Scenes:

There’s a few scenes I appreciate in this movie. The scene where the crew opens up to Milo is really nice and you probably know by now that I’m a sucker for any scene where people from two very different world’s learn about and appreciate the cultures of others and the one with Milo and Kida is no exception. However, I really wanted to discuss the climax. At this point, Kida has merged with the Heart of Atlantis and Rourke is about to make off with her. One by one, the other members of the crew take Milo’s side as Rourke leaves. Milo is blaming himself for the whole thing until Sweet, using Milo’s grandfather’s own words, snaps him out of it and convinces him to go after Rouke, even knowing that it’s probably suicide. Using some dormant Atlantean tech, Milo leads the others into battle. The ensuing fight is pretty cool as is the one on one confrontation with Milo and Rourke. I actually appreciate the realism of Milo getting his ass handed to him. After all, Milo is a pencil-thin Poindexter while Rourke is twice his size with years of combat experience under his belt. This is one fight that probably should be one sided. It’s only through dumb luck that Milo manages to win the fight. How does he do it? Well, let’s save that for the Dark Disney Factor because it’s pretty gruesome.

Story:

The theme for Atlantis seems to be an anti-war message, placing more value on knowledge. The king only saw the heart of Atlantis as a weapon for war and that was what led Atlantis to ruin. Likewise, Rourke saw the heart as the same and it literally destroyed him. Milo and Kida only want to use the Heart to help and protect others. Is it the strongest message, not really, but it’s there. Honestly, the idea of the misuse of the advanced technology of Atlantis is better expounded upon in the sequel. Said sequel was actually the remnants of a possible Atlantis television series that got the axe. Honestly, it’s a damn shame because I liked the sequel and felt that an Atlantis TV series would be full of potential. We can learn more about our characters, we can see the influence of ancient Atlanteans all over the world, we can even see Audrey’s sister win the middle-weight title. The possibilities are endless. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.

The Dark Disney Factor:

Holy Hell, this movie does not pull its punches. This sucker has a body count and it is not afraid to flaunt it. Be it the millions of people who died in the sinking of Atlantis nine thousand years ago, the several who drowned after the submarine was destroyed by a giant killer robot lobster leviathan, or the several more who are BURNED ALIVE, ON SCREEN, by killer fireflies. Jesus, this is a violent ass Disney movie! Honestly, the most gruesome death in the movie goes to its villain. During their fight, Milo grabs a shard of glass from Kida’s prison that’s been affected by the crystal. Milo slashes Rourke with it and the crystal slowly encases him, painfully transforming his entire body into blue and red crystal. In a last-ditch effort, Rourke, now a horrible deformed unnatural creature with the instincts of a mad animal tries to kill Milo but ends up shattering into a million pieces. It is honestly one of the most brutal villain deaths since Clayton hung himself and it astounds me that more people aren’t talking about it.

Final Thoughts:

I love this movie. It feels so much more mature and intelligent than other films we've covered. It takes its premise and its audience seriously but never forgets to be fun as well. The characters are all engaging and the action is next level. I honestly would be all for a live action remake of this one. Next time, Deep Dive Disney returns to the world of Pixar as we cover Monsters Inc. See you then!