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Atlantis: The Lost Empire

EMAILPRINTWalt Disney Pictures

Atlantis: The Lost Empire reviews
52
8.1 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 48 votes
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Sci-fi

Written by: Tab Murphy
Joss Whedon
Bryce Zabel (story)
Jackie Zabel (story)

Directed by: Gary Trousdale
Kirk Wise

Release Date:
Theatrical: June 8, 2001
DVD: January 29, 2002

Running Time: 95 minutes, Color

Origin: USA

Summary

RATING: PG for action violence

Starring Michael J. Fox, Jim Varney, Corey Burton, Claudia Christian, James Garner, and John Mahoney

A young adventurer named Milo Thatch (Fox) joins a group of explorers in search of the lost continent of Atlantis.

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

90

New Times (L.A.) Gregory Weinkauf

A thrilling tale smartly told, with an abundance of wit and invention. It's a classic.

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88

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

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.

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80

The New York Times A.O. Scott

A monumental treat as well as a crafty assemblage of mythologies.

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80

Mr. Showbiz Cody Clark

A wide-eyed, action-adventure throwback to the era of Disney's magnificent adaptation of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

75

Miami Herald Christine Dolen

A crackling good adventure, a visually sumptuous effort.

75

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

A well-told, vividly imagined movie that doesn't pretend to be more than it is and doesn't lean on pop-culture references to win over its viewers.

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75

San Francisco Chronicle Wesley Morris

The emphasis here is less on cuteness and romance and more on the "Raiders of the Lost Ark"-style adventure.

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75

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Enough flair and conviction to keep the movie buoyant even when its plot is abrupt and its emotionality conventional.

70

TV Guide Frank Lovece

The character designs, however, are much less impressive. Except for the oddly naturalistic Sinclair, the rest look like cartoony characters from one of Disney's '60s films.

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63

Boston Globe Jay Carr

For all its handsomeness, the movie reveals a few cobwebs beginning to gather at the conceptual edges of the Disney animations.

63

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Disney's disappointing Atlantis, sadly, is a lot like much of the studio's recent animated output: eye-popping visuals and great vocal characterizations sunk by a dead-in-the-water script.

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63

Philadelphia Inquirer Desmond Ryan

Unfortunately for Disney, the real obstacle confronting the submarine isn't the giant lobster. It's a foul-smelling ogre, and it's no contest.

60

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

Visually imaginative and even persuasively spiritual.

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60

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Story line and characterization are decidedly old-fashioned, and a curious decision about production design gives this wide-screen cartoon some of the look and feel of a Saturday morning TV cartoon series

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58

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Has my eye, seduced by the devious and tactile delights of ''Shrek,'' already evolved in tandem with the technological leaps in computer animation? Or is Atlantis simply a Disney dud?

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58

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Grand and imaginatively designed epic that forgets that the spectacle -- and this is nothing if not spectacular -- is just the flourish.

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50

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

What Atlantis gains in chills and thrills, it loses in pure emotion.

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50

Portland Oregonian Staff (Not credited)

A tedious let-down that will bore adults and only mildly amuse children.

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50

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Qualifies as a pleasant time-killer, but it's 20,000 leagues beneath what it might have been.

50

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The idea that every animated feature from Disney is an instant classic officially springs a leak with the noisily disappointing Atlantis: The Lost Empire.

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50

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Has the comfortable, old-fashioned, earnest idealism of a '50s Disney action-adventure.

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50

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman

The eye candy can't quite compensate for the murky mess of a plot.

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40

Film.com Sean Means

A fireworks show with plenty of "oohs" but not a lot of "aah" -- the story is needlessly convoluted in places and storybook-simple in others, and the characters never make the leap from drawn figures to flesh-and-blood people.

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40

Washington Post Desson Thomson

For the most part, the movie's a bland disappointment, on many levels.

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40

Variety Todd McCarthy

Recycles familiar adventure and cartoon devices with minimal wit and flair, and the lack of imagination will seem all the more dramatic to audiences in comparison to the winningly sophisticated "Shrek."

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38

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

A frantic, heartless hodgepodge of pieces from James Bond movies, Indiana Jones adventures, "Star Wars" and half a dozen legends.

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30

Village Voice Ed Park

The bulk of the Atlantis scenes in situ are as involving as a chakra workshop.

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30

Washington Post Rita Kempley

The result is cutesy but harsh, a hybrid of saucer-eyed anime and square-jawed angularity that brings to mind an edgier "Pokemon."

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20

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Doesn't seem geared to kids at all: It's so adult that it's massively boring.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 8.1 (out of 10) based on 48 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Random G gave it a10:
Excellent effects, voice acting, music, humor, and plot make this in my opinion the best movie to come from Disney yet.

Ben M gave it a9:
I never paid much attention to this movie to begin with, it seemed like yet another Disney flick that didn't quite make it. But I decided to watch it after reading a bit more on it and finding out that it didn't have singing, which I grew out of long ago. I loved this film! I think that one of the reasons the film didn't to too well was that it may have been a bit on the mature side and not appeal to young children, but the people who would've enjoyed it the most were out of the target demographic and didn't bother because they assumed it was a typical Disney children's film like I did. The film is short, only one and a half hours but it manages to pack in a solid adventure, great visuals and a wonderful musical score.

Guy S gave it a9:
I cannot believe that respected reviewers graded such a movie so poorly. It leads me to believe that they simply stamped it with a "mediocre" label and didn't seriously watch it because it wasn't like Disney's other cartoons by comparison. The fantasy elements I thought were exceptional, and the story, admittedly is abrupt, has at least more creativity and originality in it than carbon copying and sugar coating old "brothers grimm" tales. It is grossly under-appreciated simply because of its more serious nature. In a time where Disney is making movies with serious elements like Pirates of the Caribbean, you'd think Atlantis would at least do more than collect dust by now. It is funny how a decade ago Disney's seriously oriented movies were never famous, and now their most famous franchises aren't even cartoons anymore.

Aaron D. gave it a10:
The movie is more teen related, yet I thought it was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while.

Die not Easy gave it a10:
This Movie is great!! It's good that there were no songs.

Sonny K. gave it a 10:
It is a movie that sensibly explains a great mystery with a story and a plot.

Brandy W. gave it a 10:
I am a hard core disney fan and this movie is one of my fav's. it's different..that's what is so good about it. the different look fits. and the story line makes you think more...they took this myth/true fact and made it a movie. it made me want to know all about this advanced city of Atlantis. it's awesome!

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