Disney Movie Challenge Bonus: The Wild (2006)

 Disney Movie Challenge Bonus

The Wild

In 2005 Dreamworks released the animated film Madagascar about zoo animals in New York City that escape and go to Africa. In 2006 Disneay released The Wild about zoo animals in New York City that escape and go to Africa.  This isn’t the first time Disney has released a movie that was similar to another movie.  The Pixar movie A Bug's Life was released around the same time as the Dreamworks movie Antz.  But the biggest question about this movie (and the reason it’s a Bonus Post) is “is this movie a Disney movie or not?”  When I looked up my list of Disney Studios Animated Films on Wikipedia this one wasn’t listed, and I never gave it another thought.  There are lots of movies that don’t fit the strict definition to be considered official Disney canon.  What makes The Wild a bit different is that it is considered Canon in Europe but not in the U.S. I am a bit confused why there are different lists for different places.  My initial thought was the movie was so bad and felt like such a copy of Madagascar that they erased it from canon. And if a movie is that bad I need to see it. 

Like I said, The Wild is about zoo animals that escape from a zoo in New York City.  The main animal is a lion named Samson (Keifer Sutherland) with his friends Bridget the giraffe (Janeane Garofalo), Benny the squirrel (Jim Belushi), and Nigel the koala (Eddie Izzard), and a snake named Larry (Richard Kind).  After Samson and his son Ryan have a fight Ryan falls asleep in a cargo carrier that is being shipped to Africa.  Samson and his friends set out to rescue him.  

 Trying to find information on the making of this movie and why it’s not considered canon in the U.S. has been near impossible.  Few things I do know is that it was a partnership between Disney and a Canadian company, and it is the only directorial effort by Steve “Spaz” Williams.  One review I saw mentioned that there was corporate espionage going on. While I couldn’t find anything specific he was talking about I assume it has to do with Jeffrey Katzenberg leaving Disney and going to Dreamworks.  If Katzenberg knew The Wild was in development he could have brought the same concept to Dreamworks and rushed it through development.  Anyway it feels like a move Disney doesn’t want people to know about (although it is on Disney+).

I haven’t watched Madagascar in a long time but obviously there are a lot of similarities. But that hasn’t stopped movies from being successful before. So what makes this one so different? The biggest issue for The Wild is that it’s really bad.  Not only does it feel like a rip off of Madagascar but it feels like a really bad rip off.  This would have been Disney’s second fully computer animated film (after Chicken Little) and it looks awful.  Something about the texture on the animal's fur just looks bad and I found it really distracting.  While the story in Madagascar is pretty absurd it’s at least fun.  The Wild is both absurd and tries to take itself too seriously. There is an overuse of slow pop songs (Yellow from Coldplay seems really out of place) to try to give the film more emotional impact.  And the less that is said about the weird love story between a squirrel and giraffe the better.  

The one thing that worked really well in this film was the voice acting.  Keifer Sutherland and Eddie Izzard did a great job with their characters.  Jim Belushi played the annoying squirrel perfectly as I was annoyed by him the whole way through.  I wish they had better dialogue and a better story to show off their talents. 

Overall: Usually when two movies dealing with similar storylines one gets the spotlight while the other fades in the memory.  But when it comes to The Wild it has nothing to do with comparing it to Madagascar and everything to do with how bad it is.  And I guess everyone learned a lesson.  Don’t let a guy nicknamed “Spaz” direct a movie.  

Disney Movie Challenge: Chicken Little (2005)

Disney Movie Challenge

Chicken Little (2005)

 WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021. 

I went to go post this review and realized I had only wrote about half of it. So I quickly wrote the rest of it. So hope it makes sense.

One of the inspirations for this blog was the list that /Film released in 2019 when Disney+ went live.  On their All 58 Disney Animated Movies Ranked they listed Chicken Little as the worst Disney film.  And when something is considered the worst it only makes me want to see it more, so I have been highly anticipating watching the movie.  While not a great movie it definitely doesn’t deserve the title of worst Disney film. 

The movie takes inspiration from the “Chicken Little'' folktale.   In that story Chicken Little is hit on the head with an acorn and claims the sky is falling.  He causes mass panic before it’s revealed it was just an acorn. The movie starts with that event but then delves into a sci-fi story about aliens trying to invade Earth and only Chicken Little (Zack Braff) and his friends, Abby Mallard (Joan Cusack), Fish Out of Water, and Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn) can stop them.   The emotional center of the story is about Chicken Little trying to prove his worth to his dad (Gary Marshall) who sees him as an embarrassment after the first sky is falling incident.  It originally was going to take place in a summer camp where Chicken Little was supposed to learn self-confidence and stop being paranoid of everything.  That film was scrapped for the story about and retooled for 2 and half years to they finally got the final story.  

Chicken Little was the first fully computer animated film released by Disney Animation. At the time the partnership deal between Disney and Pixar was coming to an end.  Chicken Little was supposed to prove that Disney could compete with PIxar in the computer animation business.  If the movie succeeded it would give Disney more negotiation power to continue the partnership.  If the movie failed then Pixar would have more leverage saying that Disney needs Pixar.  The weird thing is the movie was both a failure and a success.  While it made a lot of money it was critically panned.  So it didn’t really have an effect.  Eventually in 2006 Disney just bought PIxar and ended any competition between the two.  For a deeper dive into the making of Chicken Little check out this Collider article https://collider.com/disney-chicken-little-history-explained/ 

The premise is pretty absurd and one of the reasons why it gets a bad rap. The emotional arc with Chicken Little and his dad doesn’t really work.  It doesn’t feel like any of the emotional changes happen organically.  The whole alien invasion part has some fun parts but things just happen to them without any of their decisions really impacting the story.  The whole thing feels nonsensical.  In the end you just don’t really care.  

The biggest issue might be the film trying to incorporate pop culture references.  It not only dates the movie but feels really out of place.  Although playing the Spice Girls “Wannabe” in 2005 was probably already dated.  I did appreciate that they had a song from the band Barenaked Ladies as they are one of my favorite bands.  

Overall:

The movie is mediocre.  It has it’s fun parts but it doesn’t really hold together.  While the animation might not be great and probably felt sub-par compared to other contemporary computer animated films from Pixar and Dreamworks it’s not the worst thing I have seen.  I can see kids enjoying the silliness of it but not much in there for adults.  The emotional center of the movie should be the relationship between Chicken Little and his dad just doesn’t work.  

Disney Movie Challenge: Home on the Range (2004)

 Disney Movie Challenge

Home on the Range (2004)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021. 

 I always hope when watching a movie that has a bad reputation it will prove it’s reputation wrong.  Unfortunately for this one it didn’t do that. Home on the Range is truly a bizarre film and not in a good way.  The production of this film is one I would love to know more about.  I really want to know who at Disney decided that what was missing in the world was a movie with Dame Judi Dench and Rosanne Barr playing cows.  And for added effect lets throw in Jennifer Tilly and Randy Quaid as a yodeling cowboy.  

The movie is about three cows Mrs. Calloway, Maggie, and Grace (Dench, Barr, and Tilly) who in an attempt to save their farm set out to capture the notorious outlaw Alameda Slim (Randy Quaid) to earn the reward.  Also trying to capture Slim is the bounty hunter Rico (Charles Dennis) and the horse Buck (Cuba Gooding Jr.).  When they catch up to Slim the cows witness how he is able to steal so many cows at once.  When Slim starts to yodel he hypnotizes the cows and gets them to do anything he wants.  Both Mrs. Calloway and Maggie get hypnotized but for some unexplained reason Grace does not and she must stop her friends from being herded up. The next morning a jack rabbit tells them that Slim is in an abandoned mine and that he can lead them to it.  They follow the rabbit and have a big standoff with Slim that involves a train heist.  

One of the good things you can say about this movie is it’s short and moves pretty briskly.  Other than that there isn’t much good to say about this movie.  I can see kids maybe liking this movie because it is very silly. As an adult it just left me agaped especially the scene when we see Slim yodeling and rounding up the cattle, that is like some psychedelic fever dream.  I can’t say enough about how odd the voice casting was in this film.  Judi Dench as a cow in the Old West is just bizarre.  Why would a cow in the Old West have a British Accent?  On paper I can see how pairing Barr with Dench would really highlight how opposite the two cows are,  but in the film it just doesn’t work. Maybe it’s because I find Barr’s voice pretty annoying.  While Jennifer Tilly might also seem like strange casting it actually works.   

Overall: The film definitely deserves the reputation it has as one of the worst films in Disney Canon. Sometimes a movie is made for kids and maybe it’s too much to expect more from it.  

Random Facts:

The last traditionally animated movie until 2009’s The Princess and the Frog. The movie was such a financial disappointment that Disney decided it wasn't worth the cost to make hand drawn animated films.

Director Will Finn wouldn’t direct another animated feature till 2013 when he directed Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return which was also a huge box office flop. 

When /Film did there ranking of all 58 Disney films at the time this was 57 and this is what they had to say  "The cast is, whatever else is true, unexpected: Dame Judi Dench, Roseanne Barr, Jennifer Tilly, Cuba Gooding, Jr., and Randy Quaid all play some of the main characters, making for a…uh…unique aural experience." https://www.slashfilm.com/disney-animated-movies-ranked/ 

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Disney Movie Challenge: Brother Bear (2003)

 Disney Movie Challenge

Brother Bear (2003)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021.

The years between 2003 - 2007 are the heart of the 2nd Disney Dark Ages. Most of these films are not very well known and not well regarded.  Kicking off the era is Brother Bear, a movie that seems to want to say something but just ends up being middling.  

The movie is about three Inuit brothers growing up in Alaska just after the ice age.  When the youngest brother Kenai (Joaquin Phoenix) leaves a basket of fish out it gets stolen by a bear.  Kenai goes after the bear and his brothers Sitka and Denahi follow him.  When Kenai encounters the bear he gets trapped on a mountain.  To save him, his brother Sitka causes a chunk of ice to collapse. Sitka dies in fall but the bear lives.  Kenai blames the bear and sets out to kill it.   After he kills the bear his brother's spirit comes down and changes Kenai to a bear to teach him a lesson.  After he is turned into a bear he meets up with a cub named Koda who shows him how to get to the “mountain where the lights touches the land’ so he can be turned back into a man.  At the same time his other brother Denahi vows to kill the bear since he thinks the bear killed Kenai.  On the journey Koda annoys Kenai, but eventually Kenai learns to love Koda like a brother. After they meet up with other bears at the salmon run, Kenai learns that he killed Koda’s mom and must ask forgiveness.  When Kenai finally makes it to the mountain he realizes that he must stay a bear to protect Koda.  

The idea for the film came from Michael Eisner’s desire to make a movie like The Lion King with bears.  While the film went through several changes it’s hard to see any resemblance to The Lion King. The first big difference is that Brother Bear is not a musical.  Taking inspiration from Tarzan they hired Phil Collins to write songs that played over the action.  Unlike Tarzan, Collins only sang some of the songs. Tina Turner, The Blind Boys of Alabama, and the Bulgarian Women’s Choir all had sung songs for the film.  While the songs for Tarzan were catchy the songs in Brother Bear seemed to miss the mark.  None of the songs were bad but nothing that really stood out as special.   

Two of the biggest issues that I had with the film was the mammoth scene and the ending.   At one point Kenai and Koda are trying to avoid being hunted by Denahi and decide to ride mammoths so they don’t leave tracks.  This scene comes out of nowhere. There is no set up. No explanation why the mammoths would even let bears ride them. One second Kenai says he has an idea and the next second they are on mammoths.  Just felt super bizarre.  

The biggest problem with the ending is that I never understood why Kenai would want to stay a bear. While I get that he learned to love Koda as a brother and wants to protect him, is staying a bear really the best way to do that?  Could he have stayed human and still protected Koda? The decision totally took me by surprise.  It seemed he would want to return to his human family and adopt Koda.  

The story itself feels like it wants to say something about respecting life and how sometimes you have to look at things from a different perspective.  Unfortunately the movie spends too much time being silly that when it switches to being a serious drama it doesn’t feel earned. A few scenes after they ride mammoths we find out that Kenai killed Koda’s mom who up to that point we didn’t even know was dead.   Maybe I was just oblivious to the clues and figured out the twist too late into the story but after a fun silly story the serious turn felt out of left field.  

My favorite part of the film were the two moose played by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas.  They pretty much are reviving their roles of the  McKenzie brothers from SCTV and Strange Brew.  Their classic banter is great and used just enough to not get old.  My favorite line at the end is when they are leaving for the last time they say “you know what this calls for? A pile of delicious barley and amber wheat on a cool bed of malted hops”.  Pretty much the closest you will get to someone saying let's have a beer in a Disney film.  

Overall: A movie with a lot of potential but doesn’t quite get there. The animation looks fine, it's not as eye-popping as Treasure Planet but still good.  The music is pretty forgettable. It’s tough to walk the line between silly comedy and serious drama and this movie tries to do both but doesn’t quite succeed.  

Random Facts

Rick Moranis and Joaquin Phoenix were in Parenthood together where Phoenix played Moranis’ nephew in that movie. 

This was the first Disney Animated film to have a post credit scene. 

The film changes aspect ratio at the 24 minute mark. It goes from 1.33:1 to 2.35:1 when Kenai is turned into a bear.  The change is supposed to symbolize Kenai’s world view getting larger.  

Disney Movie Challenge: Treasure Planet (2002)

 Disney Movie Challenge

Treasure Planet (2002)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021.   

Directors Ron Clements and John Musker have had a long career at Disney.  The first film they directed for Disney was The Great Mouse Detective. After that they pitched two films to Disney head Jeffrey Katzenberg The Little Mermaid and Treasure Planet. While both films were initially rejected, The Little Mermaid would end up being a huge success and Clements and Musker would go on to direct Aladdin and Hercules.  But they never gave up on doing Treasure Planet and when the studio wanted them to make Hercules they put in their contract a guarantee that Disney would let them make Treasure Planet.  Eventually in 2002 they got to release the film and it turned out that maybe the studio was right as it became one of Disney’s largest box office flops.  

The movie is a retelling of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic “Treasure Island” in space.  I have never read or seen any of the other versions so I don’t know what was changed.  The movie follows Jim Hawkins (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a teenager with a thirst for adventure.  He loved listening to stories as a kid about pirate adventures and one day he gets his chance to go on his own adventure when a map to treasure planet ends up in his hands.  His friend Doctor Doppler is also intrigued and hires a captain and crew.  Unbeknownst to them the crew they hired is made up of pirates who are trying to get their hands on the map also.  Captain Amelia (Emma Thompson) knows there is something not right with the crew and tells them to hide the map.  Jim is told to work in the Galley with Mr. Silver (Brian Murray).  After a rocky start they seem to form a bond and Jim begins to mature and learn.  When it’s revealed that Mr. Silver is a pirate and leads the mutiny, Jim begins to question everything Mr. Silver taught him.  After they make it to treasure planet a race breaks out who can find the treasure first. 

Treasure Planet is one of the most expensive animated films ever made.  This was because they ended up using multiple kinds of animation to make the film.  They had traditional hand drawn animation, CGI animation, and 3D animation using “Deep Canvas” created for Tarzan.  There are times when all are on screen at the same time. One of the biggest uses of CGI was Mr. Silver’s robotic arm and leg.  To see how CGI would look on top of traditional animation they did a test using Captain Hook from Peter Pan.  Here is a small clip from the tests. Watching the movie you don’t notice anything and everything looks pretty flawless.  The visuals are pretty stunning. 

It’s disappointing that the movie bombed because it’s not a bad movie.  I think it was the weird sci-fi element that didn’t click with people.  I think people found it hard to believe people would just be sailing around space in open boats with no helmets on.  But if you can get past that the story is mostly fun. The voice acting is pretty great.  I loved Emma Thompson as Captain Amelia.  The biggest issue I had was when Martin Short’s character of B.E.N. was introduced.  While I love Martin Short he was a little too much Martin Short. I found the character pretty annoying and it kind of took me out of the film.

 I also think some of the emotional arcs the characters go through just didn’t work right.  It was kind of confusing how we are supposed to feel about Mr. Silver.  We get hints early on that he is a bad guy but then he is a good guy, but then bad guy again and then good guy.  The movie never really gives a good reason why Jim would forgive him at the end.  There is also a weird love story between Captain Amelia and Dr. Doppler that just pops up out of nowhere.  I think if they had ironed out some of the characters better maybe the film would have found more of an audience.  

Overall: Not a bad movie.  The animation looked great and integrated all animation aspects pretty brilliantly.  Unfortunately the story  just didn’t resonate with an audience. Not sure if it’s just people don’t like Disney Sci-Fi (Atlantis: The Lost Empire also flopped), or just the characters weren’t interesting enough. Also a random Goo Goo Dolls song pops up and that kind of took me out of the movie also.  

Random Facts

Along with Lilo and Stitch, the first Disney Animated Films to be nominated for Best Animated Features at the Oscars, both lost to Spirited Away.  This was only the second year that category existed.  The first year no Disney Animated films were nominated (Pixar's Monsters Inc. did get a nomination the previous year but lost to Shrek.)

The movie lost over $70 million at the box office. It is one of Disney’s largest financial losses.  

Biggest discussion between my son and I.  Was Morph a good guy or a bad guy? If he was with Mr. Silver all that time he should have known Silver was planning a mutiny. I almost figured when he left with Jim that he was acting as a spy.  

Disney’s third adaption of the book Treasure Island.  The first two were the 1950 movie Treasure Island and the 1996 Muppet Treasure Island

Disney Movie Challenge: Lilo and Stitch (2002)

Disney Movie Challenge

Lilo and Stitch (2002)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021.

The 2000’s are not known for quality films in the Disney Canon.  One of the movies that defied the odds and became a beloved classic and actually made money was Lilo and Stitch. After making some expensive films that underperformed Michael Eisner turned to the 40’s for inspiration on what to do next.  After the financial disasters of Fantasia and Pinocchio, Disney cranked out the cheap and quickly made Dumbo in 1942.  The movie was a hit and saved Disney from financial disaster.  Along came Chris Sanders and his crazy idea about an alien that gets banished to Earth and learns about family.  Eisner looked to Lilo and Stitch to do repeat Dumbo's success and for the most part it did.

The film is about an alien Experiment 626 who was created to wreak havoc anywhere he went.  When an alien council discovers this unauthorized experiment they try to destroy him. But experiment 626 escapes and heads to Earth.  There we meet Lilo and her sister Nani who are trying to adjust to life without their parents. Hoping a dog will help, they go to adopt one at the local shelter.  Lilo decided she wants to adopt 626, who was pretending to be a dog to escape being captured by the alien council.  Lilo names the “dog” stitch and they bring him home.  Stitch brings nothing but trouble to the house but he begins to learn the concept of “Ohana” which is Hawaiian for family.  

Chris Sanders originally had an idea for Stitch as a children's book many years earlier, but that never came to be.  When Eisner was looking for a story that could be done quickly and cheap, Sanders pitched his idea.  Eisner liked it and it was greenlit.  Taking more inspiration from Dumbo, Sanders wanted to make the film using watercolors for the background.  Watercolors had been used in prior Disney films but Dumbo was one of the only features to use it extensively.  Since watercolors hadn’t been used in over 50 years and computer animation was becoming more prevalent the animators had to be taught the technique.  The film also had a distinctive look because the animation was based on original drawings made by Sanders.  

I didn’t see the film when it was first released but what I do remember is hearing about the changes it made after 9/11.  The time period after 9/11 saw movies being very careful how they depict certain things. Sony changed the ending of Spider-Man (2002) to  show New Yorkers coming together.  The series premiere of 24 was pushed back because it showed a plane being hijacked.  Disney is quick to avoid controversy so you know they were going to be very cautious with their first animated film released after the attacks.  The original ending had Stitch hijacking a 747 from an airport and flying it through the city of Honolulu.  This was changed to Stitch flying a spaceship through the mountains.  A late change to an animated movie that had already been fully animated is quite rare and only done a few times in Disney Animated history.  Here is a video of the original scene compared with the scene in the official release. https://youtu.be/F2uJvwiSZAQ

While I like the movie’s message about “Ohana” and that anyone can be family I find the two title characters annoying.  I get that Stitch is supposed to be annoying because that is how he was made and that Lilo is struggling after the loss of her parents but I can’t help just getting frustrated with them.   It’s hard to root for a character that is fighting and biting people. And while I know that the guy from family services is supposed to be an intimidating “bad guy” but I find myself rooting for him since the family clearly needs help.  While the end has some fun action scenes it almost feels like it wraps up the emotional journey too quickly.  

Overall: I know a lot of people love this movie but it’s a mixed bag for me.  It has some fun scenes and a good message but when you find the main characters annoying it’s hard to enjoy a film.  I do love that it has a distinctive look and stands out from other Disney animated films.  

Random Facts:

The same year Daveigh Chase voiced Lilo she also played Samara in the horror film The Ring.

 

Lilo and Stitch was nominated for Best Animated Feature Oscar but lost to Spirited Away.  Daveigh Chase also voiced a character in the American dub of Spirited Away.  

Lilo and Stitch is only the third Disney animated film not based on previously released material.  The other films are The Lion King and Dinosaur.  

Since Elvis is featured prominently in the film I remember there being a resurgence in Elvis fandom after the release as it was the first introduction to Elvis for a lot of kids. 

Ving Rhames character Cobra Bubbles is drawn to look very similar to his character from Pulp Fiction

The last Disney Animated feature for David Ogden Stiers.  He had previously been in Beauty and the Beast, two characters in Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire. 

Originally the film was supposed to take place in Kansas, but Sanders decided that the colors of Hawaii would benefit the story and when taking a tour of the island of Kauai learned about the concept of Ohana it changed the whole story of the film.

Along with Treasure Planet the first Disney Animated Films to be nominated for Best Animated Features at the Oscars, both lost to Spirited Away. This was only the second year that category existed. The first year no Disney Animated films were nominated (Pixar's Monsters Inc. did get a nomination the previous year but lost to Shrek.)

Disney Movie Challenge: Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

Disney Movie Challenge

Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 59 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Raya and the Last Dragon in 2021.

For some reason this movie is not one many people talk about.  When it first came out I remember it was marketed as a “boys” move. Like Disney was trying to prove it made more than just “Princess” movies.  I also feel like the title with the colon and subtitle made it feel like a sequel to a movie that didn’t exist.  For whatever reason the film didn’t do well when it first came out and feels like most people have forgotten it exists.  Which I find really unfortunate since it’s a good movie.  

The movie centers around Milo (Michael J. Fox), a linguist, who is book smart but lacking people skills.  His grandfather was a great adventurer who had searched for the lost city of Atlantis.  Milo wants to continue his grandfather’s search but no one will fund an expedition.  That is until a mysterious man says he found the lost book that will guide them to Atlantis and they need Milo to translate it.  A team is assembled lead by the gruff Commander Rourke (James Garner) who has ulterior motives.  Eventually the team gets to Atlantis where they meet Princess Kida (Cree Summer). They learn that the Atlantean culture is dying because the King (Leonard Nemoy) refuses to reveal the “Heart of Atlantis''.  Since Kida doesn’t know how to read Atlantian she asks Milo to translate some ancient texts so she can learn how to save her people.  It is then that Milo learns about the Heart of Atlantis and shortly after Commander Rourke reveals that his true intention is to steal the Heart of Atlantis to sell it for lots of money.  Milo knows that if the Heart of Atlantis is stolen everyone in the city will die. He must convince the rest of the crew and the Atlantians to stop Rourke.  

The movie was directed by Gary A. Trousdale and Kirk Wise who had previously done Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  Moving away from the Musical format they wanted to do an action adventure movie.  They also took inspiration for the look of the film from comic books and hired Mike Mignola (Hellboy) to be part of the production design.  Famous linguist Marc Okrand was brought in to create the Atlantean language.  He had previously created the Klingon language for Star Trek. At the time this was also the most CG used in a hand drawn animation film.  The amount of thought and craft put into the film should have made it a must see film.  But, the  different direction from previous Disney films coupled with fully computer animated films taking over the animation landscape severely hurt the reception of this movie (didn’t help that it came out about a month after the juggernaut computer animated Shrek). And like I mentioned before the marketing of the movie wasn’t very good.  After a decade of producing hit musicals audiences just wanted more of the same. 

Maybe it’s because I love action adventure movies and it’s been 20 years since it’s release and a lot of the baggage surrounding the film has gone away, but I really enjoyed this film.  They set out to make a Jules Verne like action film and I think they succeeded.  20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was one of my favorite Disney films growing up and Around the World in 80 Days was one of my favorite books.  So a Jules Verneesque film is my sweet spot.  I thought it was a fun movie with great characters.  There was some great banter back and forth between the characters which I loved, and the cast was perfect.  The score by James Newton Howard (his second film for Disney) was really good.  That’s not to say it’s a great movie.  The mythology of Atlantis and what the “Heart of Atlantis” and crystals  actually do is very convoluted and confusing.  Rumor has it that the original script was 155 pages.  So a lot of story was cut out which maybe could have helped clear things up.  But no one wants a 2 plus hour animated film.  What they did leave was a quick paced film that hit most of the action beats.  

Overall: A fun action movie that doesn’t do a great job of explaining the world it’s creating.  There is a bit more death in this film than one would normally expect in a Disney film but fits with the action genre.    

Random Facts:

While Disney had played in the realm of Fantasy this would be Disney’s first Sci-Fi film. 

Jim Varney’s final role. He played the check “Cookie” in the film.  He died in 2000 prior to the film being finished and never got to see the film. 

After the disappointing reaction to both The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Atlantis: The Lost Empire Gary A. Trousdale and Kirk Wise would never direct another animated feature film. This despite directing the first animated film to be nominated for an Oscar with Beauty and the Beast.