Dir.
Tad Jones, Toby Shelton, Victor A. Cook, US, 2003, 70 mins
Voices:
James Arnold Taylor, Cree Summer, John Mahoney, Jacqueline Obradors
Milo, the intrepid cartographer-turned-explorer, is now living in the fabled land of Atlantis, the land he and is friends rediscovered, and is at the side of the now Queen Kida as she attempts to rebuild her kingdom. Their daily routine is disturbed when some visitors arrive in the shape of Milo's old travelling companions, Preston Whitmore and company. They bring news of a monstrous sea creature that is causing havoc and it may well be one of the creatures that Kida's father unleashed into the world above in order to defend Atlantis. Whitmore and his friends have reunited to face the foe, but need one more member for the team - Milo. Milo agrees and, with Kida joining them - partly from a sense of responsibility and partly from a sense of curiosity (and partly because Milo is going) - they set off to locate and tackle the creature.
What then follows are the team facing a series of episodic events. The search for the sea monster brings them to a misty, East-European type town called Krakenstad, which is ruled somewhat suspiciously by the magistrate Edgar Volgud. Next, they head off to the SouthWest where they hear of a sandstorm made up of killer coyotes. Could this be the product of an Atlantean weapon? And finally, none other than Norse god Odin, who wishes to bring about 'Ragnarok' - the End of the World, steals Whitmore's ancient spear.
If that description seems a little rushed and disjointed, that's because it is. Apparently, the original film Atlantis: The Lost Empire (which wasn't too bad a film with some genuinely excellent animation) was meant to spawn a TV series called Team Atlantis in which the team, in Scooby-Doo style, would travel about solving mysteries that were linked to ancient myth and history. When the film made a substantial loss at the box office, the spin-off series was shelved - unfortunately, three episodes were already in the can.
So here they are, with a 'happy ever after' ending tagged on for good measure. The result is a ragbag of styles. Whilst the original film cleverly embraced the popularity of anime, and went for a harder, comic book style of illustration, the attempts at doing so in this film appear amateurish and bland. The scenes under the sea, whilst attempting to mimic the watery depths, are pallid and nondescript with their washes of blue and grey. The characters themselves seem devoid of emotion, with no emphasis on their spoken dialogue - partly due to the script, partly due to the voice characterisations, which seems odd given that this is mostly the same cast as the original, but partly - one suspects - due to different people at the helm steering the ship. It is the first animated film I've seen where you actually question the directorship - Does it really need to move at that pace? Can't we build up the tension somehow? Wouldn't a close-up have worked better there?
As a "Disney" production, this film is way below standard; as a film it is mediocre at best. However.
If you can get past the expectations that you might bring to this, having seen the original and knowing you are seeing something that is of the "Disney" brand, and begin to think more in terms of Hanna-Barbera cartoons (and that is not meant to deride in anyway) then this sheds a whole new light on proceedings. The use of ancient history and mythology, and pseudo-science, does cry out to be made into a television series (the Indiana Jones and The Mummy franchises have demonstrated the popularity of this) and the bite-size stories here are good, uncomplicated fun once you realise where the film is taking you. This is no worse than most tea-time viewing, from G-Force and Tarzan, Lord of The Jungle, down to today's Pokemon, and think how many of us have been enthralled by their escapades down the decades.
Atlantis: Milo's Return will never be a Disney 'classic', but it may well pass away a few hours during the summer holidays, and even set some children on their own voyages of discovery in search of long-lost lands, and you can't say fairer than that.
Jean Lynch
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