Disney Made A Great Animated Sci-Fi Movie (And It Flopped At The Box Office)
2001 saw blockbusters like Shrek and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider dominate the box office and spawn franchises and sequels. The same summer, Disney released Atlantis: The Lost Empire a traditionally animated movie with elements of CGI that told the story of the lost city of Atlantis, its rediscovery, and its return to glory. The movie quietly bombed at the box office making $185 million against its budget of $90-120 million.
The question is, is Atlantis: The Lost Empire worth revisiting? In the years since its release, the movie has garnered a cult following. The unique visuals coupled with the star voice acting cast and a compelling plot make this movie well worth a rewatch and a re-evaluation 20 years later. It combines the influence of Jules Verne with the comic book artistic influence of Mike Mignola creating an entirely unique experience for the time.
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The movie begins by showing audiences the origins of the myth of Atlantis and how it became a lost city. An explosion rocks the city, sending a tsunami towards it and endangering the entire population. As the tsunami nears its inevitable target the Queen of Atlantis merges with a crystal floating above the city and as her daughter Kida (Cree Summer) watches she merges with it, becoming a dome that encapsulates and protects the city as the wave crashes down upon it, burying it under the ocean and beginning the myth.
Fast forward 8,000 years to 1914 and Milo Thatch (voiced by Michael J. Fox), a linguist working at the Smithsonian discovers the potential location for a text known as The Shepherd's Journal which appears to contain directions to the missing legend. Laughed at and rejected by the museum's board
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