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Review: Atlantis
A new Disney Animated Feature is a happy day for me. I've filed in to see them all for so many years now. Even if they are wretched (Pocohantes anyone?) I'm there, usually opening night, hoping for the magic that I've found in so many of them (Fantasia, Bambi, The Little Mermaid). I love animation. I love eye candy. And so help me, I love a good 75 minute action/comedy animated by Disney, and written by the disney-borg-committee that panders to a lowest common denominator of blandness and PC blah. And this time I was surprised.
Atlantis is good. Not knock-your-socks-off good, but solidly entertaining. It has its shortcomings (more on that later) but at its core it is a solid adventure movie, with great visuals and a plot that keeps you wondering what's going to happen next. I found the characters weak for my tastes (but nothing compared to Suck Raider which I saw only hours before and simply wanted every character to die a painful death just as soon as possible).
Allright, the general plot. We've all heard of Atlantis right? Well Milo wants to find it. Of course his Grandpa was an archaeologist too. A master researcher in the field who's long left our hero. Milo lucks out by finding a wealthy old man who's going to back his search for the lost city because he owes the old man a favor. A crew of misfits is assembled, and they set out for the city. Of course they discover the city, have a few adventures, scuffle with the locals, an enemy is revealed from among them, and gigantic battles and sacrifices must be made to save Atlantis, and perhaps even the whole world.
Nothing hugely original. And neither are the characters. Milo is of course the geeky one. In this case Linguist and Cartographer voiced by Michael J Fox. He's fairly unoriginal, and while capably voiced, I can't help but having a problem with Fox. I keep expecting him to proclaim that if the submarine can only get up to 88 miles an hour, then they'll be able to save the professor. I know, its my fault.
The captain is voiced by James Garner, and his sexy (and uniquely designed for a disney character) assistant solier Claudia Christian for all you Bab 5 fans. We also have a cast of misfits including the bland, forgettable and obnoxious Mole obviously inserted to appeal to the brain dead. A crazy flourist turned bomb specialist who has most of the best funny lines. "Cookie" the cook is voiced by Jim 'Hey Vern' Varney in his last role unless there are Earnest movies in hell. And who are we kidding, there will be.
The major Atlantians are the predictable king type voiced not unsurprisingly my Leonard Nemoy, and Princess Kida, the Love Interest, voiced by Cree Summers (most familiar as the white chick on A Different World, but she's been doing voices for cartoons for awhile including Elmyra on Tiny Toons, and Penny on Inspector Gadget. Not the freaky looking broderick flick, the TV show. Doesn't that one take ya back?) who does a pretty darn solid job considering the part seemed sorta weak.
The story is fairly predictable, but never boring. The dialog is fairly sharp, all the voice work is respectable. Except when The Mole does anything the movie is entertaining.
Largely this is due to the excellent visuals throughout. From the submarine, to the first battle with a monstrous sea robot at the mouth of the cave that leads to Atlantis, right to the final battle between the Good Guys and The Bad Guys, each action sequence looks good. The computer effects are seamlessly integrated with the 2D hand drawn stuff. And even more scary is the amazing shots where the backgrounds are actually more or less fully 3D sets, but look convincingly 2D even as we rotate around them. The guys responsible for those shots deserve pats on the back.
Basically, what we have here is a finely crafted film. Skilled film makers have created a fun ride. Most surprisingly is that this one panders a lot less to children then, say, The Emperors New Groove. The kid jokes are there, but they're much more spaced out for a change, and instead, we get to enjoy a story.
I wish the characters were stronger. Most disney movies we get a few characters that hold their own, but I feel like none of the characters here are exceptional. They look good. They sound good. But they don't feel so good. If it wasn't for the fact that the plot is fun and doesn't take any breaks, we'd probably notice that they're fairly bland.
Anyway I recommend this one to anyone who likes Disney, Animation, or a decent Adventure story told with great visuals. It doesn't have the Magic of Beauty and the Beast, but then again, it never breaks out into a terrible song either. It's definitely a different direction for a Disney flick, but I think its worth the time.
Although I have not seen the movie, from what I have heard, the movie plot, characters, and even vehicles bear a remarkable resemblance to Nadia. Being Japanese, I saw Nadia when I was about 7 - 8 years old. It was a remarkably well made movie, even by Japanese standards. If Disney did copy Nadia, shame on them, but I'm still happy if they did a good job of copying it. If the movie is anywhere near as good as Nadia, it's bound to be a hit. P.S. Is there still debate going on about the Planescape:Torment / Memento movie parallelisms?
stupid cocksuckers like you are the problem today. FUCK YOU and fuck LiNUx!!!
TRoLL.
Uhh, Disney was in the running but didn't get nominated for an animated short-subject Oscar this year for John Henry, which had an African-American human character named, hmm, let's see... uh... oh yeah, John Henry.
Fucking Disney ripoffs. There are dozens of ways that you would have been able to go to Atlantis in the ass end of the 19th century. The only thing that could possibly explain the similarity is that Disney totally ripped off some anime company.
Who, in turn, owe fucking nothing to Jules Verne, right?
While I did not see Titan AE, I did see WB's "The Iron Giant", which takes the attitude and approach of this film one step further with a few more deeper insights (eg nuke war) without candy coating it. It got snubbed at the theaters, mostly due to poor advertizing by WB.
What I thought was most impressive here was that people did die from violent actions as well as a few 'monstrosities' as determined lately by Disney. For example, the communcations lady was smoking most of the time; Disney has taken some liberal edits in the past to cut out all references to smoking in some of their films from the 60s released to VHS today. Given the attitude of late of "won't someone think of the children!" this was a nice thing to see that they are facing up the realities of the genre.
The other thing that I liked was that there was humor, not forced, and in some cases rather subtle. It's not a laugh-riot throughout like "Emporer's New Groove", but it certainly helps to liven up some of the slower parts. And the humor is not just kiddie-stuff; there's some that will put a smile on adults' faces as well.
Overall, it's not a waste of $5-$8 (depending on when you see it), at least to see how Disney tackles 'serious animation'. However, because of Shrek's early appearence in the summer, I suspect this will barely break even (it doesn't have the repeat viewing for kids as Lion King did), and will probably have Disney revert back to the Song and Dance animation that people typically expect.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Not true. Lots of people agonize over whether the 7th bit in word 4 of the 5th start packet in is set to true or false and how it relates to the 's latest attempt to subvert individual freedom.
h tm l
By the way. For a much more insightful review:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/atlan15f.
Cree is very cool. I actually ended up sitting beside her on a flight up to Canada. You may actually remember her from that Cosby show spin off (A Different World). She has done a lot of voice overs, and she likes doing it, but her real thing is music actually.
sigs are a waste of space
I saw it tonight. The kids thought it was ok, but I wouldn't pay for it again. I found the political correctness stuff annoying, but what else do you expect from Hollywood these days. What bugged me was that Atlantis is supposed to be a Greek/Mediterranean(sp) myth, but the people and buildings looked to me like they should be in the south Pacific (some things reminded me of those huge stone heads...can't remember what island they're on). The explosives guy was the only one I liked. Also, did Disney get lazy and decide to not put the effort in drawing faces for the soldiers and put them all in gas masks all the time. The time period was supposed to be 1914, so that would have been before most of the gas warfare in WWI. I'm not sure why it got a PG rating either. The scantily clad sexy princess? Chain smoking radio operator who sleepwalks in the nude? The gunfights? Better than the content in Shrek.
It sucks that in order to enjoy any movie nowdays, you have to turn your brain off.
the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
They say approximately the following:
NADIA - THE SECRET OF BLUE WATER
COPYRIGHT 1990, STUDIO GAINAX
Actually, it would be interesting to translate those. They supposedly got the guy who invented Klingon to invent their version of Atlantean, so it probably really does say something.
----------
It's Leonard Nimoy, not Nemoy.
The Black Cauldron ( http://us.imdb.com/Title?0088814 ) was rated PG, but as far as I know it's the only other non-G Disney animated flick.
There was also a movie (or was it an OAV?) that takes place after the end of the TV series. However, I understand that it's incredibly bad. Given that Nadia incorporated elements from Jules Verne, the Atlantis myth and even some ufology, I'm not sweating the similarities.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Showing a bare minimum of respect for the memory of the recently dead is one of those cultural things that separate the braying jackasses from the more thoughtful types. You don't have to say Jim Varney was a great guy. You just give the Earnest-movies-in-Hell joke a pass. Easy.
Getting one's news/opinions unfiltered is one of the cool things about slashdot, but in a perfect world Rob would have been cool enough to cut the Jim Varney joke on his own without needing an editor to tell him it 1) made him (Rob) look like an ass, and 2) wasn't terribly funny, anyway.
John
So, you're saying that in this movie, The Mole is The Mole?
Well, that's about right, seeing how Moliere (who on occasion looks frighteningly like Totoro, but then the directors are avowed Miyazaki fans) is the one major concession to the kids in the audience.
For what it's worth, here's my one-sentence review of Atlantis: The Lost Empire. I enjoyed and am quite fond of this movie, but I'm somewhat disappointed that it had a lot of things that could and should have been tightened up.
re: factual errors
Damn, you mean you can't believe everything you read on the internet? not even on Slashdot? I am crushed!!
Restrictions are prohibited. Be well, get better.
USE A GODDAMN SPELL CHECKER YOU FOOLS! The typos in this review are EMBARASSING.
7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001
My favorite is:
M&M COMMERCIAL (Commercial, 1998) - green m&m
But if you're really using Laura Croft for the same purposes of titillation (hee hee), doesn't it all come down to the same thing? She's as much a sex object as any pr0n you could find online; the fact that she doesn't take it off in the movie or the game is almost immaterial, since you can pretty much see what's there anyway.
Bottom line: porn is all in the head, and if you like Laura Croft that much, you can't say that porn is automatically wrong.
Caution: contents may be quarrelsome and meticulous!
Your right to not believe: Americans United for Separation of Church and
I didn't die once! Perhaps that's a sign it was easy, but there was none of the frustration of having to try several times to hit the swinging log just right to beat the boss in the first tomb, and the revolving planets contraption, while tricky, was mastered on the first try. Good thing I didn't get caught in those arms - ouch!
Between the gameplay were some movie sequences which were very smooth, well-rendered, and for a video game, the acting was passable as well.
I guess my only complaint was that I didn't really get the chance to figure some of the stuff out, like the right spot to place the clock key and that you had to ring the bell to destroy the ice wall (though I probably could have maybe figured the bell one out if I had a couple hours to just sort things out in my mind.)
oh, it's a movie?
--
Vidi, Vici, Veni
Ever hear of Nadia: Secret of Blue Water? http://www.zero-city.com/nadia/nadia_vs_atlantis.h tml
Hey, did you also know that Lion King was a ripoff of Kimba the White Lion?
Disney's writing staff is on autopilot, sorry to say.
Isn't this a little like comparing the jesus myth to that of Mithra and the rest of the godmen?
Through denial or ignorance, people just don't care that it's the same thing rehashed.
"Hey, it's a good story!"
-- but is it really?
Belief is the currency of delusion.
It's been said before, and will be said again.
USE A GODDAMN SPELL CHECKER YOU FOOLS! The typos in this review are EMBARASSING.
Please check your grammar. You should have written:
It's been said before, and it will be said again: use a god damned spell checker, you fools! The typographical errors in this review are embarrassing.
Indeed, Taco is a frustrated journalist / editorialist / Public Web Site Owner Trying To Please The Public.
... You don't suck, people do.
Taco: you're doing a good job buddy. Keep 'em coming
Make your own web site. CmdrTaco does this, you don't.
Oh yeah, Slashdot has been designed so you can filter what you don't like, so RTFM and get a life.
http://www.somethingpositive.net Funny + bitter = comedy gold
Doesn't *anyone* recognize Don Novello when they hear him? I mean, he made no attempt to change his "Father Guido Sarducci" character when he voiced this part. So my guess is that he was supposed to be Italian.
--- question = 0xFF;
Ass glued to the screen, I love it.
It's called a difference of opinion. Deal.
How we know is more important than what we know.
The american misunderstanding of irony strikes again. Never mind vegan, I laughed.
How we know is more important than what we know.
I like difference of opinion, provided it has a reason, not just "It sucks, but we're not going to say what made it aggravating for me to watch."
At least tell me why not to see tomb raider. BTW I saw it, and felt it did the game justice.
Because porn is wrong. And she is soo not.
Where's the irony I missed?
When you need a technical problem solved, where do you turn? To technical people. Slashdot is a resource of several thousand knowledgeable people...and several hundred thousand trolls. I was simply using the resources available to me.
The assumption that I will do 'anything i am told' is ludicrous. I am aware that there is a specific resolution to my problem, and solicited THAT information...not 'tips-n-tricks'.
Fortunately, nearly everyone saw it for what it was, and attempted to help or to at least provide useful information. Except you.
:-) Have a great day.
Oh, by the way, nothing has worked yet, KEEP TRYING GUYS!
I love the fact that this movie is politically correct. Yes, you have a german person (heavy accent, too) who looks basically like hitler and who loves blowing things up. But he's a florist.
Don't know it this makes it more or less politically correct, but demolition expert Vincenzo Santorini is Italian. From Palermo. The heavy accent is Italian, not German.
Flash the BIOS the same version. I had a Fujitsu *crapitsu* Milan that had the same problem and it worked. The best remedy in my case was buying a Dell..
!Spoilers abound!
I saw this movie, and thought it was funny. Damn funny. One of the major moral lessons of the movie is that capitalism/greed/etc. are bad. This fits in the the cutesy public Disney image, but a glimpse at the corporate side provides laughable irony. Carl Hiaasen's Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World is a short book, but quite interesting about the corporate greed that is Disney. At a few points during the movie, I found myself laughing out loud due to this irony.
Additionally, there were quite a few glaring plot inconsistencies. As they're going through the underground highway, one scene shows the team driving along in their expedition vehicles. In the next, they are all struggling over steep cliffs with no vehicles in sight. The next scene shows them back in their vehicles as if nothing had happened. The trucks are later driven over a rickety wooden bridge that was wide enough only for a person.
Milo, the linguist, could read Atlantian fluently. (An intersting note, Atlantian in the film is just modern English with different characters, as is evident during a few of the translations, despite the hogwash Milo throws around about it being a root language or a mix of multiple.) However, none of the Atlantians could read a word/letter/whatever of their own language...they had become reliant on oral communication. Their culture was dying, and Milo saved it.
When the princess is captured and taken, and the king dies, the next in succession is Milo. How this happens is unknown, the King just says it as if it were preordained and Atlantian law provided that the next in succession was some scrawny surface-dweller who led an invading and pillaging party to their city.
I saw the movie Friday night (opening night). Including my friend and me, there were maybe 15 people in a normal-sized theater that fits maybe 300-400. I suppose that was a result of the Sixers' game being on (I'm about 30 mins. outside of Philadelphia) but that struck me as a little odd.
Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone, but I don't completely regret seeing it.
Yes! That guy!
"I saw Nadia when I was about 7 - 8 years old. It was a remarkably well made movie..."
Except that it was a TV series in 39 episodes:
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0096591
Slashdot is entertaining like pro wrestling is entertaining
she may be no betty page but i gotta hand it to her for givin me the spock chick fetish i have in that cheeseball "hackers" movie.
all i have to say about ". Some of us aren't controlled by the organ between our legs. " is; if you dont use it you lose it and if you aint usin it theres probably a good sociological reason for it.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
So tell me now, what is wrong with having an opinion like that? Angelina Jolie might just not be "your thing".
and then tell me I'm wrong for having them, and that I should just shut up because I'm evil and dear god does this website suck now
Ahhh yes. First come the dilated pupils, then come the paranoid delusions of persecution. This is a path I know well. Go with the feelings Taco - don't try to fight it.
:wq
STOP with the FAG MOVIE REVIEWS
The current Slashdot moderation system is made by gay communists!
Lunix is truly the superior operating system.
Jolie is hardly the hottest woman in Hollywood. Heaven forbid Taco actually prefers substance instead of watching bouncing, enhanced breasts. Not only do I consider Jolie to be one of the less attractive female actresses, I would choose a quality Disney film over a plotless, characterless action film any day. Some of us aren't controlled by the organ between our legs. Some of us don't need "the hottest woman in hollywood shoot guns and kill things" to convince us that we are red blooded males.
Her character on Different World was of mixed race.
She had a white guy for a cousin.
The easy way to reset the CMOS is to turn the computer's power on and off several times in a row. It will make the BIOS assume that something is set incorrectly, and revert to defaults. This works on Award BIOS machines for sure, and I'd assume it's pretty standard, so that entering fucked-up values in the CMOS won't prevent the machine from running long enough to change them.
/em open and muck about. But the odds are taking it apart would show a jumper somewhere near the CMOS chip or its battery back up, which serves the function to discharge CMOS. It's worth looking, since if it were still under warranty Fujitsu probably just would have done the reset gratis.
I had to do this with a motherboard once after a failed overclock attempt--it kept hanging on POST because the FSB was set too high in BIOS and the system wasn't stable enough to even start. On-off-on-off-on-off and finally the CMOS cleared.
But, some people may be a wee bit squeamish about that, if they don't trust the motherboard maker and power supply maker enough to have made a product which can take a little abuse.
Alternatively, most new motherboards have a jumper onboard to discharge CMOS manually. The reason I had to reset CMOS the hard way that one time was because it was an older mobo with no discharge jumper.
So, just RTFM for the motherboard, and discharge the CMOS through the jumper, if it has one. Of course, this guy with the laptop might not have the luxury of a manual which says or a motherboard with such a jumper, since laptop makers don't like us to crack
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws."--Tacitus, *The Annals*
That along was worth my 8 dollars.
-Kai Rasmussen Life, Don't talk to me about life. Here I am, Brian the size of a Planet, and it is Can you pick up the
In case you're referring to "Nadia", it was pretty much a ripoff of "Nausicaa" and "Laputa", which were, in turn ripoffs of something else. Everybody is ripping of everyone else. The last truly original story was throught up sometime during the late stone age. Live with it.
The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.
--Henry Kissinger
Ahhh yes. First come the dilated pupils, then come the paranoid delusions of persecution.
/. editors get flamed for doing just that all the time. You know, like:
/. but anyway), and I don't blame the /. editors for anything they post (yes, even Katz, though he annoys me to no end).
/. doesn't have some earth-shattering news to report? Make it happen! Go out and develop an awesome and practical new technology, or at least get me my damn cheap and reliable cold-fusion. Otherwise, close the browser and get back to your boring and socially unimportant e-commerce devel job (or whatever) before your boss catches you.
<rant intensity="militant">
How is that a paranoid delusion? The editors around here get ripped for a lot of shit around here. I must have read your post wrong. Quite honestly I would have had much the same attitude as Taco. So far as I know, writing an editorial means giving your take on something, yet the
"WTF is this doing on slashdot?!"
"Get off your high horse (insert hated editor here)"
"Blah blah blah, now that Taco and Hemos are millionaires, how can they cater to us?"
IMNSHO, I could only hope to have an editorial job and retain right of creative control (not sure if this is true with
Pissed off because
</rant>
Apologies, but the shit the editors take (while it comes along with the job) is oftentimes unwarranted, and as such, an occasional negative outburst is justified.
What could possibly hurt the security of the American people more than giving our own government the ability to hide its
That's a better option even if you put aside the whole girlfriend possibility, which I realize may not be possible for some readers of this site.
The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned.
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
Ditto, minus the sarcasm.
-------------------------
Stupid people suck.
I just saw the movie tonight, and I remember hearing about this guy in a Turkish Prison. Plus he doesn't have a German, nor an Italian acent to me...
This will never make it through meta-moderation in tact.
This Wiki Feeds You TV and Anime - vidwiki.org
Square head, square ears, square fingers... square everything! Is it a kind of artistic style
The target audience (teens, a bit older than that of previous Di$ney "masterpieces") is used to that style because it's the easiest style to reproduce on PlayStation and Nintendo 64 because the speed limitations of their vertex transformation units force game developers to reduce polygon counts, resulting in boxy characters. (Take a close look at in-game Mario from Super Mario 64 to see what I mean.)
Will I retire or break 10K?
difference between capital "Lambda" and "Alpha"
Regarding TLNTIS: Lowercase lambda () is the symbol of the half-life of a radioactive element. It's also the logo for the game HLF-LIFE. Do a Google search for hllf-life to see people using the Symbol font to attempt to approximate the stylized logo.
(I wonder ifWill I retire or break 10K?
She's Native American - and has quite the voice over resume. http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Vine/4993/ It looks as if she's been doing this stuff forever...
III.IIVIVIXIIVIVIIIVVIIIIXVIIIXIIIIIIIIVIIIIVVIII
Wow it retained the flavor of a shitty video game that's enough reason for a lot of people not to see it.
BTW does true to the original mean the only camera angles were tight on her ass and tight on her breasts?
If you're looking for someone to savage Tomb Raider I'm sure mr cranky can help ya out.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/06/15/173823 1
...m all wrong for having them, and that I should just shut up because I'm evil and dear god does this website suck now. Oh, the short review, I dug it. There might be minor spoilers, so if you wanna avoid them, fle...
It's funny 'cuz it's true!
"and dear god does this website suck now." -- CmdrTaco
Fer cryin out loud... you created an account, now customize it and remove those two subjects!
____
Skivvy Niner? Email me!
HEY! Look left just ONE MORE TIME!
Not to mention running in slow motion was a game feature I never thought they would add...
I guess I can stop submitting the "Not enough bouncing breasts" bug i found...
YouTube & Google Video -> podcast http://castcluster.blogspot.com/
"I hated seeing the hottest woman in hollywood shoot guns and kill things... but this new disney cartoon rocks!" -CmdrTaco
YouTube & Google Video -> podcast http://castcluster.blogspot.com/
Yep, that was interesting - I'm undecided from the evidence they present - at least some of the Animators admit that they were fans of the Anime series about Atlantis... Winton
I don' t really like to read the movie reviews in Slashdot ( hell I disagree with movie critics in general on principle because whether you like or dislike a movie in general is really a matter of pure taste ). I went to see Swordfish today; I saw but refused to read the Slashdot review and the comments about the movie. If you think this is movie about hacking or cracking or whatever you missed the boat. Swordfish with it's firefights and car chases is a formulaic movie albeit an extremely well done and was worth the price. And now today I am reading on Slashdot an Atlantis review and even though I do not like Disney animation and without a doubt prefer Japanimation especially Princess Monoke and Ghost in the Shell, I do intend to see Atlantis for the visuals look good. However it is my opinion that the slashdot reviewer is clueless. While reading the review I came across the fact that Cree Summer was the white chick in A Different World, and I said to myself hold on, there were two white chicks in that show? Even though I didn't see that many episodes of what I thought was a boring spin-off of a very good show I do know that Marisa Tomei was the white chick (well that's probably what the audience called her anyway too) so who was the other? After researching (if you can call looking for pics, using google, research ) I found the actress Cree Summer the reviewer referred to was a chick but definitely not white -- at most she was biracial and an apparently talented artist. Now if the reviewer can't bother to check simple facts please no review. I have an even better suggestion for Slashdot: No more movie reviews, no more articles about hybrid cars and homemade rockets and other IMO filler...I'd really like to see Slashdot articles to focus on computers and related issues, especially articles about Linux and free-software. If I want to read movie reviews and articles about hybrid cars and home-made rockets I'll read PREMIERE or Popular Mechanics. If I must read one more movie review here I pray that it's the Matrix 2 and that's it. Oh yea and no more Jon Katz; I mean theres over-intellectualizing and pseudo-intellectualizing. Jon's stuff is over-pseudo-intellectualizing -- which should not be confused with pseudo-over-intellectualizing.
ALL of the hyenas were not only dark-skinned, but voiced by black voice talents Since when has Cheech Marin been black?
********************
I object to Intellect without Discipline.
Yeah, I aggree. But you gotta remember, Disney put that in for the kids, not geeks who are facinated with dead languages, explosives, or car engines. Kids like to play with dirt. Not funny at all, but I saw a bunch of kids laughing at it.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Perhaps the movie in question is: Laputa, City in the Sky. That is a well known anime which is a source for much of Nadia. I believe it had a theatrical releases in art houses in the US, also. Thus it would more likely be seen by Disney animators than Nadia. The plot and characters are more or less cliches in Atlantis, so it is hard to gauge similarities. However, the visual design elements definitely echoes Laputa. (warning: minor spoiler ahead) - floating crystals - floating girl - blue light spread along crevices to indicate powering up - giant robot guardians - semi-ruined city with many bridges, streams, and flying arches While Atlantis is a solid film, it is not too memorable. Laputa has much more interesting characters and terrific pacing - it flows like and Indiana Jones movies. Of course, the comparison may not be fair as Laputa is one of the major landmarks in anime. It does shows that fancy 3-d animation CANNOT compensate for plot, characters, and dramatic pacing.
find c-mos battery
remove it
> seems like Disney has reached a new low,
> ripping off Anime like that
Nah, they've been this low before. Look
around the net about "The Lion King", which ripped
off large chunks of Tezuka's "Jungle Emperor"
(parts of which were released in the US as
"Kimba the White Lion").
Chris Mattern
I thought that CmdrTaco reads the Filthy Critic.. he could at least pick up a few gems in there. He sounds like the local sour movie critic you expect in a city newspaper.
A good example from a reader of said site: "I saw this movie on an airplane, and despite the obvious danger, I almost walked out."
--
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
Sentence fragments. Good device. If used sparingly. Annoying. When used too often.
Never take moderation advice from sigs, including this one.
Cut me some slack, no one ever referred to "the Indian Chick" on A Different World... ;)
"...the Love Interest, voiced by Cree Summers (most familiar as the white chick on A Different World..." Hahah nice. Taco you're color blind, which is a noble thing, but hello, Cree Summer is African American. The "white chick" you are referring to is most certainly Marisa "Oscar Fluke" Tomei. Sheesh.
What do you call something ripped off Old Gainax Anime? It's hard to say.
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
No, actually, it *would* have been funny if the link wasn't busted. What the hell is wrong with people on Slashdot, weren't you ever around when everyone did 'a href' by hand? It isn't hard to get right, you know.
Go Kathryn Thurber!
Comments on your two of your nitpicks:
1. Note what Milo said to Audrey after Kida was able to finally communicate with Milo. He said something about the Atlantean language being a mother tongue of sorts, and that some Atlanteans had the ability to parse out what other people speak and eventually speak their language, abeit a bit slowly. The linguist brought in as a consultant on the movie specifically mentioned that in several interviews.
2. Better watch the sequence in the movie again. Note when Rourke held up the page it had a full-page depiction what looked like a star in a very light blue tint. You forget that Rourke has been a treasure hunter for a number of years, and something like that is bound to attract his attention even if he couldn't read the language on the page.
Rob,
:) The incredible sequence of the Atlantean Leviathan attacking the submarine Ulysses was just downright breathtaking, to say the least.
I actually agree with most of your sentiments of Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
However, I have a gripe about the movie: the expository section of the movie (e.g., the first 15 minutes after the destruction of Atlantis) felt very choppy and rushed. I hope they expand out that part of the movie (maybe add in 10-12 minutes) in the near future to better flesh out the characters of Milo Thatch and Preston Whitmore, the benefactor that financed the expedition.
But once the expedition got going, the movie definitely got WAY better.
By the way, Princess Kidagakash (aka Kida) is one of the more interesting female characters to come out of a Disney animated feature. Kidagakash has the sexy look of Ariel from The Little Mermaid and Princess Jasmine from Aladdin, the earthy look of Pocahantas, the intelligence and curiousity of Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and (initially) some apsects of San from Mononoke Hime.
I should warn people that if they are prone to motion sickness I would be leery about watching this movie--some action sequence have fast-moving up-down motion that can be quite disorienting.
By the way, try to see this movie in the largest screen possible and make sure the theatre has THX-certified sound system installed. I saw the movie in such a theatre and it tremendously improves the enjoyment of the movie.
I am definitely looking forward to the DVD release (likely next February).
- How could Milo speak Atlantean, a language that didn't even use a modern alphabet, if it's a dead language? He'd only read it, no one alive (well, outside of the lost city) had ever heard it spoken.
- How could Kida speak modern French and English perfectly? Both those languages had yet to exist when Atlantis sank 8,500 years ago.
- How could the captain know what any page in the book would represent based on the pictures alone? Milo was the only one of them who could read it, and they repeatedly said so.
Sorry, Disney, try hiring writers that pay attention to detail next time you want to appeal to a more grown-up audience.Awww, come on... every freakin' time I look at the bottom of the page, I have to moderate again. The pressure is unbearable. I missed three days of work last week just trying to figure out which five articles are worthy/unworthy.
;-)
I'm thinking of picking random threads to modreate up just to have fun.
I know, I know, you can turn it off, but I just can't shake that god-like rush of omnipotence every time it happens
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
That alone made it worth watching for me...
Roight! Stop that! Stop that singing!
Just because you can mod me down, doesn't mean you're right. Shoes for industry!
Hmm... I think I agree with you. Even though I believe the person you replied to was only joking. People say some pretty mean stuff to editors sometimes. It really bothers me, because I know that if people said that kinda stuff to me on a regular basis it would really hurt my feelings. I'm from the South, tho, so maybe it's just how i was raised. It's pretty much mandatory to be nice to strangers down here.
-- juju
They did a great job of giving Atlantis the mystique it needed to be interesting. It's like they borrowed the appeal of Egyptology and applied it to a similarly intriguing myth... and pulled it off.
I'll probably go see it again, if only because I had lousy seats after getting busted trying to bring drinks into the theatre and having to stand outside and gulp them down.
CmdrTaco, I read your opinions, and all I can say is that you're wrong for having them.
Honestly, you should jusr shut up now, because you're evil.
And dear God! Has anyone else noticed how this website SUCKS now?
Well, I may not be an expert in Disney movies by any respect, but I do have a love for them. I watch them whenever I can, I have a season pass to Disneyland (I *love* living in LA), and I always make sure that I go out to watch the newest ones (call me a sucker for musical comedies).
... certainly not you everyday Disney animated feature. Still, it was very good.
I have to say that this movie was not at all what I expected. It reminded me a lot of Titan AE
I have to say that the PG rating was warranted for the violence. Sure, Disney has killed some of its characters before, but never in such quantities.
First, most of the original city of Atlantis is wiped out. Only the palace and satelite buildings are saved. Besides these unseen citizens, the guys flying around are also swept by the enormous tidal wave.
Later, the submarine sets out with 200 people, about 180 of which die after the attack by the giant lobster. Then later, the villains are thrashed by the heroes (the main characters live, but some unfortunate Antlanteans die on their flying fish), which in the end leaves only the main characters alive.
Finally, the lava that sends fiery rocks towards Atlantis before the giant robots put the force field around the city presumably killed several more people.
In the end, the body count was probably in the thousands, about 200 of which happend during main sequences. I think PG is pretty good considering. At least none of the deaths were bloody.
By the way, I agree that the Italian Florist was easily the funniest character in the movie. His lines are instant classics.
PS: Bambi didn't die, his mother did!
touche'
/she/ said she had read about The Lion King :).) If anyone can dig up these types of essays on Disney movies, I always find them very interesting....
That's what I get for doing third-hand knowledge-spreading. (Someone told me my original "information" from an essay
~
made me laugh!
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look, troll, when something is G rated it's not being prissy to expect it to not grind prejudices into our children. I don't care what adults watch. I have a sense of humor.
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Ah, yes, that makes sense. I haven't seen "bad" anime that does 3d rendering together with 2d hand-drawn stuff, but now that you mention it, the effect certainly WAS there a little. You don't notice though, because the film is engrossing. I don't think you often see large characters together with large views of the environment. More so it'll do either close-ups or huge pannings.
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Some questions about Taco's review: "And even more scary is the amazing shots where the backgrounds are actually more or less fully 3D sets, but look convincingly 2D even as we rotate around them. The guys responsible for those shots deserve pats on the back. "
Does he mean "more or less 2d but manage to LOOK convinciginly 3d?" Why would anyone want something to look convincingly 2d?
And secondly,
I found the characters weak for my tastes (but nothing compared to Suck Raider which I saw only hours before and simply wanted every character to die a painful death just as soon as possible).
I agree with you that the characters are weak, but how on Earth did you manage to come up with an off-topic phrase like "Suck Raider" just so you can include it in the sentence?? C'mon Taco. And "wanted every character to die a painful death just as soon as possible" is so unoriginal that the last time I laughed at that I fell off my stegosaurus.
And last, but not least, Taco, pal, I value your opinion, however evil you may be and dear god however much this website sucks now. C'mere you big lug.
~
Saw this over at Memepool:
t /atlantis.html
http://www.newgrounds.com/frames.php?location=/li
(warning: pop-ups aplenty)
end communication
NO actually. I am an adult, but it is possible that the main reason I posted the was to express my displeasure with the fact that CmdrTaco felt he had to insult a movie and give no reasons when he was writing a review of another movie. I would have been fine with a differance of opinion had he backed up any of his (in my opinion) nonsense. but as to the question of age what are you 14. Maybe you should be a little more mature. I felt that I got my point across but I hate when people insult me or things I happen to like without at least a reason.
You, sir, are on drugs._ _
You posted begging to buy help on Slashdot, giving the impression that you will actually do anything these guys tell you to do to your own laptop.
And all without a hint of irony?
K, here's my go:
First, put your laptop in a plastic zip lock bag and put it into the freezer for 12 hours. This will trick the computer into thinking it's the ice age and the Y1K bug will frizz the BIOS.
That was a freebie. Knock yourself out.
___________________________________________
Now wash your hands.
Atlantis also had a few elements which seemed to be borrowed from Princess Mononoke. Unfortunately, when you watch Atlantis, and then watch Mononoke (and probably Nadia as well), Disney just doesn't compare.
Some reviewer (don't remember who) commented that Atlantis was the most "anime-like" of the Disney films. (No, he wasn't talking about Akira knockoffs or tentacle-porn!)
I don't think Atlantis even comes close, though, because Disney by definition plays it too safe. While crude in places, Atlantis lacks the wacky-but-sweet sexual humor of Project A-ko or Ranma 1/2. Dramatically, it lacks the intensity of Nausicaa, Princess Mononoke, Black Jack, Silent Service, or Watership Down (which though British, IMO counts as "honorary anime.") It doesn't come close in the fairy-tale wistfulness department to My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service or Galactic Railroad.
The upshot - Disney just isn't weird or spooky enough...
There's a reason for that. She had to put on a bit of weight to fit the role for the movie. As a result, it made her look more like Lara Croft from the waist up, but she was a bit larger from the waist down. So she asked the producers / directors / whateverr of she could use a body double (ass double?) for ass shots so as to "not let down the fans". Basicy there are few (relativly) ass shots, because they had to make sure you couldn't tell a double was used, and hence it made it more difficult to do an ass shot. In the imortal words of Dave Bary "I swear, I am not making this up."
Touch everywhere, even when inappropriate.
I find that everyone at /. is way to criticizing! I love /. for the articles and the reviews, and of course some healthy criticism. Note that I said "healthy criticism" because I think some fellow /.ers have way to much time on their hands and have nothing to do other than nitpick over stupid shit such as someone having their own opinions and the occasional misspelling. Two words explains my feelings about some fellow /.ers, "Grow Up"!
What I found unusual was that even though Roger Ebert said the ending had a "turning, brilliant climax" the ending itself was actually really weak. You pretty much know halfway through how it's going to end, and the movie doesn't really excite in that sense.
I thought some of the characters were more memorable than the actual plot, and the guy who blows stuff up is one of the funniest Disney characters in a long time. My favorite part is when he's describing his childhood: "My parents worked in a flower store. We had to make those little flowers people wore to proms. And they'd come in and say 'This doesn't match my dress!' But then, one day, I saw a gas explosion across the street. No more Chinese laundry. I had found my calling."
The time period (it's supposed to be 1920-30) also leads to a few weird instances. Not with the technology (which you can let go in a flick), but the montage of characters, who are suprisingly mixed for a "undersea crew" of the 1920's. There's a black doctor, and even a noticable female Spanish mechanic. Didn't know political correctness was ripe back then. :)
Finally, I was more than a little confused by the movie's rating: PG. I wracked my brain and couldn't think of any previous Disney feature cartoons that were rated anything other than G (I know a few of the live-action movies are automatically PG and above). What was really strange is that the violence was no worse than some previous Disney cartoons. Most villians die in their flicks (Oliver & Company had a car hit by a train, The Great Mouse Detective had the villian fall from Big Ben), but there wasn't one kid in the theater even remotely perturbed by the explosions (presumably with people in them). I remember more kids crying when Bambi died (which was rated G).
Overall, it's a pretty good flick. Definitely "matinee" material, but if you have kids you really can't go wrong (lines like: "I have the four basic food groups: Bacon, Grease, Whiskey, and Lard" are for the adults). Also, very much different than most Disney animated films (not a musical, only action) so catch the anime-like goodness while they're free to copy it. :)
I just found it slightly funny that on the Amazon page selling Carl Hiaasen's Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World their is a little banner for Atlantis. How Ironic.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Such a brave metaphor for someone who is famous for flagrantly violating certain rules of spelling and construction. I think our Commander has been holding out on us, and will soon inundate us with such opulent metaphors as "this film sucked with the voracity, but not the skill, of Monica Lewinsky" or "rough winds do shake the darling buds of May". Everyone will soon be talking about "that guy who started slashdot".
Taco: You're a poet, though you don't know it.
"What is the sound of one belly slapping?"
I think Rob Malda (aka CmdrTaco) is a really cool guy. I think you should take back what you said about him. Without his hard work and dedication Slashdot wouldn't even exist..so take that and stick it in your Anonymous Coward pipe and smoke it. If you aren't nicer to Taco, the lemurs will come for you.
Posting as directed.
The article was a review of Atlantis, not 101 Reasons why Tomb Raider was bad. That would be the main reason for the lack of the in depth discussion of Tomb Raider. Not to start that here, but Tomb Raider was not that great of a movie. The story was alright, but the lines were horrible. The most redeeming quality was its adherance to the unrealistic quality of the video game. Anyway, back to Atlantis...
Posting as directed.
Not so much her ass...but the camera did spend a great deal of time focused on the 'tracts of land' of Jolie.
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Posting as directed.
It's nice to see Anonymous Cowards preaching about "the old days". Get a user name. Stop posting Anonymously.
Posting as directed.
There is a difference between kissing someone's ass and sticking up for someone who is being flamed by everyone. I'm sure it's easy for you to sit at your computer and post on Slashdot as an Anonymous Coward, going along with what everyone else says and praying that you can get a few Karma points. Unlike some people, getting flamed isn't going to change the fact that I like Taco.
Posting as directed.
If only Disney advertising people knew the difference between capital "Lambda" and "Alpha"... Throwing in a couple of Greek letters in all the wrong places is not cool, sorry.