Animated movies don't need musical numbers to be exceptional (c.f. "The Iron Giant"). Nor do they have to have marketing gimmicks. "Atlantis" missed its mark because it has a case of inconsistent cohesion.
Animated films tend to be tight-paced. "Atlantis" at least has that along with its excellent animation. In at least one place, the pace is TOO fast, as in the case of the escape from the leviathan which could have been a show stopper like the Tarzan vs. Sabor battle in "Tarzan" if the story editors allowed it more time.
The characterizations are ... inconsistent. We get a delightful introduction to most of the secondary characters, although Helga Sinclair is a huge question mark. Why is she always looking so annoyed? Why is her facial expression range so limited? Why do we get no background on her AT ALL? And why are there characters as serious or believable as Joshua Sweet juxtaposed with Cookie and Moliere? I liked all the characters, but the fleshing out was uneven, leading to an inconsistency of scenes that work. The chemistry is not quite there.
By all means, see "Atlantis", but don't expect the clarity or story quality from it as you could expect from other Disney masterpieces.
Animated films tend to be tight-paced. "Atlantis" at least has that along with its excellent animation. In at least one place, the pace is TOO fast, as in the case of the escape from the leviathan which could have been a show stopper like the Tarzan vs. Sabor battle in "Tarzan" if the story editors allowed it more time.
The characterizations are ... inconsistent. We get a delightful introduction to most of the secondary characters, although Helga Sinclair is a huge question mark. Why is she always looking so annoyed? Why is her facial expression range so limited? Why do we get no background on her AT ALL? And why are there characters as serious or believable as Joshua Sweet juxtaposed with Cookie and Moliere? I liked all the characters, but the fleshing out was uneven, leading to an inconsistency of scenes that work. The chemistry is not quite there.
By all means, see "Atlantis", but don't expect the clarity or story quality from it as you could expect from other Disney masterpieces.