Genre: Steam Punk / Fantasy / Disney Animation
Directed By: Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise
IMDB Details: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0230011/

If you already know that the title I have chosen is a Disney Animated film from 2001...(and now you know if you didn't)...you're probably wondering why in the name of all that is holy...what the hell is an anime fan doing bothering with a Disney animated movie?

Well...normally I'd agree...it's a bit lame to draw much of a relationship between anything predicated with the blue castle and arch and Japanese anime...besides being animated.

This time though it's a little different... let me begin...

First I remember the trailers for this movie back 5 years ago and being semi-intruged but after seeing "The Lion King" (1994) I had sworn off Disney many years ago. (For the record I do enjoy the classic Disney films, and I did like "Little Mermaid" (1989) and "Beauty and the Beast" (1991)...but "Lion King" was well...not my cup of P.C. tea so to speak.) However one of my favorite websites gave me food for thought, www.imdb.com. Let me copy some of the movie's salient trivia that intruged me into the audition:

- A special Atlantian language was developed and spoken in the movie. The person responsible for this was Marc Okrand. Don't know who that is? Ka'plah! Still don't know? Dif-tor heh smusma... Confused...? Well, He is responsible for creating both the Klingon and Vulcan languages for the Star Trek series. Furthermore he is professional linguist, with a doctorial degree on the subject (which is why Paramount hired him for the Star Trek tasks in the first place.) The Atlantean language has it's own alphabet created by Okrand. So the titles written in it, do say "Atlantis" in that alphabet.
Score Disney! Especially if you're a trekkie like me...

- This is only the second animated Disney movie ever to recieve a PG rating. The first was the ill-concieved "Black Cauldron" (1985). This was due to the more mature content of this film.
Always a good sign if you like "mature" story arcs in anime...

- Character and set designs are based heavily on two anime films and series: "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" (1986) and "Nadia - Secret of Blue Water" (1990). The former is of course a famous Miyazaki film (my Favorite one) and The latter is an anime that deals directly with Atlantis myth (Which I haven't seen but is on my hit list now)

- Cast...Disney has star power. They showed up. Michael J. Fox voices the main character, Milo. James Garner does the voice of Commander Rourke. Leonard Nimoy (again Star Trek) voices the Atlantean King. The late Jim Varney in his final role ever, voiced the cook "cookie". As usual big hollywood actors give the voices of their characters gravitas. The same things happened when the likes of Mark Hammil, Patrick Stuart, Billy Bob Thorton, etc... dubbed Miyazaki movies.
Animation with good dubbing is always good...

FINALLY...there are NO SING-ALONG KIDDY SONGS, there are no TALKING ANIMALS (Although the chararacter Gaetan 'The Mole' Moliere might as well have been), and there were no "dopey duo" comic relief characters (I hate it when they show up in Disney live action...like Pirates of the Caribbean...but that's a whole other keg of powder). While the subject matter and overall feel were more mature than most Disney fare...it was still Kiddie Grade (anime pun intended) in that I'd say that it was Middle to High School mature (eg it's PG not PG-13)

ALRIGHT...SO....what did I think of it...

In a nutshell...Disney tried to hard and while they attempted to leave the rut...they only really got up on one side of it but never came out.

I haven't seen Nadia, but I certainly HAVE seen Laputa. NO comparison here. Laputa is a hands down masterpiece. The only comparison I see there is the arguable "Steam Punk" genre. Now If we're talking hardcore Steam Punk A movie like "Steamboy" (2004) or a series like "LASTEXILE" (2003), beat this movie around the block all day. Comparing this movie to Steamboy is kind of like comparing "The Last Star Fighter" (1984) to "Star Wars" (1977), similar and both quite novel for their time but the former not as well done nor as epic as the latter.

What's wrong? Disney still applies the same tried and true format to this story. The same thin characters. The same poor character development. Shells of characters that look good but have little, if any enduring qualities. I can tell you alot about Ray Steam from Steamboy, or Pazu and Sheeta, Dola, Muska, or almost any of the Laputa characters. While Milo Thatch and Princess Kida have "some" character development in Atlantis...the rest of the characters are just kinda there. You don't care about them. You have no reason to. When they are in trouble or things start happening...you just don't care...maybe about Milo or Kida...but for the other characters it's just like "that's great". While a 12 year old will probably enjoy the light characters and quick story...anime guru's will scoff I assure you. 

What the Japanese do better than anyone else is character development...something that seems to be getting lost in American movies and animation these days. That's why Lord of the Rings, or Master and Commander are such jewels out of hollywood as of late. So much Jerry Bruckheimer in your face crazy action blockbuster crap with one-liner thin characters dominate the medium. Anyone see that last Brosnan Bond Film?....HORRIBLE...doesn't even compare to "Dr. No" (1962), "Goldfinger" (1964), or the new "Casino Royale" (2006). Anyway...Disney has always been good at revolving a story around one or two characters...but real multi-character development has always been a problem for them IMHO.

Furthermore, the pacing and story development was wrong. This movie was obviously "cram in the action"... Which cost the characters and accelerated the development. It could have easily been a four hour movie or even a OVA series (if it were truly anime) and been SO much better. Alas it feels pushed and hurried, to an almost forgone conclusion.

The animation quality is very good, with nice blended CG. The setting and the feel of the world is what partially redeems the title. It's set in 1914 so the advanced "Jules Verne Technology" can be categorized as Steam Punk if you want.

So...
Was it entertaining? Yes
Was it technically good (nice smooth animation)? Yes...that's its strongest point.
Was it more mature for Disney? Yes
Is it anime grade? A resounding NO

A good try...but don't get overexcited. I would recommend seeing it, rent it first. It's not a bad buy if you're into the steam punk anime genre or you happen to be an Atlantis nerd... A lot of time was spent to build a good foundation but without the framing of character development and proper story building and pacing...the pretty drywall can't hold up the roof of the movie.

Don Bluth did a better job pacing the story and developing characters in a fairly mature animated story called "Secret of NHIM" (1982)...and it used talking mice.

Out of 5 stars...I'd say a generous 2.75...because I like steam punk and history. And It wasn't as bad as I had heard, mostly reviews from Disney fans that loathed it for no songs or animals. As compared to anime...well lets just say it's animated and so is anime...