There is only one song in this movie, and it isn’t very good. The crew had T-shirts that said, “ATLANTIS—Fewer Songs, More Explosions.” Which is certainly true. I kind of resent the attitude a lot of people have toward classic Disney movies, but it remains true that I also believe that there’s more room for experimentation with animation than most people recognize outside of, say, Japan. Even if you don’t like this movie, and I do, I think it’s pretty clear that it is at least an interesting failure, even if you don’t think it’s an underrated success.

Milo James Thatch (Michael J. Fox) is following in his grandfather’s footsteps and driving everyone crazy with his research into the reality of lost Atlantis. He quites his museum job in annoyance when they won’t fund his research expedition. He is then essentially kidnapped and taken to see Preston B. Whitmore (John Mahoney), an eccentric millionaire and former friend of Milo’s grandfather. Whitmore finances an enormous expedition to Atlantis, most of which is lost when they encounter Leviathan, which turns out to be a mechanical protector of the civilization. All that’s left are the named characters, led by Lyle Tiberius Rourke (James Garner). Milo finds the way.

Atlantis, meanwhile, is home to a dying civilization. Its queen sacrificed herself to become one with the crystal that powers the city and save it from the cataclysm, all of which is why Atlantis is sunken beneath the sea in the first place. Atlantean royals are long-lived, but her husband, King Kashekim Nadekh (Leonard Nimoy), is now old and dying. His daughter, Princess Kidagakash (Cree Summer), is aware that their people are fading. Naturally, when Milo arrives, she falls in love with him, in part I think because she can see that he can help bring her people back.

This is an unusual film in the Disney canon in many ways. It’s interesting to me to picture a world where it was more successful. It seems that steampunk movies seldom are—and while this is not strictly steampunk, it has a bit of that to it. The film is set in 1914, and initially, it looks like it. However, as soon as the expedition begins, we see things that aren’t real to the world of 1914. And, of course, there’s the magic that is Atlantis. A world where the film was more successful, this and Treasure Planet both, seem to be encouraging a combination of technology and magic that never quite took off.

It’s a shame, too. I think this is an underrated movie. Disney was, in 2001, going through a bit of an uneven patch, I grant you. The only Disney animated movies I’ve never seen came out in a stretch between 1995 and 2004. A couple of them, it’s because my feelings about how they seem to have handled the source material are not positive. But there’s also one where I just didn’t care. Have never been able to care. My understanding is that there are a lot of people who feel that way about this movie, and it’s a shame.

One of the things that doesn’t get talked about it much—not that the movie gets talked about much in general—is that this movie has one of the most diverse casts of a Disney animated film. It’s set in the twentieth century. The survivors of the expedition includes a half-black, half-Native American medic and a Puerto Rican mechanic. A female one, at that. And, of course, an Italian guy and a French guy and so forth. And also a Disney princess who’s a bit older than sixteen, but who doesn’t get listed as a Disney princess because the movie wasn’t successful enough.

And my goodness, the cast. Michael J. Fox, of course. James Garner. Don Novello in a rare non-Father Guido Sarducci role. John Mahoney. Florence Stanley and Jim Varney. David Ogden Stiers. The incredibly talented Jim Cummings. For the geek crowd, Leonard Nimoy. And Claudia Christian of Babylon 5.

Honestly, there’s a lot in this movie for the geek crowd. The first draft of the script was by Joss Whedon, though he says nothing he contributed was in the final film. The early visuals were by Mike Mignola. Marc Okrand created the Atlantean language. The film draws on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for some of its inspiration as well.

There is of course a belief in certain circles that it wasn’t just 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. There’s a claim that it ripped off Castle in the Sky and Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. I’ve never seen the latter and haven’t seen the former in quite some time, so I don’t think I can speak to either of those. To be perfectly honest, I haven’t read any Verne, either; I’ve long meant to, but my greatest familiarity with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is the Disney version that I’ll get around to covering one of these days. So I don’t know a heck of a lot about where any of the inspiration comes from.

I would love to be able to see this movie on the big screen. It’s one of a few that I missed that way that I regret not seeing that way. It would have been beautiful, purely beautiful. I didn’t, I think, because at the time it came out, I didn’t have a lot of transportation issues. I don’t believe every movie misses something if you don’t see it on a big screen, but I believe that some movies would do better as spectacle. This one is a spectacle. Or should be. I missed it.

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