(rated PG, 95 mins) It’s 1914 and Milo James Thatch (Michael J. Fox) tries to convince his colleagues at the Smithsonian that he knows the whereabouts of Atlantis, a thriving civilization that fell to battle, swallowed by a giant tidal wave and disappearing without a trace, several thousand years ago. One day an eccentric billionaire Preseon Whitmore (John “Frasier” Mahoney) hands Milo the Shepherd’s Journal left by his grandfather that contains the key to finding the lost empire. Thrown in the mix and part of the adventure is a Crustacean-like monster called the Leviathan, Princess Kida and a group of money hungry mean people that even look mean in animation, including Commander Rourke, played by James Garner. While Disney’s animation capabilities reign supreme, the story is loud, overwhelming and plain scary with a violent, busy premise leaning more toward an adult audience. What ever happened to the charm of “Lion King?” Disney needs to soften up to those “Little Mermaid” days and infuse their movies with some contemporary “Shrek” a la Dreamworks style.
