Why Disney's "Next Big Thing" Was A Total Disaster

I disagree, the movie has a huge following so that's a dam lie.

I remember as a kid being disappointed there wasnt any singing.

I wonder how it would have done as a musical 😂

I'M 40. Atlantis is BY FAR my favorite Disney movie. i can't understand why this movie did not become a classic... but the i'm on my 3rd if not 4th try to get my three daughters (5 to 11) to watch it but they get bored.... but then my 2nd and 3rd favorites are Aladdin and Lion King and they have NO problem watching that..... so...was this a movie for kids? was it before it's time in terms of curating to an older audience?

For me, it will always be a childhood treasure

Didn’t fail for me. Felt like the biggest movie ever upon its release.

I am sorry but your take on Atlantis is pure garbage. It is one of the best-animated movies of all time in every regard. The animation, the plot, the narrative, the tone, the characters, the moral, the villain... everything about that movie is AMAZING. The movie was not a success because it had no songs. I guarantee, if they slapped in two or three catchy musical numbers it would be one of the most profitable animations ever. Most people, unfortunately, can not appreciate a cartoon's greatness if it has no showtunes in it.

One of my all time favorites. Just showed my kids and they loved it

I also can’t believe this was a box office flop, because it’s my favorite Disney movie!!!!! Yes Atlantis the Lost Empire is my favorite Disney movie, and it’s definitely underrated like another certain movie called Treasure Planet!!!!

Milo is the most annoying protagonist in animation history.

I love this movie and the animation style is just simply gorgeous, but my mom had never been too fond of it. When I grew up and asked why, she told me that it's kind of annoying that a British nerd boy and a group of mercenaries saved what used to be one of the most wonderful cities to ever exist. I thought she was exaggerating but after some thought I had to agree, and never saw Atlantis the same way. The fantastical aspect of it fell a bit flat, Kida's character feels undeveloped (not to say she's the ONLY Atlantian who is properly involved in the story) and even if we get a tiny glimpse of the found family trope, we never get to really care about them as a whole. One thing I do love is the way they picture female characters, but again, I feel like they could have done better. The world around the characters feels void, only throwing a couple of scenes in where we get a glimpse of its general dynamic. Not to mention, are you really telling me that Milo, armed with an ancient book and a lifetime of knowledge (roughly 20-30 years) knew MORE than the locals about their OWN culture????

I really sound like a hater even if I love this movie 😂 But this video made my brain rot with thoughs about it.

I remember my friend brought me to this movie as a kid and I hated it. I just remember it looking cheap and the movie being boring.

the visuals and overall story were pretty good. in my opinion it had a lot of flaws tho: villains were predictable, insane plot armor for the main crew and it felt like avatar mostly (with the english-speaking white man staying with the alien/foreigner princess and being part of their culture now ig)

Atlantis is one of the most underrated animated movies ever, it was ahead of its time, they truly had a great idea, just the wrong timing, would love to see a reboot of it with everything being more flashed out and some of the original ideas included

L take

There's one thing this movie absolutely deserves credit for. This exchange:

"If I have to hear the word 'Atlantis' again, I'll jump in front of a bus."

"I'll push you!"

It made me laugh then, and still does today.

I do not like live action remakes, but i think Atlantis would make a great live action movie.

Definitely think justice could be done on this movie. I'd watch two hours of it if they kept the characters and worked on it for the story and not the deadline. Atlantis and Treasure Planet are two movies that inspired my imagination for hours on end. I'd look for animation like it on Saturday morning channels like SABC 2 and 3, but it was only stuff that was either closer to the modern aminated crap for 3 year old's or puppet stuff. This movie was wild. It could be wild again if they invest in it properly.

Oh wow I thought that movie was a hit.

This and Treasure Planet are two of the most boring Disney movies

This was literally the best Disney movie ever made.

i loved it! well i was a child but still .... had no idea this was a flop!!!!!!!

I personally completely disagree. I watch this movie twice a year. I love it

The movie lacked substance lol

Looking back, I wonder if Atlantis conceptually would work better serialized, rather than a movie, something like Gargoyles or (more recently) Attack on Titan. An episodic format would give more opportunity for character interaction and development as well as diverse action set pieces, and play more into the exploration, adventure, and worldbuilding possibilities

wow your opionion if factually wrong. "thrown together in a day". Videos like this need a dislike count...

I don't know what you're talking about. Atlantis and Treasure Planet are my 2 favorite Disney movies ever!

I watched this movie all the time. I’m always amazed hearing it was a flop. I feel the same about black Cauldron and treasure planet though.

Atlantis is the ugliest Disney movie ever made.

Change my mind.

Do one on Titan AE!!

The Emperor's New New Grove also found a following & good sales on Home Video.

I love Atlantis. I cant believe its considered a "bad" movie! The second sure. I remember when McDonald's had its toys/themed Atlantis I became obsessed with learning the alphabet and started righting in atlantian lol it hit right in my paleontology era

I loved this as a kid, same witu treasure planet

Atlantis flopped because it lacked what Lilo and Stitch had by the truckload: characters the audience became emotionally invested.
Yes, the visuals, the production budget, the creativity, are all there. But there is nobody to root for, or identify with.

Just watched the movie today and I could definitely feel it was from the same team who made beauty and the beast (my all time favourite disney film) and while the world building and the spectacle is on point to me this feels like a film that had A LOT of pacing issues - things just seemed to happen on the fly too quickly with the off-timing humour being the catalyst. I feel like had the film been even just 30 minutes longer (or I think it needed to be double the time to be honest) and had a more gradual build up to the spectacle this would have been a grand slam. I think the film has heart, but It was clearly meant to be a longer and grandiose film that had to be shorten for a variety of reasons. It is definitely a "diamond in the rough" (no pun intended) kind of film, you'll enjoy the ride, and even remember the characters, but you'll feel like something was missing.

I loved that movie when I saw it in cinemas and I still love it today, I think is better than most shit Disney produces today

You can't really blame the creators for executive meddling.

First of all Disney Atlantis is the best movie of all time including meet and greet characters like Milo, kida and Vinny at Disneyland moonlight magic and second is not disaster!!!

This was one of my favorite movies as a kid! I still have the dolls and a movie poster!

This movie was so great ?!

I think Atlantis had a good story, but it didn't' have enough time to flesh it out. The story being told was too complex and had too many characters for a 90 minute movie. As a result, the characters were underdeveloped and the mythology behind Atlantis was confusing. The movie needed to be around 130-150 minutes long to properly tell the story it wanted to tell.

This was my family’s favorite movie!

I was obsessed with this movie as a kid.

I really think this one is up there among the best ones; definitely one of my favorites.

The screenwriter's original idea was the right one -- people DON'T watch a movie titled "Atlantis" to see a group of politically correct characters. Rather, they DO go to see a place --- ATLANTIS -- and to revel in the wonders of such a place. Making it character-driven instead of idea/place-driven movie MIGHT have worked if the characters had been interesting. But they were not. And the animation was indeed very disappointing and blockly-looking (a far cry from the quality of the Disney animated films that had just preceded it). Mignola is a good comic-book artist but his style translates poorly to the animated medium (or at least, it did in the manner that Disney adapted it here). In short: a more traditional adventure/exploration-type movie rather than a character-driven movie (with unappealing characters to boot) would have made this bad film much better and likely would have made it a success. Also . . . is that Kathleen Kennedy that I see in one of those clips? If so, perhaps her noxious influence was already ruining movies even back then by trying to inject annoying feminism into them.

I was young at the time, but saw it opening weekend, and remember it very fondly.
And it introduced me to the steam-punk aestetic that I still enjoy today😊

I wholeheartedly disagree with nearly everything you said.

I personally think Atlantis is a masterpiece. My sisters and I watched it over and over growing up, and to this day I still love it. The visuals are gorgeous, the characters are well done, the jokes are funny, and the story is engaging.

I’m sad cause as an 8 year old,
I only wanted this and Treasure planet on VHS. and both of those
movies are viewed as failures 😢

This and Treasure Planet were probably just ahead of their time, hence their cult statuses.