My main criticism with the movie is the animation. I totally agree with everyone else it was very poor. Some of the characters seemed to have darker skin tones than they did in the first film, which is much better. Also the background colours looked rushed and somewhat static. It is also a shame that Michael J.Fox didn't voice Milo, he did such a good job, and James Arnold Taylor wasn't sure whether he was supposed to sound like Milo or Aladdin. I have also taken into consideration the lack of a good storyline. the third story was confusing and clumsily told, and the second story suffered from poor scripting. To make things worse, the first one I can't even remember, other than a fishing village being haunted or something like that. However, there was some nice music, and good voice talents from John Mahoney, Cree Summer, Clancy Brown and Tom Wilson, that saved the film from total disaster. All in all, a disappointing sequel to a surprisingly good film. 4/10 Bethany Cox.
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I am finding that I get less and less excited about Disney's sequels to movies. Yes, I do understand that the budget for the direct to video movies are not the same, but these movies don't even try. Some examples are Hunchback II and Tarzan and Jane. If anyone has seen the previews for Stitch-The Movie, you will see my point. But I digress, this movie reaffirms my point. The animation is sloppy, the story lines resemble Saturday morning cartoons, and not all of the original voices are there. I was very disappointed not to hear Michael J. Fox's voice. It was so glaringly obvious that the person doing Milo's voice was trying to sound like Fox, but didn't come close to succeeding.
If it says anything, my children ages 10 and 6 didn't even sit through the whole movie. -
Sometimes people should wonder whether there are two Disney corporations. There's the Disney that moviegoers love and that consists of the classic titles that revolutionized the way people saw family and children films. Then there's the other side of Disney where it acts as a sellout / cash cow that churns out Direct-to-DVD sequels of their various popular films. Most of which these particular sequels either nobody asks for or just end up being despised by fans of the original. It makes no sense how such a well- respected company could have such split personality in goals. This is not to say that all of their DVD sequels are terribly made but to some, it would seem the mouse house operates solely on monetary impulse. The other odd thing is when sequels are produced to films that didn't even perform well. Of the early 2000's, Disney's Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) was one of them. Originally its sequel was for a TV series but was scrapped. Thus, this sequel feels more episodic in storytelling than a movie.
Directed Victor Cook, Tad Stones and Toby Shelton (who have all worked on various Disney DVD sequels) and penned by six writers from various TV shows and genres, this sequel is okay but that's all that it is. Although the title suggests it's "Milo's return", the story is actually about Milo's original crew having him come back to the surface in order to understand and resolve strange occurrences happening with no reason in the country. Kida's thoughts are that they are somehow connected to Atlantis; once weapons of destruction that her father had locked away hoping modern day man would not find. These events in question are that of a small town being terrorized by a deep sea kraken, a dust storm of spirit wolves and a mad man looking to start the end of the world. Of these separate cases, none of them truly give any explanation to how their Atlantian connection affected history. They're really just lazy tie- ins with Atlantis and nothing more.
The voice cast behind the characters thankfully help make the viewing relatively tolerable. There's only a few replacements; for Milo, James Arnold Taylor takes over Michael J. Fox and instead of Jim Varney, Steven Barr fills in as Cookie. Every other character remains the same. Cree Summer, John Mahoney, Jacqueline Obradors, Don Novello, Corey Burton, Phil Morris and Florence Stanley all return to reprise their roles and their exchanges are still commendable as the slew of personalities they make up. There are additional voices too and they consist of Frank Welker playing Obby (a three legged volcano dog,...precious), Jeff Bennett, William Morgan Sheppard, Floyd 'Red Crow' Westerman, Thomas F. Wilson and Clancy Brown. The unfortunate part is that with these new additions, somehow not all the main characters make it into every story. Characters like Vinny and Sweet disappear at times with no notice and don't come back until another story finishes. Strange.
Another component to the writing that doesn't exactly make sense are some of the character motivations. Some of which these motivations completely contradict beliefs from the prior movie. It's another thing to also think that sharing the gift of Atlantis will bring about good and everyone will be accepting of it. If this were a real world event, the newbies to the world should think twice. Animation was handled by Toon City, a contracting company that has frequently worked with Disney in several animated TV show spinoffs and direct- to-DVD sequels. For what it's worth, the animation is nowhere close to its predecessor's quality but it isn't garbage either. There are few relaxed scenes that have some decent fluidity to them and the action scenes are engaging too. For the action there are explosions and various other character movements (kraken, dust storms or protagonists) that have natural movement to them. The difference in quality to this is more texture display than anything else.
Of the animation, if there's one thing that really stands out, it's all the continuity errors that litter the screen. There are a considerable number moments when these problems develop. Parts of it show up for certain sections of backgrounds, while other times it's as simple as animating characters' mouths when clearly there's voice over work being played. It's moments like those that just feel sloppy and cheap. Also when Milo's friends come back to Atlantis, they arrive via plane. However the first movie had everyone go underwater; great job guys. The music to this feature is adequate though. Don Harper, who normally is the conductor to score recording sessions and who's best work would come later in The Lion King 1 1/2 (2004), composed the music. Occasionally, Harper does reference James Newton Howard's theme from the original but it's not around for long. The music itself is also not as grand but this is probably due to the constraints of the budget itself. It's just okay.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001) was one of those Disney films that didn't need a sequel. Is this worth any of your time - not really but it's not a total disgrace either. The music, most of its animation, and voice acting is praise worthy. Its weak plot threads are more of the problem. -
Kerbox7 June 2003When I put this movie in my DVD player, and sat down with a coke and some chips, I had some expectations. I was hoping that this movie would contain some of the strong-points of the first movie: Awsome animation, good flowing story, excellent voice cast, funny comedy and a kick-ass soundtrack. But, to my disappointment, not any of this is to be found in Atlantis: Milo's Return. Had I read some reviews first, I might not have been so let down. The following paragraph will be directed to those who have seen the first movie, and who enjoyed it primarily for the points mentioned.
When the first scene appears, your in for a shock if you just picked Atlantis: Milo's Return from the display-case at your local videoshop (or whatever), and had the expectations I had. The music feels as a bad imitation of the first movie, and the voice cast has been replaced by a not so fitting one. (With the exception of a few characters, like the voice of Sweet). The actual drawings isnt that bad, but the animation in particular is a sad sight. The storyline is also pretty weak, as its more like three episodes of Schooby-Doo than the single adventurous story we got the last time. But dont misunderstand, it's not very good Schooby-Doo episodes. I didnt laugh a single time, although I might have sniggered once or twice.
To the audience who haven't seen the first movie, or don't especially care for a similar sequel, here is a fast review of this movie as a stand-alone product: If you liked schooby-doo, you might like this movie. If you didn't, you could still enjoy this movie if you have nothing else to do. And I suspect it might be a good kids movie, but I wouldn't know. It might have been better if Milo's Return had been a three-episode series on a cartoon channel, or on breakfast TV. -
If you've seen Atlantis 1, then you'd know that what made that film truly great was brilliant animation and a good script. This movie was SO sloppily drawn and animated. The story is also dopey. I was so disappointed in this half-baked drivel that I couldn't make it past the first hour, and MAN did I try! The one thing this film had was that it expanded the "mole" character, making him both more sympathetic and three dimensional. Take it from me, judge this junk from the cover on the video box. The cover is poorly drawn Disney schlock, clearly grabbing for an easy buck from an unsuspecting parent. If this was a stand alone flick, it wouldn't be so bad, but riding on the coattails of a brilliant piece like Atlantis makes it utterly inexcuseable.
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BeautifulSinner8 March 2008This movie was horrible, and it doesn't even deserve to be called a movie. The way I look at it, it's more like three mediocre day-time Disney cartoon episodes strung loosely together to make a single video that pretends to be the sequel to the first Atlantis movie, which was way more well-made and enjoyable. And where do i even begin with the problems of this DVD? The story? The characters? The pictures/animation? To me they're all bad and unwatchable. Firstly, the story in this direct-to-video DVD is ridiculous and pointless. The only good thing about it is that it is consistent--that is, consistently bad, from the beginning to the end. After the film's over i still don't know why Milo has returned and how the incidents occur in the three small stories are related to each other or to Atlantis itself. And all I could remember about this movie was how bad it makes me feel after seeing it. The characters feel wooden and lack personality, and the drawings look a lot different than that in the first. You can tell they're obviously not from the hands of the same animators from the first one. As the DVD played on, i found myself caring less and less about what might happen to the characters and just hoping the film would end soon. Besides the story and the characters mentioned above, the picture quality is poor in this one too, probably one of the worst in those direct-to-video products that Disney has ever released. As a fan of the the original Atlantis: the lost empire, I couldn't be more disappointed in Milo's return, which is a total waste of time and money. Thank goodness I rented it first instead of buying it. Even so, I still wish I'd never seen this crap or even known its existence.
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Chrysanthepop5 January 2008I haven't seen 'Atlantis' but when I got the DVD of this one, I didn't think it would be as bad, in spite of being skeptical. Thankfully, I didn't buy it. 'Atlantis: Milo's Return' hugely disappoints. It doesn't even look like a Disney film to begin with. The animation is very weak and looks to be done in a lame fashion. If it were playing on TV, I probably wouldn't have guessed it to be a Disney film. The film itself is extremely slow paced and the story is uninteresting. The voice actors do not impress much. There are but a few funny moments e.g. the humour with the glass and spear. Disney sequels have hardly been memorable and 'Atlantis: Milo's Return' is certainly forgettable.
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briancham19942 June 2020I was really interested in seeing more of the Atlantis universe. This "movie" is clearly three episodes of the cancelled TV show and it shows quite painfully. It just made me wish for the actual TV show and see more episodes. Each part of the movie is based on a different mythology and they combined their research with good visuals. This raises some potential cultural issues with the hyperdiffusionist theme but nobody really watched this anyway.
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disdressed1226 July 2007i wish i could find some good things to say about this animated sequel(but not really a sequel)to "Atlantis:The Lost Empire"but this would be a very short comment.the magic that the first one had is nowhere to be found here.the animation is pretty poor all over,the characters themselves are not very well drawn.the backgrounds and the foregrounds are also not good.there's very little attention to detail here.and instead of a compelling and engaging story,we have 3 short stories which are boring and don't make a lot of sense.i swear,even the characters sounded like they were bored,and would rather be somewhere else.which says that the voice actors were bored and wanted to be someplace else,at least that's the impression.some of the same actors return for this dismal effort,but an integral par of the success of the first one was Michael J.Fox as the main hero, Milo Thatch.i get the distinct impression this movie was just thrown together to capitalize on the success of the first one,without much thought or care.but at least Cree Summer returns as the voice of "Kida".that's probably the only good thing about this movie,and even she doesn't seem to have her heart completely in it.mind you,i guess you couldn't blame any of the cast for not giving their all,considering what they had to work with.or rather not work with.this is a straight to video movie(and i use the term loosely)which should have went straight to the nearest landfill.anyway,shame on Disney.consumers deserve much better than this.this one gets a 0/10 and a well deserved one at that.p.u
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Milo has lived with the Atlantians for a while, when his old friends from the "real world" returns to ask for his help... This evolves to a series of tasks for the old crew to solve, including a giant squid and dust wolves. Nicely animate like the first one, thou i missed the great sound effect like the one at the beginning of Atlantis 1.
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c-corleis17 July 2005What the (beep) is going wrong with Disney the last years? Are there totally run out of good ideas? Where is the magic? Where are the good animators, the good songwriters, the good directors, the good... Okay, i know, Walt himself and the famous "nine old man" can't come back. But is this a reason to crank out countless of those cheap sequels and slowly but surely destroying the ideals of Walt Disney? I never rent or bought a Disney-sequel of what movie however. Because i had read much enough about its (absence of) quality. But "Atlantis: Milo's Return" was aired today on TV in Germany and so i watch it. It confirmed my doubts about sequels. It was absolutely boring. Flaw animation, primitive color-rotation, simple characters, some unsuccessful tries to simulate the famous Multiplane-Camera with CGI, mediocre music and a patchwork of different, simple stories. It looks absolutely not like Disney! Not like Disney i know! It looks like one of the countless, cheap and simple animation-series like "DragonballZ", "Beyblade" etc. that aired every day on TV for children.
My first reaction after showing this crap, was to load "Bambi" in my DVD-Player, to see Disney's immortal magic, depth, spirit and charm again, to see Disney on its climax again, to see the awesome art of handmade animation again. "Bambi" was the first (and until today the only) movie that i give 10 out of 10 stars. But "Atlantis: Milo's Return"? No magic, no depth, no charm, no spirit... It deserved only 3 out of 10! -
kras257 May 2003Ok i agree the first was the best one!. But the second one is ok also nice story's you got to see it really if you loved the first one !. See the second one also! you will love it also i can promise if not well than tell me what you didnt like coz i see no reason why you should not like it! It is fun agian !!
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jmmustchin2 September 2018Atlantis: Milo's Return is definitely not as good as the original Atlantis: The Lost Empire. And yet, despite the flak it has received (and despite my expecting to dislike it), I found that I actually rather enjoyed it. I didn't the first time I watched it; but I found it pretty good the second time.
Milo's Return is an amalgamation of 3 of the episodes of the cancelled TV series "Team Atlantis", and the boundaries between the episodes can still be seen clearly. In the first part, the main characters go in search of the Kraken - which has been sinking several ships in the North Atlantic, and which they suspect might be an Atlantean war machine similar to the Leviathan. After encountering it, they find a nearby village where something sinister is afoot - something somehow connected to the Kraken.
Our heroes then head off to the Southwest United States, where a man is in hospital after getting attacked by dust coyotes (!) over a piece of pottery. The team investigate, and find themselves encountering these spirits.
The biggest (indeed, the only) threat to the world is saved for last. A lunatic who literally thinks he is Odin steals what turns out to be a powerful ancient Atlantean spear - using it's powers to try and bring about the end of the world.
While episodic, it's pretty exciting - particularly the last part. The animation isn't as good as in the first film, but I frankly didn't notice that until others pointed it out. It doesn't bother me. James Arnold Taylor doesn't do Milo's voice as well as Michael J Fox, but Taylor's performance doesn't really affect the film's quality. The film definitely has it's flaws - more so than the first one - but is still quite enjoyable overall (even if I wasn't overly impressed with the ending - even if it's meant to be happy). You got to give it to the filmmakers: they didn't follow other sequels in simply remaking the original; they certainly came up with plenty of originalities of their own.
Overall, a good watch. I can understand those who didn't like it - as mentioned above, I didn't like it at first - but I now just enjoy it for what it is. -
clck200121 July 2007I will not say much about this film, because there is not much to say, because there is not much there to talk about. The only good thing about this movie is that our favorite characters from "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" are back. Several of the bad things about this movie are that it has horrible characters, it has horrible comedy, horrible animation, and James Arnold Taylor trying to copy the wonderful, one and only Michael J. Fox as Milo James Thatch. The reasons for my criticisms are that all the characters are changed into something that they never were, and never should be, animation that has been downgraded to the lowest extent possible, and finally, why would somebody who did wonderful voice-over work for Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Clone Wars" want to copy Michael J. Fox? I happen to have an answer to this. Because they are the same person who thought he had to copy Eddie Murphy from Mulan in Mulan II. Yes, sadly, it is true.
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Some basic info: I am 21 and decided to watch this movie with my girlfriend out of nostalgia for the original Atlantis I watched as a kid. While I love watching the characters doing what they do, the story line had very little to do with the original and actually broke away entirely from the story line and the ending of the original (which did not make any sense). The animation was not nearly as good as the original and the characters, outfits, and scenery were much more poorly drawn. When watching this movie, I felt as though I was watching Scooby Doo. The illustrations and animations were comparable and the way the entire movie is laid out was exactly the same as watching several episodes of ScoobyDoo (for those who do not know, it was about a mystery solving group of friends). This all being said. If you watched the original, do not watch this movie for it will absolutely kill the story line for you. I mean, if you're too young to be a critic, by all means go watch it. But if you older and looking to relive good old movie, do yourself a favor and pass.
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What an awful sequel! I've had my fairy share of bad sequels, but I mean this one just topped them all! Within the first few seconds I just knew it wasn't going to be good. Yanno, I decided to put it on after I watched the first one the night before mainly out of curiosity. And I regret that decision now. The script was sub par, full of one liners and an excess of slap stick humor. The plot itself was pretty weak, I understood it perfectly well, but the story didn't unfold as nicely. The animation was cheap, stiff, and not as nearly expressive as its predecessor. I feel like this movie wasn't taken as seriously as the first. It was like watching a marathon of bad scooby doo movies! Not to mention the female characters are significantly weakened. Remember how awesome Kida was? Kicking butt and also being a rad princess at the same time? Yeah no, not in this one because of course the guys had to come and save the day. The reason so many people love the first movie is because of its diverse characters and interesting story! Lets not forget the beautiful artwork, expressive animation, and fantastic diversity between all the characters. This movie way obviously a way to make a quick and easy buck off of the public. If you have any appreciation for the first film, just watch the first one and steer clear of this catastrophe of a movie.
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chloerioux13 July 2020I recently rewatched the original Atlantis film, which made watching this sequel impossible. The illustrations are extremely simplified, the voices are no where near the same quality, the framing and direction is laughable in comparison - it feels more like a long TV show episode. One reviewer described it as a Scooby Doo-type production and I have to agree 100%. It's exactly what I thought as I was watching it myself. I forwarded through the movie to make sure that it was the same the whole way through as I couldn't believe it wasn't some kind of "dream" scene. Disappointing...
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swubba15 May 2003I saw this movie because i loved the first atlantis movie, and i hoped that this would be a sequel worthy to the first film. But as so many sequels made by Disney this was just a try to make more money, and fast. They have not taken the time to make the drawings as beautiful and astonishing as in the first(probably, it is not as good anyway). The screenplay is also worse and you dont get in any way the feeling that it is really really dangerous and they fear to die or if there just hanging on the edge of a cliff like its an everyday thing.
I will know talk about what happens in the film and you might be disappointed if you keep on reading.
What i think that they should have done with this "movie" is they should have divided the three different missions and put them on the disney channel were it would be much moore fun to watch one at a time and make more episodes(the drawings actually kind of look like there made for a cartoon series like "tarzan" or "spiderman")instead of just making three episodes and calling it a movie.
This movie get **1/2 of ***** -
dbborroughs19 January 2008The sequel to the Disney "flop" is a direct to video that seems more like three episodes of the never produced series more than a movie. The animation is on the whole a bit better of than the normal TV fare with moments of sheer brilliance.
That said the movie is a much better than average adventure that would have been classic had it not been flawed by the episodic structure and the fact that it was abandoned by Disney and left to rot in the video backwaters and so had many hands writing the story.
This is not the disaster that many have claimed. It is a decent 75 minutes that will leave you wanting more. Granted this is a rental and not a purchase, but its still something to see.
The use of color is mind blowing in the film and the colors as reproduced by the DVD are almost painful.
Three stars, especially if you want to see even more stolen Mike Mignola-like art. -
FiendishDramaturgy21 January 2005Because Disney more often than not, ignores the animation quality and a need for a good plot in their sequels, this was actually a nice surprise. I don't know why Disney does not pay more attention to their sequels. The graphics quality is always inferior; no backgrounds worthy of the name Disney, inane plots, and worse dialog, with little or no attention given to the actual story, and the caricature drawings are almost always worse than Saturday morning cartoons in detail and quality.
The animation quality is still poor when compared to Disney originals, and the dialog is quite trite, the story line and overall execution was really quite enjoyable.
While it is not as captivating, it does not completely fail to capture the charm and/or mystery from the first. There is some hint of it, tucked away here and there.
The children will like it, at any rate.
It rates a 4.5/10 from...
the Fiend :. -
blackwidowis7cool23 July 2019A great sequel, but not all ends are tied up, somewhat clunky. It was going to be a TV series, but when Atlantis: The Lost Empire flopped, they made the first three episodes into one movie, so you can tell where one episode ends and another starts. Not very well done, but still an enjoyable and pretty decent movie.
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hansbearnl31 August 2003Where's the touch of magic Disney studio's used to have with every movie they made? I don't know. If you know, tell me! New movies like Nemo still reach the public, but even there I see a constant repeating of things I have seen in movies before. In every Disney/Pixar movie they seem to need to show toys laying around from Toy Story. And every new movie has the repeating thing of Simba in The Lion KIng. As for the video's and all the sequels, this is the last one I have bought. All these numbers II, I will ignore from now on when I walk through the store.
Milo's return is nothing more than 3 short stories, which misses the charm of the first movie Atlantis. The only reason to make such sequels seems to me to get some money easily out of the pockets of ignorant parents who are willing to buy anything 'disney' for their spoiled kids, without even thinking about quality. Why is Disney leaving the 'yellow brick road' they were walking on? There are numerous stories around the world that have the magic Disney used to bring to us in it's classics.
I will always be a Disneyfan in heart and soul, but at the moment it only means that I play the old classics over and over again, eagerly waiting for the day that Disney 'comes back to it's senses' instead of bringing us such bad sequels as 'Pocahontas II', 'Hunchback of Notre Dame II' and 'Cinderella II'. -
The reformed crew from the first film returns to the ancient underwater city and recruit Milo and Kida to help them battle a sea monster in "Atlantis: Milo's Return." The two are eager to return to their world, but keep getting drawn into different adventures by eccentric Preston B. Moore. They find themselves going up against vicious coyote specters, a vengeful spirit, and a madman who believes he's the god Odin.
"Atlantis: Milo's Return" suffers from being a compilation of the three episodes finished for a television series which was scrapped after the first movie didn't perform as well as Disney expected. They're interesting yarns somehow all connected to Atlantis. Ultimately, they fall short of living up to the greatness of their predecessor.
The animation for "Atlantis: Milo's Return" is way below that of "Atlantis: The Lost Empire." It resembles the Hanna-Barbera cartoons from the late 1990s / early 2000s, which isn't bad. It's just not what you expect from Disney. The different episodes reduce Milo, Atlantean Kida, and the rest of the rehabilitated mercenaries from the first movie to a sort of "Scooby-Doo" gang of mystery solvers. -
lisafordeay29 August 2020Atlantis Milo's Return is supposedly a sequel to the 2001 film Atlantis The Lost Empire. Movie picks of from the first one with more mysteries to unfold. The guy who voices Milo sounds exactly like Micheal J Fox and the animation is nice. But storywise couldn't get my head around it at all. Felt choppy in a lot of places and it was very bland.
Go watch the original instead. -
7/8/9 out of ten, you people have something wrong with you in fact if you gave it above 3 something ain't right The voices were so far off, 2 years after the masterpiece that was 1 and we get this It is scoobydoo like The opening almost gives you hope, look is not the same but think, this could be good Then BOOM Milo's voice Cute...they went cute...thats enough to throw it away, the first had impact, brilliantly placed humor that felt real, emotional trips This was an insult to the creators of the first movie. Colours, animation my god they were good, 13 years later,and still wonderful to watch. It does not feel like it was made for 4 year olds Atlantis 2 feels like it's a kids movie, real little kids who cant remember a plot anyway so why bother with one