 This animated adventure is not as
exciting as Saturday Morning (Rev It Up! Los Luchadores!) and that is a
crime.
It packs some big
names, including James Garner as a military man, but it fizzles out.
I liked it okay, but
that is the problem. From Disney, I should have LOVED it.
The characters are
weak, cliched and on top of that , there are no surprises, except for the
apparent STRAIN incurred making sure that every possible race and ethnic strata
was covered. They were not standouts, and the story, as fantastic as it might
seem, needed standouts.
The animation is also
retro to the easy does it school of the Fifties. I did not like the frenetic
exaggerated cartoons of the Disney Educational Series. It looks thin, and
cheap, and too cartoony. I can see cheap cartoons on TV any day of the week,
and this looks no better. The Lion King and Tarzan were wonderful - what on
Earth possessed them to abandon that style? (budget? C'mon, LK and Tarzn did
hundreds of millions each. What were they hoping to save on - freeing up
accountants who otherwise would have to be paid to count all the money coming
in? Good downsizing move...)
Apparently since the
chief songwriter of the animated films passed away prematurely, they have not
had the good fortune to find anyone with their finger on the pulse of Middle
America - or they just will not take a chance on anyone.
Atlantis is strangling
on the vine, for which you can fault the exec who said - don't go too overboard
- think small, tone it down, and no music, people are tired of songs in their
Disney films. |
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