1. Atlantis: The Lost Empire
This is a no-brainer. Undoubtedly the most unfairly overlooked modern Disney animated classic is the 2001 film, Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Legend has it that there was once a journal that possessed one of the greatest secrets mankind has ever fixated on: the location to the lost civilization of Atlantis. A beautiful city amidst the waves, Atlantis was a great precursor to modern civilization that, under mysterious circumstances, disappeared from existence. Obsessed with this journal is Dr. Milo James Thatch, a cartographer/linguist who's been reduced to boiler room duty at his University of employment. He was raised with the stories of The Shepherd's Journal, the text that held all of the answers to finding the lost city, so this was not only an academic curiosity, but also a familial quest for knowledge and redemption (his family's name became laughably associated with Atlantian lore, as everyone else thought that the Thatch's were crazy to even believe in such a myth). An eccentric billionaire with ties to Milo's family recruits him and a paramilitary team (lead by Commander Lyle Tiberius Roarke) to go in search of the lost city (newly discovered through some corrected translation of the journal). Once there, secrets are revealed, enemies are discovered, and the battle for Atlantis kicks into high gear. Atlantis is a perfect animated mash-up of Indiana Jones, Jules Verne, and Stargate; which managed to obtain a then rare PG rating for its violent adventurous content (if memory serves correctly, this was also around the time the MPAA started including those ever so delightful descriptors to their ratings suggestions). Indeed, it was knocked as an animated Raiders of the Lost Ark clone upon initial release, and even Michael J. Fox's star power in the lead role of Milo (shortly after his success with Stuart Little) couldn't make it a smash hit, which is a real shame, because out of all of the Disney "boys" movies, this to me seems like the most effective one of the lot. It injected tons of action and adventure, with the trademark Disney emotion and fantasy that everyone has come to know and love. The only reason this rises above Treasure Planet is that the climactic Battle of Atlantis is some of the most wonderfully animated action of the hand drawn era, as well as the most thrilling. This should have been a home run out of the park, as the film even had its pre-requisite radio friendly pop single from superstar artist Mya (it
was 2001), a video game tie in, and even an animated TV show in the works. But the single never made it big, the game wasn't a big seller, and the TV show was so horrible that it was burned off as a crappy direct to DVD "sequel" (of which we will never speak again). The fact still remains, Atlantis: The Lost Empire is as much of a secret success as the city it's set in. Click "Next" to see 5 live action modern classics...