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Page 3
Disney filmmakers spend four years recreating the culture of Atlantis
FLUTE
Matt McCormick
The Battalion
bdriac
Atlantis is one of Disney’s
most ambitious animated fea
tures to date, financially speak
ing. There was no doubt that the
creative team of Kirk Wise,
Gary Trousdale and Don Hahn
would be in charge of trying to
ensure that it does not fail. Wise
and Trousdale serve as co-direc-
tors on this movie and have also
co-directed both Beauty and the
Beast and The Hunchback of Notre
Dame. Hahn, who serves as pro
ducer on this film, has collabo
rated with Wise and Trousdale
on their two previous films and
has also produced Disney hits
like Tarzan and The Lion King.
The movie itself is almost
better suited for a live-action
style than animation, but Wise
believes that animation is not
just about cartoons.
“I love animation,” Wise said.
“There is something very sjfecial
about it, and I am very proud to
be one of those people who helps
keep that tradition alive. 1 think
animation is a great medium for
telling all different kinds of sto
ries. I think people mistakenly
think of animation as a genre
unto itself, and it is really not.
Not anymore than a pjinting is
a genre. I think it is great that an
imation can handle so many dif
ferent varieties of storytelling.”
“God fogbid you try to make
this movie as a live-action be
cause it would have cost three
tiri
“Our actors always hit their
marks. It never rained unless we
PHOTOS COURTESY
wanted it to. W hen you have
complete control of all aspects of
p movie, it really is a cost-effec
tive way to make a mewiei If it is
successful, we can actually make
money on this movie.”
Animated movies are ex
tremely time-consumingf for
those who create them. In fact,
many live-action directors will
have made at least two pictures
in the amount of time it has tak
en Wise to complete this one.
“I worked on the movie for
four-and-a-half years,” Wise
said. “From that original lunch
meeting where we dreamed-up
the idea of doing a wide-screen
adventure movie in animation to
the finished film was about four-
and-a-half years.”
Working on a project for
that long presents its own
unique difficulties for
all involved.
“The hardest part is
just keeping your level
of enthusiasm up for
that amount of time,”
Wise said. “It is really
a sport for long-dis
tance runners in that
way. The great thing
about animation is
even though the
process is so long, it
renews itself along the
way. Just when you
think you cannot look
of disney at another storyboard,
then suddenly the rough anima
tion begins to come togedier —
characters start to live and breathe
and diat really helps you get to the
next milestone,” Wise said.
|j|die project also had its share
of technical difficulties.
“This one was the granddad-
dy of all the films 1 have worked
on I think,” Wise said.
“It had more digital effects
than any other movie'we have
made, probably something in
every scene,” Hahn said.
“Shooting it in widescreen was a
challenge because we had thirty
percent more screen area to fill
up. But the studio did not write
a check for thirty percent
more money. So we had to be
re aTTy cl^era Dotit howweoid
that. So I looked for experience
when I assembled the team.”
Fhe animation process was
complex and even experienced
filmmakers like Hahn and
Wise found themselves en
countering problems they had
not anticipated.
“All you know at the begin
ning is that you are going to
have a new problem every day,”
Hahn said. “It’s a business of
capitalizing on opportunity or
happy accidents, and so you just
have to take each day as it
comes,” Hahn said.
In creating a movie that
dealt effectively with the folk
lore surrounding Atlantis, the
filmmakers had to create an en
tire culture.
“We had to create an entire
civilization from scratch,” Wise
said. “What sort of language
would they speak; how would
their buildings look; how would
they dress. We had to answer all
of those questions and create a
whole culture much like you
would have to do if you were
making a movie about another
world,” Wise said.
Was the created Atlantis
culture an accurate one?
“It was kind of a little bit his
tory and a whole lot imagina
tion,” Wise said. “In the research
stage we found some very valid
scientific approaches to Atlantis
to just wild speculation, and we
knew that somewhere in the
middle was where we would be.”
This movie is a departure
from the normal Disney feature
because there are no talking an
imals or any song and dance
routines. Hahn believes that is a
good thing.
“I think that not having the
song and dance routine is a plus
actually,” Hahn said. “We had
done that before, and we felt
that we personally needed to
stretch and that our audience
was ready for us to stretch.
For this story, I feel that is very
refreshing to tell an adventure
See Atlantis on Page 6.
Atlantis
Starring the voices of
Michael J. Fox and
James Gamer
Directed by
Kirk Wise and
Gary Trousdale
Atlantis is a disappointing
movie on every level. Too
simple to offer much for
adults but too mature to
interest the kids, Atlantis is
destined to go the way of its
subject, become a huge loss
for Disney and destroy the
stranglehold they have held
on animated features for the
past 60 years.
Combining the talent of A-
list directors, Kirk Wise and
Gary Trousdale, who were re
sponsible for Beauty and the
Beast and The Hunchback of
Notre Dame, with voice talents
'that include Michael J. Fox
and James Garner in an epic,
animated adventure must have
seemed like a dream come true
for the executives at Disney.
So why did eveiything go
wrong and result in a movie
that is not entertaining?
The answer lies in the ap
proach taken by the creative
team who sought to make a
big-looking animated ad
venture in the tradition of
See Review on Page 6.
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