Perhaps the biggest crime of Atlantis: Milo's Return is that,
despite a very obviously cheap animation budget and,
oh, I don't know, obvious identity as a cheap cash-in,
(which is strange, seeing as how the first film was not a huge box-office hit),
it's that, at first, it actually kind of has an interesting story.
Yeah, at first, I was kinda sucked in by it.
Despite all the bad jokes and awkward drawn scenes, and...
alright, let's look at the story.
Milo is still living with Kida in Atlantis,
but all his friends return, saying that, apparently, some sort of Atlantian monster is attacking a bunch of ships.
Confused by this, Kida journeys to the surface world, bringing Milo along with her,
and they try to figure out if this monster is an actual monster or one of the Atlantian machines, or...
...maybe something else...
...or even SOMEONE else.
They go on land, come across this creepy village, talk to all these semi-creepy people,
and the more and more they find out about this mystery, the more questions it seems to raise.
There's actually a lot of talking, and even kind of ominous dread,
and I mean that in the best way.
Even though it wasn't animated the best, I was actually finding it kind of interesting.
But here's the thing:
when they DO find out what's going on and what's behind it,
it seems to raise even more questions.
Well, that's fine, but we never get the answers.
There's questions about where the person who's doing this came from,
and how he's able to do what he's doing.
Is he even doing what he's doing?
Is he controlling the monsters, the monster controlling him?
How can he possess other people? IS he possessing other people?
It looks like he has to look into their eyes - wait, now he doesn't need to look in their eyes.
How does this work?
And just as it's getting interesting, they completely drop the story.
Yeah, they defeat the bad guy, and then they go to a completely different story.
Now it takes place in the wild west, and there's these wind coyotes, and
I don't know, some guy's shit is stolen, and they have to get it back
but there's this Native American who can control the wind coyotes,
and it somehow connects to the Atlantian stuff?
But it doesn't stop there; it then goes to ANOTHER story where this crazy guy thinks he's Odin
and he steals the spear that has Atlantian technology
which actually kinda makes him Odin now,
and he confuses Kida for his daughter, Brünnhilde, and...shit!
This is just another pilot for a TV show, isn't it?
That explains why the animation looks this way and why all the stories don't really connect that well.
Damn it! At least with Tarzan and Jane, I knew it was going to be a pilot to a TV show.
This...this TRIED harder, and fooled me into thinking it was going to be something that tries hard throughout the whole thing.
I guess it does technically have an ending, and, yeah, actually, the ending's not that bad.
It even kind of retcons the ending of the first film, but
it's weird; when you see the choice she makes, you understand her reasoning,
but there's also, like, a ton of dangers that happen throughout this film to go against her reasoning, too.
I'm not saying what happens is the wrong choice;
I'm saying they never explain the actual dangers that could come along with it,
and that's very important to address.
*sigh* So, yeah, I guess, in terms of other technicals,
the voice actors are all replacements, and they do a good job.
The animation, like I said, is a huge budget cut,
but for kind-of-TV animation, I guess it's fine.
Sometimes, there's a really inventive idea,
like, there's this annoying dog that kind of sucks, but
he was born in molten lava, so he'll constantly do things, like just sleep in a fireplace.
That's kind of creative.
And, again, when they're actually kind of talking about this Atlantian stuff,
it IS kind of interesting, kind of like the first film, in that respect.
But, sadly, it just doesn't stay focused, and I don't even know if it was actually meant to stay focused.
This was probably supposed to be three episodes that were going to be connected,
like I said, as a pilot of a TV show,
a TV show that never got off the ground.
I mean, OK, I don't have confirmation of this, but...
if it WASN'T, then this really is the most fragmented direct-to-DVD sequel, ever.
So, I guess it's not awful; it's just...not needed, and not that interesting through the majority of it,
like I said, with the exception of that first third.
But, even then, that's not great;
it's just telling an interesting story that never really has any conclusion or answers.
I guess, if you REALLY liked the first Atlantis movie,
and you just want to see a little bit more of the technology world and ideas,
you'll get hints of it here,
but if you're looking for something more, this is something that should definitely stay...sunk.