In a world where Moana – a film that was released just 10 years ago – is getting a live-action remake, it feels criminal to me that Disney has yet to revisit Atlantis: The Lost Empire. 25 years on from its original release, the film has rightly been recognised as an animated classic misunderstood in its time, but beyond a small merchandise range celebrating the anniversary, there has been little for us Atlantis fans to enjoy in the intervening years (no, Milo’s Return doesn’t count).
Of course, I understand the business case for a live-action Moana. The 2016 film is one of Disney’s most popular films on streaming and the recently released animated sequel hit $1 billion at the box office. The music is iconic, its heroine fierce and it has a bankable movie star in Dwayne Johnson.
It’s also only 10 years old and still watched and loved as much now as it ever has been. The 2016 film is colourful, exciting and beautifully animated, packed with the kind of love and care that befits the best of the Disney canon. Put simply, we do not need a live-action remake.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a different story. Do we need to see Milo, Kida and the gang in live-action? Of course not, the original film has a propulsive and entertaining story and incredible, game-changing animation. But of all the films in the Disney animation history, Atlantis is probably the best candidate for the live-action medium.
But before we get into why, let’s talk about remakes more generally.
They might get a bad rap from critics and audiences but remakes aren’t inherently bad. Sure, remaking a film takes away some of the risks inherent in creating something new, but in the right hands it can give a story a new life. The best remakes take the original text and reinterpret it through a new lens for a new audience. Think Cape Fear (and its incredible Simpsons episode) or A Star is Born. Both are stories told multiple times, with each version bringing something new to the table in a way that reflects the period in which it is being told.
Even in the Disney live-action remake oeuvre there have been some successes. Cinderella was a sumptuous and regal reimagining of the centuries-old story. The Jungle Book brought new dimensions to the original film. Both films act as companion pieces to their original animated counterparts, offering a fresh interpretation both narratively and visually.
It’s why the ‘shot-for-shot’ remake often feels so pointless. A film like Gus Van Sant’s Psycho offers nothing beyond imitating a much better film. It’s the same reason that the 2026 Moana feels a little redundant. The remakes I mentioned here make me want to revisit the original not as a palate cleanser but as a point of comparison. A way to see how the same story can be told in different ways.
That brings me back to Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Wanting Disney to revisit the world of the 2001 film isn’t due to some deficiency in the original text. It’s because I believe that its world is one that could be explored even further and given new context through a modern live-action remake. Imagine if Lord & Miller, fresh off of the visually spectacular Project Hail Mary, took a stab at bringing Milo and the gang to life in live-action.
At its core, Atlantis is a spectacle. An adventure about the power of connection and communication over colonialism and cultural imperialism. Those are ageless themes that resonate as much today as they did when the film was originally released 25 years ago. In the hands of the right filmmaker, a live-action remake could enter into a conversation with the original film, discussing across time our relationship to hope, human connection and our yearning to explore and believe in the fantastical.
Beyond its themes, a spectacular sci-fi/action film with a beautifully realised Atlantis rendered using modern VFX is an enchanting prospect.
A major criticism of many Hollywood blockbusters today, Disney live-action remakes included, is that they look washed out. Filmmakers and studios seem afraid of vibrancy, colour and contrast. That’s why I suggested Lord & Miller as the perfect filmmakers to take on Atlantis. Have them re-team with cinematographer Greig Fraser and leverage the same visual imagination that saw Project Hail Mary so beautifully realised.
It’s this reason why a lot of live-action remakes of animated films fail to live up to their original inspiration. The animated films they are based on are beautiful works of art. Colourful and bright and overflowing with imaginative visuals. I’m not advocating for simply recreating the animated films, colour grade and all, I’m suggesting instead that realism in live-action doesn’t mean something cannot have a unique visual identity.
The Avatar films, Guillermo Del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth and the previously mentioned Project Hail Mary both achieve realism without eschewing a sense of visual imagination. Apply this to Atlantis and you can imagine a wonderfully vibrant spectacle that achieves something few modern blockbusters do.
And there are ways to both honour the original film and create something new. Take the concept art, for example. Atlantis was directed by Disney stalwarts Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, who had previously directed both Beauty and the Beast and The Hunchback of Notre Dame for the studio. Their self-imposed mandate was to create something new that stands apart from the Disney canon. Huge action sequences, no songs and, crucially, a unique visual style.
To help with this, they brought on Hellboy creator Mike Mignola as part of the design team. Mignola wasn’t brought in to simply continue the Disney tradition. Instead Wise and Trousdale wanted to leverage Mignola’s unique art style to bring something new to their film.
While you can clearly see Mignola’s efforts in the finished film (notably in the characters squared-off fingers), I can’t help but imagine what might be if they gave over to his unique design sensibilities even more. Bring him back to design whole new creatures for the explorers to face on their journey to Atlantis. And while you’re at it, expand the team to include new voices with fresh interpretations of the world of the original film.
If it sounds wild to ask Disney to create a live-action version of a film that famously underperformed at the box office, let me remind you that they made Pete’s Dragon in 2016, a remake of one of the lesser known Disney live-action/animation hybrid films. And Pete’s Dragon was a delight that served not only as an emotional film in its own right but also as a signpost drawing people to an under-seen classic. A live-action Atlantis could do the same. It could open up the world of the film to a whole new generation, giving the original 2001 version a new life.
Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a wonderful film. It’s a celebration of innovation in 2D animation that was unfairly treated upon its original release. In the 25 years since, its reputation has changed. It is now considered a misunderstood classic and a part of the fading legacy of Disney’s 2D animation output.
While I would love to see that world reinterpreted à la Pete’s Dragon or Cinderella, my real aim here is to bring more people to the original film. Animation is rich and wonderful and entirely its own storytelling medium. It’s something that has long bothered me about the idea of the Disney live-action remakes, which seem to suggest that live-action is somehow the ‘final form’ of these classic stories.
We don’t need any live-action remakes. But if we are going to get them, at least remake films with real creative potential instead of 10-year-old classics that were already perfect to begin with.
Moana is released in UK cinemas on Friday 10 July.
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