Beware Disney's killer lobsters

Atlantis, cinematically speaking, is not so much the Lost Continent as the one that keeps getting mislaid, so regularly has it been found in such far-flung locations as the centre of the earth or atop an Amazonian plateau.

The hero of Disney's animated voyage of rediscovery, which is set in 1914, puts the fabled kingdom somewhere near Iceland.

Milo Thatch (energetically voiced by Michael J Fox) is a nerdy cartographer whose proposal to go there is ridiculed in academia but attracts the patronage of an eccentric tycoon (John Mahoney) and the involvement of a sinister, ragtag mercenary band (commanded by James Garner).

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea meets Stargate as the journey by fantastic submarine leads to a submerged but still inhabited wonderland, guarded by giant robot killer lobsters. The Atlanteans are 1,000 years old but their princess, who looks like a Nordic Pocahontas, is in good shape.

They have an ever-ready crystal power source whose misuse consigned them to the depths. Now it's failing, so it's up to the social reforming, environmentalist princess and smitten Milo to save civilisation.

The vigorous comic-book art style would appear to be aimed at teens, but, without the humour of a Shrek or any CGI spectacle, seems a tad quaint, arguably the Mouse Factory's weakest fantasy adventure since The Little Mermaid revived its fortunes in 1989. With DreamWorks and others challenging Disney's supremacy, the old firm needs to rediscover its storied magic.

Atlantis
Cert: U