2 and a half stars
If you've seen one movie like this, you've probably seen them all: corny family fantasy flicks that attempt to appeal to children as well as adults and end up a little confused. "Escape from Atlantis", like "Voyage of the Unicorn" and the "10th Kingdom", often seems like it can't decide if it wants to be serious or not. Mixed in with totally corny moments and campy scenes are scenes with violence, the occasional pathos, and of course ridiculously ugly villains that you're really not sure if you should be scared of or not. This film, though, seems more confused than the other two I mentioned; "Voyage" has a better balance of its over-all feel and "Kingdom" has so many adult moments, you're aware that its cheesy scenes are at least deliberately cheesy and not clumsy efforts to please kids. "Atlantis" is more of a see-saw.

In this film, a father and his three kids are sent from their ordinary lives to Atlantis (before it pulled a Titanic, that is). I'll give the filmmakers credit for creativity, at least; I'm pretty sure this is the first film of its genre to choose Atlantis as its magical kingdom instead of a typical fairy tale one. Unfortunetly, though, originality doesn't extend very far in the kingdom itself. The entire city gives the impression of an Amazon country in South America rather than a bustling city in Greece (inspite of a few efforts to build Grecian looking buildings.) There's even a point in the film when a wild tribe shows up, and the "Atlantean" feeling is somewhat lost. The costuming's a little off, too; wise-women of the B.C. era usually did NOT wear unnattractive eye-makeup, blood-red lipstick, and obviously fake wigs which made them look like drag queens. Also, could someone explain why one character is dressed like an unattractive musketeer from Louis XIV's court?? The filmmakers also tried a little too hard to give the film a fantasy feel and seemed to just throw in certain fantasy creatures to accomplish this. There are fairies randomly flying around (and awkwardly at that) for no apparent reason except background effect and the unicorn, except for its spark-shooting horn, might as well have been a tame horse for how it was treated.

Impracticalities and cliches are a common fault of TV movies and this one had a lot; when one of the main characters sees an attractive native girl, you just know they're going to end up together (though at least the film took its time making this happen). When Claudia, the daughter, sees what looks like a wild unicorn, you just know the next time you see her she'll be riding the darn thing like it's a trained horse (with a rein that came out of thin air, no less!) Okay, time for nitpicking: Even if it doesn't bother you to see a unicorn ridden like a HORSE, this scene STILL would not have made sense. How many people are able to ride wild horses just by, I don't know, walking up to them? And WHERE did she get the rein? But then, the character Claudia doesn't have much going on upstairs anyway and one of the annoying traits of the movie is that, inspite of this, the film insists on treating her like she's something special. Not only does a unicorn let her ride him, but the villain in the story (a conquering warrior who's enemy to Atlantis), kidnaps her and treats her like a goddess with the promise of making her his queen. Of course, she bitterly complains and threatens him when he drags her back to his palace...until she sees the beautiful dress he offers her. Then, suddenly, she's gung-ho about being his captive. Could the girl get dumber than that?

Luckily, the film does have serious moments that save it from total triteness. Not only are the battle scenes impressive and graphic, but there's actually a strikingly moving scene in which the father, while fighting demons, is suddenly accosted by visions of people from his past; one was his late wife and another was a soldier he'd befriended in Vietnam. The latter scene in particular brought me up short and almost made me forget which movie I was watching; very well-done. There are other mature issues which come to light as well; Claudia's doting captor turns on her when he begins to doubt whether she really is the goddess of prophecy he thought she was when he first kidnapped her (I knew he didn't take her for her charming personality) and he begins to consider killing her. Pretty fair film, all the way around; I give it two and a half stars since it's not bad enough to deserve only two, but not quite good enough to deserve three. If you're an adult, you'll probably not be interested in the majority of this film. If you have kids above the age of seven, feel free to let them watch it by themselves.

For kids only
This movie is strictly for children, or for those adults who enjoy watching campy movies merely for their charm/cheesiness. I was entertained, but did not need to suspend my belief, because if I suspended it THAT far, I may have never have gotten it back. At worst it is a poorly acted, written, and developed movie that lacked consistancy in its story telling and historical context (not to mention poor 80's quality special effects, despite it's 1997 release date). At best, it is a fun and care free, get-away type film for the children.

great movie
THIS IS A VERY GOOD MOVIE IF YOU HAVE AN IMAGINATION. SOME PARTS ARE VERY FAR FETCHED, BUT HAS A GOOD PLOT. I THOUGHT THERE COULD HAVE BEEN A LITTLE MORE KENPO MARTIAL ARTS IN IT, BUT IF THAT'S NOT REALY YOUR THING THAN SPEAKMAN PLAYS A GREAT PART. THIS IS A GOOD FAMILY NIGHT MOVIE FOR CHILDREN ABOVE 9, AND THERE AREN'T THAT MANY BAD WORDS OTHER THAN WHAT YOU WOULD HERE IN A WEEKLY SITCOM. I BELIVE SPEAKMAN IS THE BEST ACTOR OUT THERE, BUT WAS A LITTLE AFRAID OF THE MOVIE AFTER READING THE BOX, BUT AFTER WATHCING FOR A FEW MINUTES I FELL RIGHT INTO THE MOVIE. ALL IN ALL THIS IS A GOOD MOVIE FOR JUST ABOUT ANYONE WITH IMAGINATION.