Soldier of the Empire

If the average person was asked to name some of Disney’s most influential animated classics, you’d probably hear names like Snow White, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, or The Lion King. Far less likely would be Atlantis: The Lost Empire, which was released 25 years ago this month on June 15, 2001. Coming off what is widely considered one of the studio’s strongest eras with the Disney Renaissance of the 1990s, Atlantis was an attempt by the team behind The Hunchback of Notre Dame — directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, producer Don Hahn, and screenwriter Tab Murphy — to chart a new