So what dark forces encouraged anyone to attempt a sequel? I blame the North Koreans.
The Background
I'm beginning to think I'm the first one to attempt to discuss the potential history behind this movie.
In Search of the Titanic came out in 2004, that's as much as anyone knows about it. But I'm gonna try my best to squeeze whatever more I could.
In Search of the Titanic, or Tentacolino as it's better known, seems to have been more of a North Korean production than the last movie, with Mondo TV only granting them the rights to the property and having the characters already be in their line of reference. The film was co-written by Clelia Castaldo, who wrote for a stark bulk of Mondo's other productions. Loris Peota is more of the same and wrote the screenplay while Orlando Corradi was behind the story.
In spite of Corradi's presence on the writing team, he didn't direct the movie. This was left in the hands of Kim Jun-Ok, going by his actual name this time around. He seems to be Corradi's primary contact at SEK Studio as he helped direct most of Mondo's programs. His only work after this were two back-to-back Mondo programs in 2008.
Due to the Italian actors mixing with the English actors on IMDb, it's hard to pinpoint the exact English actors on this. I can say with certainty that Ronnie's English voice in The Legend of the Titanic returned for this. I imagine she has decent range hence the stark contrast in voices.
And you can already guess who returned for this.
The movie was kept to Italy, and only got traction because the Nostalgia Critic refused to talk about it, hence influencing some hapless losers to channel their inner spergy reviewer.
That's all I could gather, all else I can say is that the movie's existence is down to good ol' capitalism.
The Movie
If you're expecting me to offer kind words to this movie because of my contrarian mindset, you'd be dead wrong. This movie is deserving of all the hate it gets. From getting key aspects of history wrong, to even big hiccups in its own continuity, well by names anyhow, and some other thing we'll get into soon.
However, something tells me this isn't the case with the original Italian version. I'm just saying, maybe they got a different translator who wasn't on the up and up with what the original movie was like (hell they probably never saw the original movie.) Think about it, because no one else will.
It's likely the people involved on this were only in it for a paycheck so didn't bother to clarify the blatant errors.
On the movie, they had submersibles before 1915, but in this movie they use a bathysphere, which wouldn't even be conceived until 1928. I have a feeling the people behind this and Legend of saw Legend Goes On and felt it was better than their original effort, so as a stab at them, they included a rap number.
Unlike the one in Legend Goes On which can fit the mood for getting a good vibe flowing, this is self-indulgent crap through and through.
But on this movie's continuity anachronisms, the enemy from the previous movie is back, younger looking and under a different name. If I had to guess, I assume Maltravers returned to shore, changed his identity and kept in touch with the sharks. Believe me, that'd make the most sense.
And now onto some actual nonsense, Atlantians. I've seen Atlantis one too many times in media. It has always been fictional, but with so many stories themed around it, it makes me feel like the Greeks were full of shit.
I'd like to imagine the Atlantians are actually representations of angels taking our heroes to the afterlife after their loss of oxygen. Does that make too much sense?
Onto their take on Atlantis, I'm mixed on the Atlantian ruler, I really feel like they forgot to draw his face. The hood is too short to cast that big of a shadow for cover, why even have a wrap around your face? Something similar happened in an episode of The Super Mario Brothers Super Show. By the way, I'm not gonna talk about a certain character in this because it has been done to death.
The North Korean connection really paints an odd picture for this movie. In showing the beauty of Atlantis, it's like a form of nationalism, take a good hard look at how beautiful our nation is, you're surely jealous your nation isn't as great as ours.
In terms of racial stereotypes, this was a key aspect to SEK's cartoons, even as far as their flagship program Squirrel and Hedgehog. Though I find it ironic they include a Chinese stereotype, even though China and North Korea have the most steady relations. Maybe it's directed toward Hong Kong.
Anyhow, we get more North Korean allegories with a band of dissidents wanting to break out of Atlantis and attempt to take over the world. You can interpret this as how North Korea feels about free thinkers. Any different thought is a dangerous one to have, and free thinkers are crazy. This is reinforced by our heroes' willingness to live in Atlantis and live under them for the rest of their lives.
Is it coming to any of you yet?
The propaganda theory expands as the enemies are shot by mind-wiping rays, as they forget all about their hatred against the motherland. And what of the dissidents? Well along with a condescending perspective on them, they're viewed as crazy and will be institutionalized for the rest of their lives, to the joy of those who stand by their dictator.
Before we get to the end, let me just go over any anachronisms I missed.
- Morse code can't be made with using a set of alphabet letter keys, it can only be accomplished by using a single straight key.
- The two halves of the Titanic were never sealed back together. Neither was the entire ship relocated from the bottom of the Atlantic to the shore of a secret island.
- Life vests can't save you from drowning when you are traveling a couple miles down the depths of an ocean.
- Also when Razor Teeth is sending the Morse code letter he does it with clams with letters painted on them with jellyfish tied together. This is clearly not possible at all.
- It's not possible to fire a cannon underwater without getting the gun powder and fuse wet.
- Actually the Titanic Wreck was discovered in 1985 not in 1915
And yes, I lifted it from some wiki entry. To sum up, fucking up the concept of morse code, the ship was shown to still be split even after the octopus held it together long enough for everyone to escape, I'm calling error and cartoon logic, that was just stupid through and through, and that was indicative to the plot of the movie.
But on that, we get our ending, the entire ship is reconstructed and brought to an uncharted island, where everyone can live out the rest of their lives and succumb to cabin fever, killing each other or themselves from the sheer boredom and lack of communication with the outside world. How much does Atlantis have to offer?
Then the obvious, this negates everything that happened in The Legend of the Titanic. Best theory, this was another story Top Connors told his children, otherwise, we'd have a hell of a paradox.
Overall
This wouldn't be the last we ever see of the Tentacolino crew, mostly, as Fantasy Island came out in 2011 and is considered a pseudo-continuation. This was the most original property Mondo had at their disposal, and it seems they were just trying to get whatever mileage they could out of it.
If you couldn't tell, I was going by memory for these reviews, I just wanted to focus on the why since no one else ever did. I'd say it was kinda worth it since the movies are so minimal I could easily remember the key aspects to them.
So to sum up, works of Italians, one was experimental and a one-off for a director rooted in b-movies, one was just to push a brand and had assistance from North Korea, they used actors who were living in Italy at the time for their English dubs, and it was all down to focusing on the romantic nature of a maritime disaster.
But as you can probably tell, only one of them came close to that mark, and hopefully you learned something.
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