Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a film I tend to forget about but I think that it is a great adventure story. I really like the character of Milo, possibly just because his geekiness is relatable. If Disney continues their live action remake kick, Atlantis could be an interesting contender.
Premiered on: June 3, 2001 at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood
Directed by:
Gary Trousdale
Kirk Wise
Produced by: Don Hahn
Based on: The Legend of Atlantis
Sequels: Atlantis: Milo’s Return (2003)
Cast:
Michael J. Fox – Milo Thatch
James Garner – Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke
Cree Summer – Kidagakash Nedakh
Don Novello – Vincenzo Santorini
Phil Morris – Dr. Joshua Strongbear Sweet
Claudia Christian – Lt. Helga Katrina Sinclair
Florence Stanley – Wilhelmina Bertha Packard
Jacqueline Obradors – Audrey Rocio Ramirez
David Ogden Stiers – Fenton Q. Harcourt
John Mahoney – Preston B. Whitmore
Jim Varney – Jebidiah Allardyce Farnsworth
Corey Burton – Gaëtan “Mole” Molière
Florence Stanley – Mrs. Packard
Leonard Nimoy – Kashekim Nedakh
Supervising Animators:
Thierry Chaffoin
Michael Kaschalk
Anne Marie Bardwell
Michael Cedeno
Anthony de Rosa
Russ Edmonds
Randy Haycock
Ron Husband
Shawn Keller
Mike ‘Moe’ Merell
John Pomeroy
David Pruiksma
Michael Surrey
Yoshimichi Tamura
Music by:
James Newton Howard
Diane Warren
Songs: “Where the Dream Takes You”
Academy Awards: none
The Story:
Atlantis: The Lost Empire begins with the quote “…in a single day and night of misfortune, the island of Atlantis disappeared into the depths of the sea.” – Plato, 360 B.C.
There is a flash of light which strikes the sea and flying vehicles are fleeing from a large tsunami. The Atlanteans flying them are trying to warn the rest of Atlantis about the wave. The majority of the vehicles are destroyed by the wave but some make it back to the city. A guard sees the wave and tells everyone to get to the shelters. There is absolute chaos around the city and people are trying to protect the king, queen, and princess.
A beam of light causes Queen Kashem to fall into a trance. She starts to float up to the sky. Her young daughter, Kida, yells for her mother but Queen Kashem just grabs her bracelet and continues to float up. King Kashekim grabs his daughter and tells her to look away. The city becomes isolated and sinks down into the sea. The title card is shown.
A museum is shown and a text reads “Washington, D.C. 1914.” Inside, Milo is giving a speech about Atlantis and behind him on a chalkboard it is written “Coast of Ireland.” He talks about the advanced technology the Atlanteans had and how they were suddenly struck by some catastrophe and sunk down into the sea. Milo suggests that his audience might think this is all a myth but tells them that they would be wrong. He explains that the Atlanteans had some sort of power source. He proposes finding Atlantis and using that power source. Milo continues to explain that the location of Atlantis is described in a lost book called the Shepard’s Journal. It was thought for many years that the journal was off the coast of Ireland but Milo explains that one of the letters was mistranslated and the book should actually be in Iceland.
Milo takes a moment to remind himself to pause for effect. He tells his audience that he will take their questions now. The phone then rings and when Milo picks it up, someone begins yelling at him on the other end. He tells the person to wait one moment and he turns the main lights on in the room. This shows that the audience is actually a bunch of museum props set up so Milo can practice his speech. He crawls over the props and starts up the boiler and goes back over to the phone. He asks the person “better?” and then hangs up. Milo continues on with his speech when the clock strike 4 pm. Milo tells himself that “this is it!” and that he is finally going to get out of the dungeon. He picks up a photo of himself as a child with his grandpa and remembers his grandpa giving him the explorer’s hat in the photo. Milo then grabs that same hat and puts it on.
Milo then receives a note that says his 4:30 pm meeting with the board has been moved up to 3:30 pm. He looks at the clock which says 4 pm. Another note arrives and says that due to his absence, the board is going to reject his proposal. Milo is furious about this.
The board members are all getting ready to go home. They are talking about how young Thatch gets crazier every year. Milo comes running towards them and someone yells “here he comes!” The board members run in all directions. They all lock themselves into different rooms around the museum and leave Mr. Harcourt out in the hall. He races outside of the museum and Milo follows him. Mr. Harcourt hops into a waiting car and tells Milo that the museum runs on facts and not legends and folklore. He tells Milo that they also need him there because they depend on him to run the boiler. The car starts to drive away and Milo chases it. He climbs onto the front of the car and threatens to quit if Mr. Harcourt won’t fund his expedition. Mr. Harcourt tells Milo not to waste his future chasing fairy tales and he drives away.
Milo goes home and enters his dark apartment. A thunder storm has started. He calls for his cat Fluffy and tries to turn a light on. The power is out and through a strike of lightning, he sees that there is a woman in his apartment. She introduces himself as Helga Sinclair and says that she is acting on behalf of her employer. Milo asks who that is.
Lightning flashes and the next scene is of a mansion. Milo and Helga are in a car and they drive through the front gates. The name Whitmore is written on the gates. Inside, Helga gives Milo lots of advice on how to speak to Mr. Whitmore. She makes Milo very nervous about meeting him. She finishes by telling him to relax because Whitmore doesn’t bite…often. She then leaves him alone.
Milo looks around the dark room and sees a picture of Mr. Whitmore with his grandpa. Whitmore is doing yoga and comments that Milo’s grandpa was the finest explorer he ever met. He then introduces himself and offers his foot for Milo to shake. Whitmore talks about knowing his grandpa. He then tells Milo to look on the table. Milo finds a package from his grandpa on the table. Whitmore says that his grandpa gave it to him to give to Milo when he was ready. Milo opens it up and finds the Shepard’s Journal. Whitmore asks what he is going to do with it and Milo says that he will make the museum give him funding. Whitmore asks “like you did today?” and Milo is confused how he knows but then declares that he will find Atlantis on his own if he has to use a rowboat.
Whitmore congratulates him and says to forget the rowboat. He then shows Milo a model of a very fancy submarine and says that it has all been arranged. Whitmore goes on the explain that he made a deal with Milo’s grandpa that if the journal was ever found, Whitmore would fund the whole expedition to find Atlantis and kiss the grandpa full on the mouth. He shows Milo a picture of Whitmore and his grandpa looking disgusted. Mr. Whitmore is very sad that Milo’s grandpa has passed away but is determined to keep his word. He says that his grandpa died a broken man after the museum laughed at and ridiculed him.
Mr. Whitmore is ready to get started and Milo points out that they need a crew. Whitmore already has it all sorted out. He says that he has hired the best of the best and he shows Milo the profiles of the crew, the same crew who brought the journal back. Milo asks where it was found and is very excited to learn that the journal was found in Iceland. Mr. Whitmore tells Milo that all he needs now is an expert in gibberish and that it is decision time for Milo. Milo lists off things he will need to do beforehand such as quit his job, pack, and take care of his cat and Mr. Whitmore says that everything is taken care of already. Milo declares that he is so excited that he can’t hold it in.
The next scene is of Milo getting seasick on a large steamship. There is an announcement that calls for all hands to the launch bay. Milo finds Helga and tells her that he needs to report in. Cookie Farnsworth then starts to argue with Helga about how she packed him all the non-essentials like cinnamon and oregano. He picks up a head of lettuce and has no idea what it is. Cookie thinks that the four basic food groups are beans, bacon, whiskey, and lard.
An alarm goes off and another announcement calls for the final loading. Milo takes a lift down to the submarine, Ulysses, and meets Vinny Santorini and Commander Lyle Rourke. They board the submarine and Milo says goodbye to Mr. Whitmore. The submarine dives down.
Milo enters his sleeping quarters and stretches out on a lower bunk. An eye through a lens glares down at him before a bright light shines in Milo’s face. Gaëtan “Mole” Molière appears and is angry at Milo for disturbing the dirt. Milo jumps out of the bunk and Mole pulls back the blankets to show small piles of dirt that each have a small flag representing a different country. Mole demands to know who Milo is and grabs some tweezers and pulls dirt out from his finger nail. From that piece of dirt, Mole is able to tell everything about Milo (including all about his cat) and he tries to shove Milo out of the room. Milo bumps into Dr. Joshua Strongbear Sweet. Dr. Sweet threatens Mole to back off with a bar of soap. He then introduces himself to Milo and tells Milo that he is his three o’clock. Dr. Sweet gives Milo a quick examination before another announcement calls Milo to the bridge.
Mrs. Packard is the one who gives the announcements but she is currently gossiping with her friend Margie over the phone. She pauses for a moment to tell Commander Rourke that they are approaching their coordinates. Milo enters the bridge and Commander Rourke tells everyone to give him their undivided attention. The crowd stares at him with unimpressed looks. Milo gives an awkward speech about the creatures that they might encounter. He gives a slideshow but accidently shows some slides of him in a swimsuit. Milo then continues to tell them about the leviathan that guards the entrance to Atlantis. Milo is asked what they do at the entrance and Milo thinks that the answer is to dig! Milo explains that they might not have to because there should already be a tunnel down to the bottom of the ocean. Then they will come up to an air pocket where remnants of an ancient highway will lead them to Atlantis.
Commander Rourke is called over to look at something and the exterior lights of the sub are turned on. They shine on a ship graveyard and the sunken ships are from all eras. A creature awakens and follows the submarine. Mrs. Packard picks up something on the hydrophone. Milo quotes that they have entered the lair of the leviathan and there they will find the path to the gateway. Commander Rourke tells Mrs. Packard to put the sound through the speakers and they hear some very ominous sounds. The sounds become louder but then are suddenly silent. The leviathan attacks the sub. Helga yells at everyone to get to their battle stations while Milo realizes that the creature is actually a machine. They launch the subpods and fire their torpedoes. Audrey informs Commander Rourke that they are taking in a lot of water and need to get out of there. Everyone gets into escape pods and abandon the submarine. Milo tells them all that they are looking for a crevasse of some kind to escape. The leviathan is still attacking and many of the escape pods and subpods crash. Only a few make it to the air pocket. Their lights shine on the gateway to Atlantis.
The remaining survivors hold a small memorial for those that they lost. Commander Rourke comments that they started with 200 people but they are all that remain. He tells the survivors that he is not going to sugar coat it, they have a crisis on their hands. He says that everyone will have to pull double duty and that their chance for survival rests in Milo and the Shepard’s Journal. Mrs. Packard comments that they are all going to die.
The crew prepare to follow the path to Atlantis and Commander Rourke asks Milo if he can drive a truck and Milo assures him that he can. Milo then admits that it was actually a bumper car on Coney Island but it should be the same basic principle. But the next scene shows that Milo cannot drive and he is holding everyone up. His truck then has to be towed behind.
The crew journeys along the ancient highway and Milo is figuring out clues along the one. At one point he is reading the journal upside down and he accidently sends the trucks down the wrong path. But he then sheepishly points them in the right direction. The crew is still being hard on Milo. Vinny and Mole play a prank on him and convince him that he drank nitroglycerin. Then Dr. Sweet helps everyone up a hill except for Milo. Milo eats and sleeps by himself at night when it comes time to set up camp. As the crew travels, Atlanteans sneak around them.
Mole is trying to dig through a wall roadblock but ends up breaking his digger. Audrey tries to fix it but Milo steps in and is able to before she does. Milo is very proud of himself but Audrey is not impressed. Mole digs through and they continue.
They rest at night before the final lag and there is some sort of power source above them. Cookie is serving dinner and he gives them all slop but with fancy names. Mole is the only one who is excited about the dinner. They all decide that they have been too hard on Milo and invite him over to sit with them. Milo is very eager about it. Mole plants a whoopee cushion under him and everyone yells at Mole. Milo is still reading the Shepard’s Journal and thinks that there might be a missing page. The crew thinks that Milo should relax and Milo realizes that he is the only one excited for the adventure whereas everyone else is in it for the money. The crew start to share their stories and background and Dr. Sweet starts.
Afterwards, Vinny teaches Milo how to pitch a tent. Milo tells Audrey about his grandpa and she is sad that she did not get a chance to meet him. She and Vinny then share their stories but no one will tell Mole’s.
The Atlanteans sneak up and take a look through Milo’s stuff. In the middle of the night, Milo wakes up to use the bathroom and he shines his flashlight on the above power source. Tiny lights float down which light the camp on fire. Milo starts yelling and wakes everyone up. Everyone gets into the trucks to drive away but they have trouble crossing the bridge. The bridge breaks and everyone falls. They end up in complete darkness and Commander Rourke lights a match and asks for a sound off. Audrey says that it looks like the digger can still run and Mole says that they are at the bottom of a dormant volcano. Helga sends up a flare and sees that there is a solid top.
Milo wakes up a little far from the group to a group of Atlanteans in masks. He is hurt and Kida lifts up her mask and touches his wound with her crystal. This heals it. The digger starts to approach and the Atlanteans run away. Milo chases them and follows them to a lush land. The digger follows and everyone can’t believe their eyes. There is a beautiful waterfall and city.
Suddenly they are surrounded by Atlanteans and Kida starts speaking. Milo tries to speak back and realizes that she can speak many languages. Kida then welcomes them in English. The crew splits up and some follow Kida to the city to speak to her father.
On the drive there, Helga comments to Commander Rourke that there were not supposed to be people down there and that it changes everything. Commander Rourke thinks that it changes nothing. They reach the palace. Kida speaks to her father who says that no outsiders may see the city and live. Kida thinks that the outsiders can help but her father does not. Commander Rourke speaks up to say that they are peaceful explorers but King Kashekim says that he knows that the explorers seek but they will not find it here. He wants them to leave. Commander Rourke asks if they can stay one night to rest and resupply and King Kashekim agrees. The explorers leave the palace.
King Kashekim tells Kida that she is soft because one thousand years ago, she would have killed them on sight. She argues that one thousand years ago, their people were not starving and living in ruins.
The explorers vote for Milo to go speak to Kida to get answers about the city. Kida then grabs Milo to ask her own questions and he follows her into a lush forest. She immediately asks many questions. Milo suggests a compromise and he will ask one question and then she will ask one question. Milo asks how the Atlanteans got there and Kida tells him that the gods banished them there. She only remembers a bright light that called her mother to it. Milo is shocked that she is old enough to remember this. Kida asks him how they found their way here and Milo shows her the Shepard’s Journal. Kida is very surprised and excited that he can read it because the knowledge to read has been lost. She wants Milo to read something to her and leads him to some flying vehicles. Kida can’t figure out how to turn them on. Milo reads the instructions and turns on the vehicle. He immediately crashes it without even getting on it. He then suggests eating instead.
Kida and Milo climb up some tall ruins. She introduces herself as Kidagakash but tells Milo that he can call her Kida. They reach the top of the ruins and look out over the city and the sea. Milo wishes that his grandpa was there with him. They then go to a marketplace and watch some Atlanteans’ fish and a man throws a lobster at Milo. The lobster attacks Milo and Kida very calmly kills it and stuffs it in Milo’s satchel. Kida asks Milo to tell her more about his companions and she is very confused about Cookie and Sweet’s names. The other explores are also in the marketplace.
In the evening, they are all eating dinner together with the Atlanteans. On the outskirts of the city, Commander’s Rourke’s men are getting their weapons ready. At the dinner, Milo is telling Kida that they were not expecting a living civilization there, that they were only expecting some broken pottery. Kida sadly says that their culture is actually dying and asks for his help reading a mural.
The mural is underwater and they must swim to get there. Kida’s crystal lights up so they can see the mural and Milo reads it. They come up for some air in an air pocket and he tells Kida that it is a complete history of Atlantis. The heart of Atlantis was a crystal and that was keeping Atlantis alive. The pair then swim back to shore to find Commander Rourke and the crew with weapons. Milo realizes that it is a treasure hunt and it is Commander Rourke who has the missing page. The commander informs Milo that this was all on a “need to know basis.” Kida tries to fight but she is captured. Milo tells Commander Rourke that he does not know what he is doing because that crystal is keeping the Atlanteans alive. Commander Rourke and Helga think that information will only double or triple the price. They then threaten Kida if Milo does not help them.
The crew blows up the palace door and search everywhere. The Journal says that “the heart of Atlantis lies in the eyes of her king.” King Kashekim tells them that they are only going to destroy themselves and Commander Rourke punches him. The commander then sits on the throne and Dr. Sweet is very mad that punching the king was not a part of the plan. Commander Rourke tells the king that he is going to count to ten and then is going to shoot him if he does not say where the heart lies. But then Commander Rourke sees the same symbol that is on the front of the journal in the water outside the palace.
Kida, Milo, Helga, and Commander Rourke climb down to the water and stand in the middle of the symbol. The water suddenly starts to lower them down. They are inside a chamber and the crystal is floating above them with surrounding floating masks. Kida bows down in front of it and says that the masks are the kings of their past. She starts to pray to them and Commander Rourke tells Milo to make her stop. Commander Rourke kicks a stone into the water below the floating crystal and the crystal then turns a fiery-red. That crystal seems to call the small crystal around Kida’s neck and she becomes in a trance. She moves towards the water and tells Milo that it is will be okay. She is pulled up towards the crystal and she starts to spin fast and fast. Kida is then formed into some sort of crystal. Kida then sinks back down and the masks fall around her. She walks towards the other three.
In the next scene, crystal Kida is being locked up and hauled away. Milo tells the crew that they are wiping out an entire civilization to become rich. He tries his best to make them feel guilty. Commander Rourke punches Milo and then steps on his picture of his grandpa. The commander then orders everyone to move out and they leave Milo behind. Audrey then gets out of her truck to help Milo up. Vinny joins her and then so does Cookie, Mole, and Mrs. Packard (who again comments that they are all going to die.)
Commander Rourke and Helga leave. The Atlanteans’ crystals begin to fade as they take Kida away. Commander Rourke blows up the bridge behind them so no one can follow. Dr. Sweet calls Milo up to the palace because the king is not doing well. Milo suggests using the crystals to try to heal him but the king protests. He then explains that Kida has been chosen like her mother before her. In times of danger, the crystal needs a host of royal blood to protect itself. But over time, the power has grown its own conscience which led to destruction. The king then kept the crystal hidden under the city so history would not repeat itself. He wanted to keep Kida from the same fate as her mother because she could be lost to the crystal forever. The king the gives Milo his crystal and tells him to save Atlantis by returning Kida. King Kashekim dies.
Dr. Sweet asks what Milo is going to decide and Milo starts to freak out at where his decisions have led them. Dr. Sweet reminds him that his grandpa once said that when you hit rock bottom, the only place left to go is up. Milo then gathers everyone and says that he is going to go after Commander Rourke. He turns on one of the Atlantean flying vehicles and Audrey immediately hops on it and it crashes. Milo then teaches everyone how to start up the vehicles and they take off.
An explosive is shot in the dormant volcano to open a hole to the surface. The crystal Kida in her container is being flown to the surface. Milo and his team catch up and fight with Commander Rourke’s men. Vinny and Milo are decoys as Dr. Sweet and Audrey try to get the container. Milo crashes into one of the balloons carrying the container and the whole contraption starts to lose altitude. Helga says that they need to lighten the load and so Commander Rourke throws her off. She is able to swing back up and fight him but he throws her off again. Milo swings down and attacks Commander Rourke but the commander is able to easily throw Milo over. Milo is hanging off the side. Helga is on the ground of the volcano and she shoots a flare up and blows up the balloon. Commander Rourke is swinging an axe at Milo and Milo cuts the commander’s arm with his crystal. Commander Rourke then turns into crystal and is destroyed. The container crashes to the ground. The volcano awakens and everyone hurries to get out of there. They have a hard time getting the container out but are finally able to chain it up and haul it back to Atlantis.
Milo and his team back it back to the city and they open the container. Crystal Kida brings life back to Atlantis and she rises up above the city with the kings’ masks. This awakens rock giants who clap their hands to form a force shield around Atlantis and protect the city from the flowing lava from the volcano. The lava flows over the protection shield, hardens, and then cracks into dust.
Kida floats back down and has been turned back into her human self. Milo catches her. She is holding the bracelet that her mother took from her as a child. She turns and looks at the restored city and grabs Milo’s hand.
The rest of the crew is getting ready to head back home and Kida tells them that they will honour their names forever. The crew is given plenty of treasure and crystals in thanks. They all say their goodbyes to Milo who is staying in Atlantis. They get one final photo together.
At Mr. Whitmore’s mansion, the crew have all gathered and are all dressed in very expensive clothes. Mr. Whitmore wants to go over their story one last time. Their story is that they did not find anything and that Helga, Commander Rourke, and Milo all went missing or died in the journey. Whitmore is going through their photos from the trip and he finds a small package from Milo. It is an Atlantean crystal and the photo of Milo’s grandpa.
In Atlantis, King Kashekim’s mask is floating up to join the other kings’. Kida and Milo climb up to the top of some ruins to watch it rise. The scene then zooms out of Atlantis and the title card is shown again. The end credit’s play to “Where the Dream Takes You.”
Trivia:
- Atlantis was inspired by Jules Verne stories.
- The end song “Where the Dream Takes You” was sung by Mýa.
- The artistic style was based on comic book artist Mike Mignola’s work and he served as an art consultant for the film.
- The Atlantean language was created by linguistic expert Marc Ukrand. Early drawings of Milo were also based on Mr. Ukrand’s features.
- Due to the film’s underperformance, both another sequel called Atlantis II: Shards of Chaos and a television series called Team Atlantis were cancelled.
- Four different video games for various platforms were released after the film came out.
- After the Disneyland Submarine Voyage closed in Tomorrowland in 1998, the rumour was that it was going to reopen with an Atlantis theme. However, this was cancelled due to the film not being nearly as popular as Disney hoped.
- When the Ulysses is diving, some of the same lines from the Submarine Voyage attraction are being called out.
- A research team took a trip to New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns to learn about underground animals.
Representation in the Disney Parks:
There is currently no representation of Atlantis: The Lost Empire in the Disney Parks.
Check out the other films of Disney’s Post-Renaissance Era:
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