Atlantis: The Lost Empire 2001 Film
Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 15, 2001. An animated sci-fi mixed action movie, it was written by Tab Murphy, directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, and produced by Don Hahn. The 40th film in the Disney animated features canon, it is set in the year 1914, where an expedition crew goes off to find the lost city of Atlantis.
The film begins with an explosion and a massive wave washing over the island of Atlantis. Giant, robotic sentries defend the city, but the Atlantean queen is drawn into a glowing blue beam projected from the "Heart of Atlantis," a huge gem which powers the city's defenses. She leaves behind a young daughter, Princess Kida, as the city disappears beneath the ocean waves.
Thousands of years later, Milo Thatch is an aspiring, kindhearted, and dreaming linguist and explorer, although his employers, the staff of the Smithsonian Institution, has little use for him other than keeping the boilers running. Milo believes that his research has revealed the location of The Shepherd's Journal, a Viking manuscript that allegedly reveals the way to Atlantis. His dreams are to prove to the world, that his grandfather, Thaddeus Thatch, really did discover a clue that could lead to the discovery of one of the greatest mysteries of all. Most of all, his dreams are to have something to believe in. After his proposal is rejected, a mysterious woman, Helga Sinclair, invites Milo to see her employer and takes him to Preston B. Whitmore, an eccentric millionaire who, owing a debt to Milo's grandfather, has funded a successful effort to find the journal; now that it is in hand, he recruits Milo to read the book and lead an expedition to Atlantis.
Milo sets out with a crew headed up by Commander Lyle Rourke, a military man who led the expedition to recover the journal, Helga, and a crew of oddballs. Among the crew are Vinnie Santorini, the crew's Italian demolitions expert, Gaetan 'Mole' Moliere, the borderline crazy geology specialist, Dr. Joshua Sweet, the ship's medical officer, Audrey Ramirez, the tomboyish mechanic, Jedidiah 'Cookie' Farnsworth, the ship's Western redneck cook, and Wilhelmina Packard, the elderly communications expert. They set out in the Ulysses, a massive submarine. As the team approaches Atlantis, the Ulysses is attacked and destroyed by the Leviathan, a huge robotic defender of Atlantis. Milo, Rourke, and a small complement of crewmembers escape in small sub-pods and a cargo hauler and, reaching an underground cavern described in the Shepherd's Journal, continue ahead on foot and vehicle. They are tracked all the while by some Atlanteans.
Reaching Atlantis, the crew are greeted by Kida, now a young woman, although "young" is relative to her appearance only, as she is now many thousands of years old. Kida brings the group to meet her aging father, King Kashekim Nedakh, who wants them to leave as soon as they are able, since their presence cannot mean any good. Atlantis has fallen into ruins since disappearing into the earth, and Kida enlists Milo's help in deciphering the runes throughout the city, the Atlantean written language having been unknown to the people for centuries. Milo helps her discover the nature of the Heart of Atlantis, but can't tell how it works, since a page of the Shepherd's Journal is missing.
Rourke turns out to have the missing page and betrays Milo, he and Helga having known about the Heart all the while. Rourke turns the tables by forcing Milo and Kida to help him find the Heart of Atlantis so that he can take it back to the surface and make a fortune from its sale. He first thinks King Nedakh knows all about it, so he manages to beat him. Once found, the Heart merges with Kida, causing her to fall into a trance as her body becomes a glowing blue crystal. Rourke locks up Kida and prepares to leave for the caves. Before departing, he punches Milo and mocks him, breaking his beloved grandfather's picture, and tears of sorrow, heartbreak, and despair well up in Milo's eyes. But just before they leave, Vinnie, Audrey, Sweet, Mole, Cookie, and Packard have a dramatic change of heart, and go back to help Milo up. Rourke leaves, and prevents the crew from following him by blowing up the bridge. Later, in the palace, King Nedakh tells Milo all about the Heart of Atlantis, explaining why the crystal has a mind of its own and why Atlantis went underwater. Before his death, the King gives his crystal to Milo and tells him to save Atlantis and Kida. Milo is reluctant as first, pointing out that every bad thing on this mission happened because of him, but with courage and support from Sweet, he rallies the crew and the Atlanteans to stop Rourke and manages to restart several Atlantean vehicles to create an aerial fighting force to challenge the villains.
In the ensuing battle, Rourke is destroyed, Helga is killed, and Kida is liberated, but a volcanic eruption ensues. The city's total destruction is imminent until Milo and Kida are able to restore the city's systems to full power which include restarting the sentinels who again rise to protect Atlantis. The Atlanteans thank the visitors who helped save Atlantis and give them a huge treasure. The surviving crew, now insanely wealthy, returns to Whitmore's mansion to rehearse their cover story to hide the existence of Atlantis, while Milo stays to help Kida rebuild the Atlantean empire and made a memorial of the King and let join within the Heart of Atlantis.
