Atlantis: The Lost Empire facts for kids

Atlantis: The Lost Empire is a 2001 American animated movie made by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 40th movie in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the first science fiction movie for Disney. It follows a group of mercenaries on a quest to find the lost city of Atlantis. Released on June 15, 2001, it did not make much money as the company wanted. Disney stopped making both a spin-off television series and an underwater attraction at its Disneyland theme park.

Plot

In ancient times, a giant tidal wave threatens to submerge the island city of Atlantis. During a mass evacuation of the city, the queen of Atlantis is ingested by the "Heart of Atlantis", a giant crystal protecting the city, leaving behind her daughter Kida (Cree Summer) and her husband Kashekim (Leonard Nimoy).

Thousands of years later, in 1914, Milo J. Thatch (Michael J. Fox), a nerdy linguist and cartographer at the Smithsonian Institution, who is marginalized for his research on Atlantis, believes he has found the "Shepherd's Journal", an ancient book which supposedly contains directions to the lost city, but his proposal to search for it is turned down by the museum board. Milo later encounters Helga Sinclair (Claudia Christian), who introduces him to Preston Whitmore (John Mahoney), an eccentric millionaire who had previously funded a successful expedition to find the journal to repay a debt to Milo's grandfather, and recruits Milo to lead an expedition to Atlantis as soon as he deciphers it.

The expedition departs for Atlantis, led by Commander Rourke (James Garner), who also led the search for the journal, and a team of specialists including Vinny (Don Novello), an Italian demolition expert, Audrey (Jacqueline Obradors), a Latino mechanic, Mrs. Packard (Florence Stanley), a grouchy radio operator, Dr. Sweet (Phil Morris), a black medical officer, and Cookie (Jim Varney), a mess cook. The crew sets off on the Ulysses, a giant submarine, but are soon attacked by the Leviathan, a robotic lobster-like sea monster, guarding the entrance to Atlantis. The Ulysses is destroyed, but Milo, Rourke and part of the crew escape and make their way to a cavern, which the journal describes as the entrance to the city.

After travelling through a network of caves and a dormant volcano, the team reach Atlantis where they are greeted by Kida, who is actually over eight-thousand years old, but resembles a young woman, and discover that the Atlantean language is the basis for many existing languages. Kida enlists Milo's help in decoding the Atlantean language, which has been long forgotten by the natives. By swimming deep within the city's submerged ruins, and translating underwater murals, he discovers that the Heart of Atlantis provides the city with power and extends their lives through the crystals worn around their necks; he is surprised that this isn't mentioned in the journal, but upon examination realises a page is missing.

Returning to the surface with Kida, Milo discovers Rourke has the missing page. Rourke and the crew betray Milo, revealing they intend to bring the crystal to the surface world to sell off. Rourke fatally wounds the king while trying to extract information about the crystal's whereabouts, but finds its location for himself, hidden under the throne room. The crystal merges with Kida, and Rourke and the mercenaries lock her in a crate and prepare to leave, knowing that the Atlanteans will be killed when the crystal is gone. Milo calls his friends out for betraying their consciences and ultimately they join his side, and remain in Atlantis. As the king succumbs to his wounds, he tells Milo the crystal has developed consciousness, and when Atlantis is threatened, it will find a royal host. As he dies, he gives Milo his crystal and tells him to save Kida and Atlantis. With the encouragement of Sweet, Milo., the crew and the Atlanteans team up to stop Rourke.

During a massive battle inside the volcano, Helga and the mercenaries are defeated, and Rourke is killed when he is turned into a crystal statue, and cut to pieces by his airship's blades. As Milo and the others fly back to the city, the volcano erupts. As lava flows towards the city, Kida-in crystal form-rises into the air, creating a protective shield. The lava breaks away harmlessly, showing a restored Atlantis, and the crystal returns Kida to Milo. The rest of the crew return to the surface, vowing to keep Atlantis's location a secret, while Milo stays behind, falls in love with Kida and helps her rebuild the lost empire.

Cast

• Michael J. Fox as Milo James Thatch, a linguist and cartographer
• Cree Summer as Kidagakash "Kida" Nedakh, the Princess of Atlantis
• James Garner as Commander Lyle Tiberius Rourke
• Corey Burton as Gaëtan "Mole" Molière, a French geologist
• Claudia Christian as Lieutenant Helga Katrina Sinclair
• John Mahoney as Preston B. Whitmore
• Phil Morris as Doctor Joshua Strongbear Sweet
• Leonard Nimoy as Kashekim Nedakh, the King of Atlantis and Kida's father
• Don Novello as Vincenzo "Vinny" Santorini, an Italian demolitions expert
• Jacqueline Obradors as Audrey Rocio Ramirez, a teenage female Puerto Rican mechanic
• Florence Stanley as Wilhelmina Bertha Packard
• David Ogden Stiers as Fenton Q. Harcourt, a board member of the Smithsonian Institution
• Jim Varney as Jebidiah Allerdyce "Cookie" Farnsworth, a Western-style chuckwagon chef. Varney died in February 2000, before the movie was released.
• Jim Cummings as Helmsman

Release Dates

United Arab Emirates	2 June 2001
Kuwait	2 June 2001
Canada	15 June 2001
United States	15 June 2001
Azerbaijan	21 June 2001
Lebanon	21 June 2001
Malaysia	21 June 2001
Serbia	21 June 2001
Singapore	21 June 2001
Slovakia	21 June 2001
Thailand	21 June 2001
Colombia	22 June 2001
Guatemala	22 June 2001
Bahrain	26 June 2001
Venezuela	27 June 2001
Brazil	29 June 2001
Philippines	4 July 2001
Chile	5 July 2001
Israel	5 July 2001
Mexico	6 July 2001
Peru	6 July 2001
Argentina	12 July 2001
Hong Kong	12 July 2001
South Korea	14 July 2001
Panama	20 July 2001
Taiwan	21 July 2001
New Zealand	13 September 2001
Australia	20 September 2001
United Kingdom	19 October 2001
Ireland	19 October 2001
Czech Republic	8 November 2001
Denmark	9 November 2001
Norway	9 November 2001
Sweden	9 November 2001
Netherlands	15 November 2001
Slovenia	15 November 2001
Spain	23 November 2001
Poland	23 November 2001
Belgium	28 November 2001
France	28 November 2001
Hungary	29 November 2001
Romania	30 November 2001
Switzerland	6 December 2001 (German speaking region)
Switzerland	6 December 2001 (Italian speaking region)
Germany	6 December 2001
Italy	6 December 2001
Austria	7 December 2001
Bulgaria	7 December 2001
Greece	7 December 2001
Portugal	7 December 2001
Japan	8 December 2001
Iceland	10 December 2001
Estonia	14 December 2001
Finland	14 December 2001
Kazakhstan	21 December 2001
Russia	21 December 2001
Ukraine	21 December 2001
Egypt	23 January 2002
Turkey	8 February 2002

Awards

Images for kids

• 

  The production team visited New Mexico's Carlsbad Caverns to get a sense of the underground spaces depicted in the film.

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  The Atlantean letter A, created by artist John Emerson. Kirk Wise noted that its design was a treasure map showing the path to the crystal, "The Heart of Atlantis".

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  For comparison, the top image (panoramic view of Atlantis) is cropped to Disney's standard aspect ratio (1.66:1); the bottom image was seen in the film (2.39:1).

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  Scale model of Ulysses submarine by Greg Aronowitz, used by digital animators as reference during production.

See also

In Spanish: Atlantis: El imperio perdido para niños