Milo James Thatch
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| Milo James Thatch | |
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| First appearance | Atlantis: The Lost Empire |
| Created by | Joss Whedon |
| Voiced by | Michael J. Fox (original) James Arnold Taylor (sequel) |
Milo James Thatch (or simply Milo) is the main character and protagonist in Disney's 2001 animated feature Atlantis: The Lost Empire. He is voiced by Michael J. Fox in the film, and by James Arnold Taylor in the direct-to-video sequel Atlantis: Milo's Return.
Milo is a linguist (though his bosses the Smithsonian Institution employ him only to operate the boilers), grandson of scientist and explorer Thaddeus Thatch, and like him, is dedicated to finding the lost city of Atlantis. . Upon meeting an old friend of his grandfather, Preston B. Whitmore, he is given the Shepard's Journal, a book containing the information needed to find Atlantis and tales of it's people, found by his grandfather in Iceland. An expedition crew is hired to assist him in finding Atlantis by Whitmore the same team who worked with Thaddeus to find the Shepard's Journal.
Upon making it to Atlantis, Milo and the team befriend and gain the overall trust of the citizens of Atlantis (minus the king). In particular, Milo develops the closest bond with Princess Kidagakash (whom he calls Kida for short), which eventually develops into a love interest. Kida and Milo spend a lot of one on one time asking each other questions and trying to help each other figure out the history of the Atlantians and the origin of their current state (a fallen empire under water).
After a swim to read under water inscriptions about "The Heart of Atlantis", Milo returns to find the team armed with guns. He quickly realizes that they're interested only in financial gain and are not concerned with what the cost to the Atlantian society is. Upon the offer of Commander Rourke to "be one of them", Milo strongly refuses, and stands his ground. When Kida returns shortly afterward, she is captured by the soldiers present. She tries to fight them off until a gun is pointed at her by Rourke. Milo refuses to help them find The Heart of Atlantis, knowing now that it's serving as the life source to the people of Atlantis. When Rourke threatens to shoot Kida, Milo conforms to his wishes.
Once led to the underground chamber where The Heart of Atlantis sits, Kida becomes one with it, and is then locked up in a container by the team and loaded onto a truck. As they're getting ready to leave, Milo preaches to them about how they're wiping out an entire civilization in the name of money, making them all show expressions of guilt. When Rourke punches Milo and knocks him to the ground, the team has a change of heart, and goes to help Milo up and stand at his side, telling Rourke that they agree what he's doing is wrong. Helga Sinclair, however, stays on Rourke's side and leaves with him. The elderly king (Kida's father), who was earlier beaten by Rourke, asks Milo to save his daughter on his death bed.
Shortly after, Milo decides to go after Rourke. The rest of the team, and several citizens of Atlantis follow him when he shows them how to utilize the Alantian flying machines. When they find Rourke, he and Helga have attached the container holding Kida and The Heart of Atlantis chained to a hot air balloon ready to take off through the hole made in the top of the dormant volcano they are in. A lengthy air battle ensues, while Audrey and Dr. Sweet attempt to saw the container loose. This doesn't work as planned, and causes Milo to confront Rourke one on one. In the midst of the confrontation, Rourke swings an axe at Milo which ends up going through and breaking the window of the container that holds Kida. Milo grabs a piece of the broken glass which is covered in energy residue from The Heart of Atlantis, and cuts Rourke's arm, causing him to malform into a blue skinned, red eyed screeching glass monster. While trying to go after Milo again, he is caught in the propellers at the bottom of the balloon, which causes him to shatter into pieces.
Milo manages to get the container detached from the balloon and gets it out of the way before the balloon crashes down. When it does, the explosion causes the volcano to awaken. Milo hooks up the container to the back of Audrey's flying machine and they make their way out of the volcano followed closely behind by a wave of lava. When they get back to the city, Kida, still bound to The Heart of Atlantis, awakens large moving statues which form a barrier around the city. This protects them from the lava, causing a molten shell to be formed around the dome shield, which is then broken away by her power. She then rises into the sky, and the ancestry stones begin to quickly circle her (as they did when she joined to The Heart of Atlantis), and then she decends from them, back in her original state, unconnected to The Heart any longer. Milo and Kida then embrace each other in relief.
As thanks, the people of Atlantis load a ship for the team with many treasures. Milo decides to stay with Kida in Atlantis while the others return to the surface, all extreme wealthy, and keeping everything that happened a secret.
In the final scene, we see Kida, now as queen, and Milo (apparently married, though not confirmed) with a whole new attire and several tattoo designs, finishing up the carving of the newest ancestral stone to honor Kida's father. The two then climb to the top of a building together and watch the stone rise with the others into the sky above the city.
In the sequel, Atlantis: Milo's Return, Milo and Kida meet back up with the remaining team (all except the now deceased Helga and Rourke) and return to the surface, to investigate various happenings in the (seemingly more modern) world.
