Milo and Kida: An Obscure Disney Couple that Stole my Heart

Valentine’s Day is coming up so I feel inspired to talk about fictional love stories and couples, or rather express my love for them.  I’d like to focus this post specifically on my Disney OTP, Milo Thatch and Princess Kida from Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Why that pairing specifically?  Because they’re the most adorable Disney couple ever and they don’t get half the credit the deserve.

Now just to be fair, this is a spoiler-heavy post, so if you haven’t seen Atlantis, go watch it.  It’s a great movie.  And this is also a proper fangirl post where I wax eloquent about what I love, so bear with me.

True, Atlantis is not a musical and it’s not the most visually pleasing film.  But liking a not-official Disney Prince/Princess/King/Queen pairing/whatever has its perks. You don’t have to see them in your fruit snacks and other merchandise. As a fan, you’re a little more free to tell your own story if you don’t have someone else’s version constantly shoved in your face. You’re just more appreciative of their qualities. And of course, Atlantis came out right after I finished third grade.  There’s a lot of nostalgia tied to it for me. For the most part, I got what I was looking for in the previews.  I got action, I got some weird magic, I got humor...I wasn’t expecting a love story.

Shipping for me isn’t so much about the pairing but what the couple does together--in other words, it’s their story.

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I am usually more of a fan of female characters, yet Milo is like one of those male characters I have always related to so much. I was fond of Milo in third/fourth grade because, like him, I was also a social outcast. Many Disney characters are social outcasts to some degree, true, and many of them, like Milo, are dreamers.  But Milo is different because he’s a nerd: he cares about a topic that nobody else does.

Down in Atlantis, Kida is in a similar situation.  I don’t know how well she gets along with the other Atlanteans but her dad kind of looks down on her for being a free thinker.  Her dream is to improve the quality of life for her people and restore Atlantis to its former glory.

via atlantean-gibberish-tumblr

So along comes Milo.  He’s an outsider who happens to have studied the history and culture of Atlantis. And he can read the language. She volunteers him into her cause--after he’s been volunteered to talk to her on behalf of the other explorers. And he quickly realizes that she’s in the best place for helping him learn more about his favorite subject, and by working together they can fill in the blanks.  Atlantis is a fairytale for nerds. Nerd boy meets nerd girl.  They both save the day and live happily ever after ruling the kingdom.

Milo and Kida are a one-in-a-million couple.  Kida has been trapped below in Atlantis for several thousand years. And Milo has had no luck with the ladies in his own world.

Via Pinterest.  Clearly age is not an issue for Kida

Granted, they’re only together and getting to know each other for like a third of the movie.  But other Disney couples have fallen in love in less time, and in fact, their relationship, based on their mutual interest in Atlantis, is a lot more believable.  The first time they meet in the caves outside the city is magical in more ways than one.  

Via Giphy

Look at how she smiles at him! Tell me how that isn’t Disney-style love at first sight?

Then when they’re at the entrance to the city and Milo gets to practice his Atlantean language skills for the first time. He quickly figures out that she can speak other languages, too.  So he switches to Latin and then French--and French, as we know, is the language of love.  

Via jigokhuna tumblr. Parlez-vous frances?

Kida immediately latches onto Milo because she knows he can help her out.  When they’re alone together later on, however, they have great chemistry.  She is so curious about him and his world and she likes showing him around hers. He thinks she’s funny but he respects her desire to learn.

Via Giphy
"How's my accent?"
"Boorish, provincial, and you speak it through your nose."

Then Kida bonds with the Crystal.  It looks like Milo’s chances are shot, but then there’s something else going on.  Right when the Crystal is about to take up Kida she tells Milo to not be afraid.  As vague and creepy as that was, even when partly bonded with the Crystal Kida is responding to him.

via Fanpop

Then after the city is saved, the Crystal releases Kida and drops her into Milo’s waiting arms. Of course it made sense for the Crystal to not keep her bonded forever because she’s the last living member of the royal family. But the king also said that the Crystal “thrives on the collective consciousness” of the people.  So not only does it respond to the needs of Atlantis as a society but the feelings of the individual hosts.  The Crystal knew that Kida had feelings for Milo, so it let her go so they could be together. Trippy, but in the context of a Disney romance it makes perfect sense.

via Fanpop

When Kida sees Milo after she wakes up, she jumps up and HUGS him because she’s so happy to see him.  I think if she didn’t know she had feelings for him before she knew it when she came back. And when they got back, they go to look over the city with the rest of the cast...and they’re holding hands.  *SQUEEEEEE!*

Milo x Kida Deviantart

They saved Atlantis...together. <3 #OTP

“At least he’s in a better place now,” Mr. Whitmore says as he reviews the story for the press while looking at a very romantic picture of Milo and Kida.  Aside note, there was one time when a roommate of mine was talking about her brother’s wedding but she kept referring to it accidentally as his funeral.  Well, if being married to someone you love is being in a better place, then Milo is definitely in heaven.

self-generated meme

I love that closing scene in the movie because it shows how both Milo and Kida’s dreams have come true.  Milo is not only the gibberish expert but the gibberish king, and Kida has gotten Atlantis back to where it's supposed to be, Crystal and all.  But just the way Milo looks tenderly at Kida when she goes to send up her father’s stone go up to join the other past kings.  He knows how much that means to her.  Then Milo is mesmerized watching it go up and he kind of has a giddy look on his face as she drags him away to their special spot for a better look. 

Via Pinterset.  Most adorable king and queen award goes to...

I’m pretty sure as soon as the camera pans away far enough they’re kissing.  

For the record, I did see the spinoff film Atlantis: Milo’s Return.  It was okay.  I liked the humor and also getting to see Milo and Kida being cute together. But the original film was a good enough ending for me.  I’m more about Atlantis still being down there somewhere, Milo and Kida living forever and having cute kids, maybe Milo freaking out about how much society on the surface has changed but at least for now not touched by the craziness and still very happily in love.  And no other Disney couple to this day has given me the same satisfaction.

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