There are distinct
movies we love as kids, and either get better or lesser when we grow-up. For me, DreamWorks
animated 2000 movie “The Road to El Dorado”
is a case where I enjoyed it fine as a
kid, but I didn’t really grow to love it until I watched it again in my
young adult years. Honestly, even though it’s not exactly high art, “The Road to El Dorado” still has a
secure place among my personal favorite animated movies. When it first
premiered back in 2000, it was a box office flop, but thankfully has gained new
life as an underground cult classic. It should be noted that “The Road to El Dorado” came out on the
heels of the hit animated feature “The
Prince of Egypt”, which is also one of my all-time favorite animated films.
While “The Road
to El Dorado” has absolutely none of the same qualities that made me admire
“The Prince of Egypt”, I still
love it equally as much, just for completely different reasons. While I look
back on “The Prince of Egypt” as an
emotional epic, “The Road to El Dorado”
is simply one of the most delightful and fun animated films, one that’s thankfully
stuck with me through the years.
Our story follows two con artists named
Tulio and Miguel, who are best friends, and set out to find the legendary
Golden City of El Dorado, with the former seeking riches and the ladder seeking
an adventure. After many challenges and travels, our two unlikely heroes do
indeed find the lost city, and the inhabitant's mistake them for living Gods from
legend.
Once subtle in the Golden city, a plan is devised to fool the locals
into building them a boat, in which they’ll escape and take many riches with
them. However, a rift soon forms between the two as Miguel begins to see the
true beauty of the city beneath the gold. He also discovers that the citizens
are at the mercy of a bloodthirsty high-priest who aims to return El Dorado
back to an age of human sacrifices. So, with his new title as God, Miguel leads
the people out of the shadows, into the light and away from the violent intents
of the sinister high priest. This in turn allows Miguel to find favor with the
city’s humble chief. Now typically in a setup of this sort, there’s a moment
when the liars are revealed, and everyone turns on them, but “The Road to El Dorado” completely avoids
that tired cliché all together. In fact, the movie makes subtle hints that the chief
knows they’re not really Gods, but there doing so much good for their city as
individuals, that he doesn’t seem to mind. The real meat of the story revolves
around Miguel and his partner Tulio, who aside from wanting gold has also fallen
in love with one of the city’s more mischievous young girls named Chel. She knew
of their secret from the start, and wants nothing more than to set off on
adventure with them. So, between Miguel’s selfless feelings to help the city
and Tulio’s selfish need for both gold and the woman he loves, a conflict begins
to stir regarding weather their friendship will withstand between their new set
goals.
In short, this is a more character driven
story, with the friendship of our heroes at the center, and this is where “The Road to El Dorado” really shines as
one of my personal favorites. In my opinion, Tulio and Miguel are one of the
all-time greatest animated duos I’ve ever seen. They are both highly entertaining to watch, are always full of energy, and while their personalities in many respects are similar, their also two very different people at heart, and that makes them work off each-other brilliantly.
Miguel is far more of a child at heart, while Tulio is more reserved and
serious. They also share some extremely funny banter, and their exchanges vary
from being quotable, to just plain hilarious. Aside from being extremely
charismatic, and their tight friendship feels like an extended form of brotherhood.
Both Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh are brilliant in the lead roles, capturing
the comradery of the duo, while also highlighting every individual aspect of
what makes these two characters so charming. Kenneth Branagh as the voice of
Miguel strikes that perfect balance between being the childish adventurer, but
when he sticks up for the people of the city, he genuinely segues into that
mighty and respectable voice that’s akin to his Shakespeare roles, like “Henry V”. Kevin Kline brings the same
level of energy and wit to the role of Tulio as he does to his best comedy roles.
The praise doesn’t stop with our two leads
either, as I love every single character in this film, and honestly, I’d write
this film off as featuring one of my all-time favorite ensemble casts from an
animated film. Let’s start by looking at the love interest Chel, who judging by
her design could have easily been written off as your typical, boring piece of
eye-candy. Thankfully, the voice actress, writers and animators infused her
with a lot of personality and charm, making her an absolute delight to watch.
I
like that, while she has a good heart, she’s also a little naughty and
mischievous, which helps her character fit alongside with Tulio and Miguel.
Also, her funny reactions and witty comebacks infuse her with an equal level of
charisma and energy as our two leads. Some of my favorite scenes are when all
three of these characters are together exchanging witty lines and remarks to
one-another. In fact, one of my absolute favorites is when Chel proves how
sneaky she can be by revealing she stole Tulio’s gambling dice. This prompts
Tulio to ask the obvious “How did you get those?”, while Miguel observing her
lack of clothing asks … “Where was she keeping them?”. Kenneth Branagh’s
delivery of that line is absolutely priceless. The Chief character is also very
likable for being so laid back and chill, while keeping his own high-spirited
personality reserved. We then have two silent animal side- kicks that get roped
along for the adventure. One of which is a cute little armadillo, and the other
is a war horse, who despite having no speaking lines still conveys a lot of
human emotion, mannerism and has a distinctly comedic personality.
Let’s look at our two villains, who are both solid bad guys in their own right.
The evil high priest named Tzekel-Kan looks and acts like your typical evil
sorcerer that’s prominently featured in other animated kids films, but he
thankfully isn’t as cliched as his presentation would suggest. This isn’t a
villain who strives to gain power over the land or Kingdom, and beyond his
sinister nature is a man who’s trying to uphold what he believes to be the
proper religion. To him, human sacrifices are an important part of
demonstrating loyalty to his faith. This in turn makes him feel more
frightening and even multi-layered, despite his over the top and flamboyant
personality. The second villain is the sailor Cortes, who with a legion of
soldiers aim to pillage El Dorado of all its wealth. While Cortes isn’t on
screen for very long, he still adds an extra bit of flavor to the film. I love
that the evil high priest functions as the current threat, while Cortes is a
danger that’s off in the distance, and slowly making his way to our heroes.
Cortes is also brought to life by voice acting legend Jim Cummings, and it’s a
real teat to have him put aside the goofy, kid friendly characters in favor of
a voice and tone that’s more menacing and dangerous.
Another talent that needs to be
addressed is one pop star Elton John, who provides a very nostalgic selection of music for the movie. Both
he and Lyricist Tim Rice were the same Oscar winning duo that worked on the
songs for Disney’s “The Lion King”,
so it was great to have them both reunite for this project. Also, Hans Zimmer,
who composed the instrumental music for “The
Lion King” (as well as the music for films like “Pirates of the Carrabin” and “The
Dark Knight”), also provides the instrumental score for “The Road to El Dorado”.
While the individual songs aren't as memorable as the musical numbers from Disney, their still real toe-tappers in the moment, and they add to the films charm and
identity. The big theme song titled “Someday
out of the Blue”, on paper is rather basic, but the simple
lyrics and relaxing rhythm of the music always circle around in my head after
listening to it. One of the more memorable songs is “The Trail we Blaze”, as it’s got the most high-spirit of any song,
is featured during a terrific traveling montage, and ties the closest into the
title of the movie. I absolutely love the opening El Dorado theme song, paired
with a gorgeous animated sequence that depicts El Dorado’s mythical origin. My
absolute favorite song is the musical number “It’s Tuff to be a God”, which is sung by our leads, is very
energetic, beautifully animated, and is all around a beautifully designed sequence.
At last, Hans Zimmer’s score also adds some flavor to the film, highlighting
both the culture and adventure aspects of the film, and even breaths some
atmosphere into select moments. I especially love the instrumental music track
set to when our heroes first arrive in El Dorado, as it conveys this incredible
feeling of aw, beauty and wonder.
On that note, the animation in this movie
is absolutely breathtaking to look at. It’s colorful, detailed, and there’s a
perfect marriage between the hand drawn animation and the CGI animation. I felt
that the later DreamWorks animated film like “Spirit” and “Sinbad” got
too reliant on having CGI in there traditionally hand drawn films, to the point
where they just looked off-putting. This film however gets it just right, and
has no shortage of standout animation highlights.
It's almost depressing to think
that traditional animation ended shortly after this film, because this movie demonstrates
how good this art form can still look, especially with the overabundance of CGI
animated movies we get today. The setting of El Dorado likewise has a lot of personality and
character on display. Of course, this movie is also a comedy, and looking back I
was pleasantly surprised that the writing for the comedic elements still holds
up. In fact, I think this movie is more cleaver with its comedic approach than
most other animated comedies at this time were. The tone is similar to something
like Disney’s “Aladdin”, where it’s
a mix of comedy and adventure, and both elements are perfectly in sink without upstaging
the other. When “The Road to El Dorado”
wants to be funny, it can actually be hilarious. When the film wants to have a
quiet moment to either flesh out the characters or give the setting some atmosphere,
it doses that perfectly. At last, when the film aims for a fun adventure, it
can get genuinely exciting. My favorite sequence in terms of action is when the
evil high priest brings to life a giant cat statue to slay our heroes, which
leads into a thrilling chase scene. Once the journey concludes, it always leaves
me with a feeling of … I just want to keep going with these characters on their
adventures. That’s not to say the film needed a sequel, it’s just nice when a
film makes me want to keep going even as the credits role.
In the end, “The Road to El Dorado” doesn’t convey as much as other films, but I
still adore every single thing it has to offer, and thus, it just feels kind of
perfect in its own simplistic way. Famed animation director Don Bluth has
described animated films as an oasis, a peaceful place where you go to take a
break from your ever day life, and then after a humble little experience, you
return to the real world feeling refreshed. While that statement can apply to
any animated film, I feel it really fits with “The Road to El Dorado”. This is a very derivative film, but I just
find it so comforting ... just like spending a little bit of time
at an oasis. I go in to spend time with these wonderful characters, I have some
good laughs, I view nothing but beautiful imagery, I listen to nostalgic
music, and when I come back, I may not have gained anything meaningful, but I’m
still just really happy I had the experience. I’m so glad “The Road to El Dorado” has grown a fan base over the years, and I
sincerely hope that more people, especially a new generation of kids can
discover this little piece of animated gold.
Thanks for reading my review of the 2000 animated picture “The Road to El Dorado” ... and continue to enjoy the movies you Love!
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