The Road to El Dorado

This month could be considered a little bit of a nostalgia month. While not all of the reviews I've done have been movies I watched a while ago, this is the second of three movies that I remember fondly from a younger age and how they hold up today.

I remember watching this film and being incredibly entertained by it. I was so entertained that I was thrown off that this film was not a Disney film. For a kid who grew up with Disney films, this and the movie Anastasia seemed like insane possibilities. (Hmmm, maybe I'll review that movie)

The Road to El Dorado follows the story of two con men, Miguel (voiced by Kenneth Branagh) and Tulio (voiced by Kevin Kline) from Spain. The two win a map in a dice game and eventually find themselves stowaways on the ship of Hernan Cortes as he starts his expedition to find El Dorado, the city of gold.

Eventually, they get off the boat and find themselves stranded on a tropical island with a horse. Looking at the map, they realize they're on the island where El Dorado is located and they decide to go on an adventure to find the city.

When they finally find it, they are greeted by the civilization living there, a Mayan like culture who believes that the two are actually gods.

So you've got two conmen who want gold mistaken for gods. This actually is a lay up for some funny interactions and an interesting story as the two try and play the village elder off of the village religious leader.

They are assisted by a native woman named Chel (voiced by Rosie Perez) who eventually becomes a love interest of Tulio's and the three try to convince the village that they are gods, while trying to get them to build a boat so they can take the gold back to Spain.

Overall, I think the movie is really fun. I watched a review of the movie that stated that the problem with the film was that the animation was almost too good and didn't really allow for very good comedy. While I can see what this critic was saying, I think the comedy comes through alright. This movie won't make you laugh out loud or anything, but its light enough and I feel like that's incredibly needed because believe it or not the subject matter of this movie is deceptively mature.

I mean there's the idea of the interaction with a native culture and kind of playing off their superstitions and beliefs has the potential to come off as arrogant. I don't want to say its racist but I know people who would say that.

Tzekel-Kan (voiced by Armand Assante) the film's main antagonist is the high priest and has a thing for human sacrifice... that's pretty dark for an 8 year old kid (how old I was when this movie came out, you do the math) and that's actually funny watching it now because there is a lot of adult subject matter in this movie that I did not catch onto when I was a kid. I don't know if that was Dreamworks trying to make some appeal to older audiences or if it was just for adults watching it with their kids, but its kind of surprising watching this years later.

How is the story? I think its pretty good. I think its a really interesting concept and while adult in some moments, its a comedy and suppose to be funny for kids. However, I almost feel like it works better as an animation directed towards people a little bit older who might understand it, unfortunately, that's not really a demographic as normal people don't usually watch cartoons. It wouldn't be the first time its happened but not too many adults do.

So unfortunately the movie doesn't quite hit the mark as a comedic kids film, that doesn't mean the movie is horrible though.

I think Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh are really fun actors and they bring a lot of fun to the characters of Tulio and Miguel. Rosie Perez is pretty good as Chel and everyone else is pretty decent.

I think I understand the lukewarm reception of this film. Its really not that the movie is bad, its just kind of there. Its nothing people would talk about for years to come but its by no means horrible.

The music is done by Elton John. Now I personally love Elton John, and I think the songs in this film are not bad at all. They're catchy enough and I'm not a music critic but to me they just feel grandiose and very Elton John-y. And as a kid, they were a lot of fun.

As an adult though, I can see a little bit of a disjointed feeling between the music and the action going on.

There's one song where Miguel and Tulio actually sing. But the majority of the songs are sung by Elton John about what is going on. If you need an example, think of Phil Collins in Tarzan. Except instead of the music really being able to serve as the music for the movie and possibly being on the radio, Elton John sings about specific things going on in the movie. While I like both, I think Phil Collins did a little bit better of a job.

That being said, the music for this movie seems huge. There's just an epicness about it and I really enjoy it actually. Its not music that I will probably remember down the road but I think "Its Tough To Be A God" is a fun song and when I watch this movie again 10 years down the road maybe I'll laugh with nostalgia for that and a couple other songs. But overall it just feels a little disjointed. Its like they wanted this to be a movie musical but got carried away with the story that they forgot to put in parts where music could be put in.

Personally, I like it mostly when there's no songs. I don't think it really needed to be a movie musical. Just let Elton John sing some catchy songs and go from there.

One more thing I should mention is the animation.

Again, its not really my field of expertise so I probably won't say anything that intriguing, but this movie really is pretty.

The animation is done very well and if you've seen the Prince of Egypt, you can tell the Dreamworks had their own style of animation back then. They needed to find some way to differentiate themselves from Disney and its a really well done animation. It obviously wasn't as profitable, but I still think its well done.

The unfortunate part is that I read that the development of this film was short changed because the creative efforts of Dreamworks had really been put into The Prince of Egypt that came out prior to this film.

Does that totally bring down the movie? I don't think so. I think its a really fun movie and while it may not be the best animated film out there, I think its still a fun time and worth checking out if you're in an animated movie mood.

I don't really know too much else to say about this film. Its not amazing, but its by no means terrible. Its just kind of there to enjoy or not.

But those are my thoughts. I want to hear what people think of this film? Did anybody else grow up watching this film? Let me know. Comment and Discuss. Follow me on Twitter for more updated @cmhaugen24

I'll leave you with this, probably the most recognizable song of the film, and probably the most catchy. Enjoy!