The Road to El Dorado (2000)
The latest fully animated offering from DreamWorks SKG is out just in time for spring breaks and spring fever. THE ROAD TO EL DORADO is beautifully drawn, skillfully voiced, and nicely scored. It is also threadbare of plot, save for the final minutes.
The heroes of the film, Tulio (Kevin Kline) and Miguel (Kenneth Branagh) are con men who mistakenly stow away on the ship of the very men they have swindled. Their punishment upon being caught? Well, it is supposed to be flogging and lifetime enslavement in the sugar plantations of Cuba (where they are headed aboard the ship belonging to none other than the infamous Cortez. But we never see the pair suffer, just as we never witness scenes anywhere close to graphic). So the heroes escape with a sidekick in the form of a portly horse named Altivo, and use a map in an attempt to discover the legendary city that gives the story its name.
Enter a supporting character, Chel. She's a temple robber, a lovely though sneaky woman who begins to drive a wedge between Miguel and Tulio. When the trio are captured and dragged into the wondrous city, they commence to scheme their way into an escape with all the gold they can carry - a very familiar premise. What complicates their machinations is another case of mistaken identity: the ignorant natives take the white men to be gods, resembling an ancient image of a magical pair riding a serpent. As the connivers battle their own greed as well as factions led by rival power figures within the tribe, the specter of Cortez stands in the background.
What helps to make the film move along is the characterization provided by the voice actors. By this time Kevin Kline is a veteran animated movie star, the male lead of Disney's THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME under his belt. Kline lends a quirky panache to Tulio, causing us to like the money-grubbing would-be god. Kenneth Branagh also turns in a solid performance as Miguel, even though his voice occasionally takes on the stock heroic tone we heard from him in HENRY V. Both actors supply their own singing voices in the only song not sung by Elton John.
Rosie Perez's character is sketched to resemble her, and unfortunately we also see a lot of Rosie's head wiggling attitude transplanted to this paradise in Central America. Enough said. The other voice actors are more transparent. Edward James Olmos plays the obese chief, his voice often understated and subtly wise. As the wily Tzekel-Kan, Armand Assante does perhaps the strongest job of the supporting players. His intonation is striking and clear, the hallmarks of all good "baddies."
How is Elton John's singing? Not as good as Tim Rice's lyrics. The songs do an adequate job of both furthering and decorating the storyline, though I would not go out of my way to purchase the soundtrack. Often catchy and multi-layered, the music nevertheless falls short of being memorable. After leaving the theater I could not remember one of the airs to whistle myself.
Its colors lush and vibrant, the animation takes up much of the slack of mid-movie. We observe the greens of the wildly growing jungle, as well as the reds and browns of the wondrous city. Every now and then we come across scenery that appears virtually realistic, as in the objects of gold given to the fake gods. On the whole, images of Central American Indian art serve as an engaging motif. Especially striking is a giant, fancifully animated green lizard manipulated by the insidious Tzekel-Kan. Beyond its achievements in vivid aquas and reds and teals, the angles of the animated "cameras" are average; there are very few visual joyrides like we experienced in last summer's Disney offering TARZAN.
THE ROAD TO EL DORADO does not stand up to DreamWorks' previous success, THE PRINCE OF EGYPT. My daughter, a few months short of twelve, commented on how much she likes the city - a compliment to the team of animators. This is only one indication in my mind that the story might have been stronger. Writers Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio could have picked up the pace in several scenes of building action, but their ending is both picturesque and action-filled. All ages would qualify to enjoy THE ROAD TO EL DORADO - it is a diverting buddy movie and a magnificent series of paintings, done by both humans and computers. I don't know that it will end up in our home collection of videos, but I am not sorry we took the children to see it.
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