Road To El Dorado, The (2000)

2.5 out of 4

Starring: voices of Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Kline, Rosie Perez, Armand Assante, James Edward Olmos

Directors: Eric "Bibo" Bergeron, Don Paul, Will Finn

Time: 89 mins

The Road To El Dorado is the second traditional animated feature to come out of the animation branch of Dreamworks SKG, following 1998's The Prince Of Egypt (their very first animated movie was the computer-generated Antz). Normally an animated film is a big event, to be accompanied by lots of media publicity and hoopla (after all, such works are usually quite expensive, and take several years to complete, so it's understandable if studios want to promote them to the hilt). This is certainly the case with Disney's animated products, and, lately, too, with Fox and Dreamworks (including, especially, The Prince Of Egypt). But, oddly enough, The Road To El Dorado seemed to arrive on North American screens with relatively little fanfare last March. That it opened in March (not a particularly lucrative time for film releases), alone, suggested that Dreamworks wasn't as confident of success as they had been with The Prince Of Egypt. All studio motives aside, The Road To El Dorado is a beautifully animated rendition of The Man Who Would Be King, let down only by a weak score, a plodding midsection, and an ending that is anticlimactic. The final half hour has some standout sequences but, overall, the film is not on par with the best Disney offerings.

As in most animated films over the last ten years, the characters are voiced by a cast of well-known names. The two principals are a couple of Spanish con artists named Tulio and Miguel, brought to vocal life by Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh, respectively. In possession of a map to El Dorado, the legendary city of gold, they inadvertently become stowaways on a ship captained by Cortes (Jim Cummings), an explorer on a voyage to the new world. Pretty soon, they are discovered and thrown overboard, and after a harrowing journey over sea and land they accidentally discover the city of El Dorado. The people of the golden city, led by the genial Chief (Edward James Olmos) and the ambitious priest Tzekel-Kan (Armand Assante), treat them as gods, showering them with more gold than they could have ever imagined. Their ruse, however, is discovered by the pretty native girl Chel (Rosie Perez), who promises not to expose them if they take her back to Spain with them. After a while, Miguel warms to life in the hidden city, but Tulio itches to go home with the gold. Their friendship is tested as the suspicions of Tzekel-Kan are aroused, and the mighty army of Cortes is bearing down on them.

The story of adventurers stumbling onto a hidden civilisation and being treated as deities by the natives is not new, having been brought to the screen before in films like Rudyard Kipling's The Man Who Would Be King (1975), starring Michael Caine and Sean Connery, as well as the Star Wars entry, Return Of The Jedi (1983), where the robot C3PO is mistaken for a higher being by the furry race of Ewoks. The Road To El Dorado doesn't stray too far from the formula, only changing the time and setting to the 1500s and South America. Such a story is always intriguing, not just with the juiciness of the deception, but also the later, potential unmasking of our protagonists. Where The Road To El Dorado falters, though, is that once Tulio and Miguel discover El Dorado, the lively pace of the first half hour slows down to a halt, as both of them adjust to life in the fabled city. The last half hour picks up again, with several lively sequences that include an early version of a hard-fought soccer game, an attack by a statue summoned by Tzekel-Kan, and a frantic escape through watery caverns, but there's no forgiving the tedium during the middle part of the film. The ending also seems rather abrupt, but after such a long middle portion (well, it seems long), I suppose the directors had to wrap it up fairly quickly.

The film builds up Cortes and Tzekel-Kan as the main villains, but there's a decided lack of evil here, something that even the family-friendly Disney can see fit to foist on its audiences once in a while (remember the skeletal Cruella De Vil from 101 Dalmatians or the ruthless Scar from The Lion King?). Cortes is appropriately mean-looking, but he's not in the film much, while Tzekel-Kan seems more like a bumbling fool than a vicious priest. While the scriptwriters can only hope to create a character that can match the best of the Disney villains, it is still a disappointment to find that our heroes are never in much danger throughout their adventures, whether it be through a combination of luck or lack of perilous situations.

The film does have a sense of fun that matches our main characters' happy-go-lucky attitude towards life, though the script doesn't have the same ingenuity in delivering the funny sidekicks and hilarious one-liners that distinguish many a Disney work. There are some humorous lines, but they'll probably make you smile rather than chuckle heartily.

There's nothing wrong with the animation, however, which is first-rate. The animators, several of whom have previously worked at Disney, have employed a palette of rich, vibrant, deeply saturated colours that bring to life the streets of Spain, the dense rainforests of the new world, and the golden splendour of El Dorado. Even the use of computer-generated segments, which often stand out from the 2D elements, seems well-integrated. The songs (which are almost de rigour in an animated feature these days), by the award-winning team of Tim Rice and Elton John (The Lion King), are not as instantly memorable as their previous work. They're pleasant enough, and one is even quite good, but they're unlikely to make you rush out to buy the soundtrack CD. The voice work by the likes of Kline, Branagh and Perez is adequate, without actually making you place who is behind the faces. Miguel does look a lot like Branagh, though!

In the final analysis, The Road To El Dorado seems to be aiming for a slice of the audience that gave The Lion King such high receipts. Its setting in a foreign, exotic land, and the participation of musicians John and Rice, seem to support this notion. While the animation is of a high standard, the lack of story flow midway through the film, plus a lack of menace from the so-called villains, keep it from attaining the status of other Disney works or even, indeed, Dreamworks' own The Prince Of Egypt. The Road To El Dorado is passable entertainment, but hardly memorable.

(c) Joe Wong (4 February 2001)