The Road to El Dorado (2000)

In its third foray into animated features, DreamWorks came up with something unfortunate: the routine animated picture. Plagued with production problems (it was originally conceived as a mold-breaking PG-13 adventure), the likable film is a Hope/Crosby-style road picture about two scalawags who stumble upon the Latin American paradise of El Dorado, the mythical city with riches of gold. Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Kline are quite fun as Miguel and Tuilo, two Spanish con artists who are shipwrecked in the New World with a scene-stealing horse. The pair follow a map to the secret city where their loyalty will be tested: do they return home rich men or continue to live in this paradise? Of course there are some obstacles: a high priest (Armand Assante) is locked in a power struggle with the benevolent chief (Edward James Olmos) and the perfunctory girlfriend (Rosie Perez) puts the two friends at odds. Like too many of the animated features of its time, The Road to El Dorado impresses only on a visual level (it's drenched in gorgeous greens and golds). The story and Elton John's songs are quite forgettable; only Branagh and Kline's playful banter keeps the film alive. The PG rating is for some bare backsides and a suggestion of off-screen sex that should soar right over the little ones' heads. Slick and light, it's a fine 83-minute entertainment for ages 5 and up, including the nondiscriminating adult. --Doug Thomas Amazon.com

 Great fun, visually beautiful, and a kid's introduction to Mayan culture
Wow, I wouldn't add another review of this movie except that some of the posted ones are sooo bizarre!

We first rented this movie when my daughter was maybe 5 and loved it. There are several sequences where the color and animation are just stunning, and the buddy-movie plot in a historical setting is very funny and (somewhat) educational at the same time. The story involves two Spanish con-artists, Tulio and Miguel, who are accidental stowaways on Cortez' ship and end up in El Dorado, where they are received as gods. Although no specific location for El Dorado is identified and story elements are borrowed broadly from Meso-American culture, the imagery is largely Mayan, and the woman with bigger dreams who helps our Spanish heros is named Chel, no doubt taken from the Mayan goddess Ix Chel.

I find it bizarre that some reviewers find a few seconds (literally) of rear nudity of cartoon characters who are bathing to be objectionable for children. Children are likely to be last ones who think this is unusual. And the suggestion that there is implicit sex in this movie is even stranger, unless you are talking about the fact that children are depicted in some scenes (and we all know where children come from!) Adults can read what they want into the relationship of Tulio and Chel, but I had no problem with my daughter seeing this either when she was 5 or now that she is 8.

A more serious issue than the sex that isn't there is the theme of human sacrifice. This was indeed hard to explain to my 5-year-old, but certainly no worse than many other 'kids' movies, and much easier than explaining the daily news. The actual implied deaths in the movie are limited (if I recall completely) to an anonymous skull on the beach and the sadistic priest's assistant, whom one understands to be murdered in a cutaway scene that shows no actual violence. The scene in which heros Tulio and Miguel are being pursued by a giant stone jaguar was a little scary to my 5-year-old, but is viewed as fairly tame now that she is 8. Overall, it's a far less violent movie than things like Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the ubiquitous shoot-em-up TV cartoons (or old cartoon standards like Huck Hound and Road Runner). It is certainly less violent than most of the Bible or kids' movies based on it such as Prince of Egypt. More importantly, the message is clearly anti-violent, and the off-screen violence is not glorified as something noble, ethical, patriotic, or the will of God.

A historical element that was more difficult for a 5-year-old to comprehend than why there was human sacrifice is why the Spanish were received as gods, and what exactly that meant. Sometimes it's good to be forced to explain theologcical concepts and how they vary among cultures to 5-year-olds. It can help sharpen your own understanding or ability to communicate it.

From a historical perspective, the good chief/sadistic priest dichotomy is an overly simplistic view of how sacrifice functioned in meso-American cultures, but it seemed about right to introduce kids to an unsavory historical topic, and works in the plot as the standard good/evil conflict that many or most stories revolve around. There are other historical and cultural tidbits that may not all be exactly in the correct context, but nevertheless introduce kids and many adults to details of Mayan and broader meso-American culture. For example, the movie is appropriately set in 1519, the year when Cortez actually did set out (from Cuba, not Spain) to Mexico, and landed first on Cozumel, a major pilgrimage site for the temple of the goddess Ix Chel, before heading on to conquer the Aztecs. The movie features in fairly accurate way the ball game that was a central cultural element of Meso-American cultures and is a key element in the Mayan creation myth (Popol Vuh). In one scene, Miguel takes a turn as a voladore (a person who swings upside down suspended from a tall pole). I don't know if the Maya specifically had voladores, but they are a ubiquitous and colorful feature of Mexican tourist spots, including at Maya ruins.

I rented this movie a second time (and eventually bought it because I like it) this year to help my daughter understand who the Maya are (and were) before we took a family vacation to Cozumel. Although it might not be as accurate of a cultural depiction as the books I also got for her, it is safe to say that she was more easily engaged in the movie. Fortunately, she also got to meet real Maya and see how they live now. I took the movie along on our trip and watched it with the entire extended family, who all enjoyed it immensely and laughed frequently (ages 8-80).
March 25, 2007

 Movie received
We received the movie in record time. Was packaged carefully and in great shape March 16, 2007

 Apocalypto, the Musical Comedy
Because, really, what better topic for easy laughs with the kiddies than ritualistic human sacrifice?

We really enjoy family movie night at our house. With kids of 13, 10, and 7, it can be a challenge to find something that a) no one has seen and b) has at least some appeal to all three. We came home from the video store with this movie with a rare consensus. By the time it was about 2/3 over, my wife and I had an even rarer consensus, we needed to turn this movie off. I can't say what happens after the point where we stopped, but the Spanish Conquistadors meeting with the Aztecs didn't seem like it would be good fodder for a children's movie. It is a measure of how bad this movie is that none of our kids objected.

Did I mention that the movie was bad? Bad, bad, bad, baddity-bad-bad. One of the worst children's cartoons I have ever seen. Possibly the worst ever. How is it bad, you ask? Let me tell you:

1) Bad plotting. I went in to the kitchen to make popcorn, and I missed the scene that introduced the European Villain (c'mon, it's a movie that includes Aboriginal Americans, how can there NOT be a European Villain). That's how little he was on the screen. Yet, fast forward to the ultimate conflict, and there he is, making a reappearance. Imagine Star Wars with Darth Vader showing up in the opening scene, and then only reappearing at the end to shoot at Luke outside the Death Star. That's what it was like. Bad.

2) Bad singing. I was listening thinking that it sounded like a bad Elton John impersonator who had cribbed from The Lion King. No, it actually WAS Elton John. I can't believe Sir Elton has not paid to have his name expunged from this turkey. This has to be the low point of his career. Elton, seriously, if you read this, if you ever need money this badly again, give me a call. I'll try to help. Bad.

3) Bad topic. I hope the idiot who gave this the green light lost his or her job. Murderous indigenous culture as a comedy vehicle? What's next? An animated musical comedy version of The Diary of Anne Frank? The whole time watching it, I had a creeping dread as to how they were going to deal with this. Bad.

4) Politically correct badness. Of course, the Aztecs were just a bunch of fun-lovin' pacifists with one bad apple leader. Of course they had magical powers that came from their superior communion with nature. Of course they were all fit, friendly, strong, and beautiful. Riiight. Bad.

5) Bad as in inappropriate. The female lead was drawn by someone who thought Disney's Pocahontas looked too childlike and demure. There is swearing for the sake of swearing. There is a love scene that, I kid you not, showed the male character, when interrupted, rising up from "off camera" between the female character's legs. None of this even advanced the plot. B-A-D.

6) Bad vocal talent. Kenneth Branagh's Royal Shakespeare British, Kevin Klein's American-pretending-to-be-British, and Rosie Perez's "you-got-a-problem-with-that" Puerto Rican are not so bad individually, but they were atrocious as a combination. Actively distracting, although, given the rest, maybe that was a good thing. Bad, bad, and bad.

So inappropriate, unentertaining, and politically correct, other than that, it was great.

(Did I mention that I thought it was bad?)
December 12, 2006

 The Other City of Gold
I'm a big fan of the old 1980s cartoon series "The Mysterious Cities of Gold", a series about a couple of Spanish kids exploring the New World and discovering many strange things. A few years ago, there was no sign of it on video or DVD (and as far as I know, there still isn't), but a fan site did mention there was a DreamWorks animation coming out in cinemas called "Road to El Dorado", featuring two Spanish guys exploring a mysterious city... of gold! The similarities end there though, and this film is still pretty entertaining.

Tulio and Miguel are best friends, who live by their wits in the streets of Spain. They win a map to El Dorado, the famous New World city of gold, in a game of dice. Unfortunately, their opponents discover their dice are loaded, and in the duo's escape, they get caught on Hernando Cortez' ship bound for Mexico. (Don They are caught, then escape with a boat and a horse, and after many days in shark infested waters, run aground at exactly the place where the map begins. They discover El Dorado, and it's people mistake the two men on a horse for two of their gods, and pay tribute to them. The two men decide to take advantage of this misunderstanding and ask for gold and a ship to get home. But curiousity, a beautiful Mayan woman, and a bloodthirsty priest undo all their deception, and they are caught out several times. Will they make it out of El Dorado with their lives, or will the people allow them to stay?

The two best things about this film, I think, are the colourful design of the New World and the banter between Tulio and Miguel (played by Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh). They seem to be having a lot of fun in their roles, and though some of the dialogue is modern sounding, it's not cluttered with cheesy cultural references like some more recent animated features. Jim Cummings (the voice of Winnie the Pooh and Darkwing Duck) does the voice of Cortez, and though the tone of his words are all too familiar if you've watched his cartoons, he does a good job at capturing the bitterness and the greed of the man. The music, by Elton John, Tim Rice and Hans Zimmer is pleasant enough too.

Special features on the DVD include a director's commentary with Eric Begerson and Don Paul, a fairly interesting making of documentary, a behind-the-animation montage, narrated by the crew, the original theatrical trailer, and Elton John music video, in which you see the singer animated. He looks very peaceful as a cartoon...

Worth a look for fans of adventure. October 31, 2006

 On The Road with the Children
My kids love this movie, when we are in the car traveling all I have to do is pull out this DVD and there is instance silence. July 5, 2006

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