The Road to El Dorado

The Road to El Dorado (2000) is about two con men stumbling into the city of gold and being taken for gods. Tulio and Miguel live off loaded dice in Spain. Escaping trouble they stow away on Cortés's ship to the New World. A map falls into their hands and it turns out to be real: El Dorado exists. The people there take them for gods, and while that holds they get whatever they want. The problem is that Cortés is looking for the same city and closing in. At some point the two have to drop the act and decide something. The relationship between them is the best thing in it; a pair who needle each other constantly and never quite separate. Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh voice them and the rhythm works. Elton John and Tim Rice wrote the songs. But the characters do not sing them; Elton John sings from outside, and that choice pulls the film away from a musical and toward an adventure. It belongs to DreamWorks's hand drawn period; the water and the gold are well drawn for the time. It failed commercially and contributed to the studio's retreat from hand drawn animation. Years later it was rediscovered online and became a cult film; it is far better known now than when it opened. It runs 89 minutes. Good for: adventure animation, double act comedy, and the early two thousands. Less good for: its treatment of colonialism is shallow and the story is predictable.