After critical acclaim and financial success with their very first animated feature film "The Prince of Egypt," how would Dreamworks Animation follow up? With "The Road to El Dorado," a fan favourite, and a personal favourite of mine. It's a guilty pleasure of sorts... watched with a critical eye, especially towards the story, it's not a great movie. But it's an impressively fun movie that inspired dreams of adventure in young children and adults alike, introducing the myth of "El Dorado" to many people for the first time. They don't make animated movies, or movies in general, like this anymore: a swashbuckling quest inspired by the likes of "Robinson Crusoe" and "Treasure Island," and more directly, a classic epic adventure film from 1975 called "The Man Who Would Be King" starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine. Except this was a comedy. And a musical.Set in the 1500's, the Spanish army is preparing another quest to conquer the new world. In the streets of Spain, Miguel and Tulio are having a good day as con-artists with a rigged betting match, winning a map to the fabled "El Dorado" in the process (the mythical "lost city of GOLD"). Due to circumstances, they end up as stowaways on the army's ship... then in a lifeboat lost at sea... then on a deserted island, which happens to have markings very similar to the vague images on the map. Not only do Miguel and Tulio discover El Dorado, but they find it still thrives with people and a culture completely separate from the rest of the world, and they are quickly mistaken as Gods, visiting as foretold in prophecy. And so they dance carefully, playing the con of "being Gods" while figuring out how to escape back to Spain with as much gold as they can carry.It's a good adventure story, but... well, it's not particularly well directed. It feels like a series of events that barely transition from one to the other, usually with the help of a cartoonish chase scene or a musical montage. There is an interesting dynamic when the lead pair begin to have different opinions: why would someone want to go back home when they can be a God in a new, exciting country? But even this gets fixed in a very "loose" sense. Simply put, "El Dorado" does not have the story-telling chops of (most) of the Disney movies, or even "The Prince of Egypt." But it doesn't need to. The movie is a ton of fun, almost entirely because of the two lead characters. Miguel and Tulio are a pair of lovable scoundrels, and their voice actors (Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh) absolutely sell the roles. Their witty banter and corny jokes sold the movie in marketing, and I would watch anything with these two rogues in it. Their third "partner in crime," the horse Altivo, also gets some of the best visual gags in the movie: a sense of humor drives the plot more than common sense. I think the movie is still a fan favourite because of how quotable it is, and for being fun rather than good.The voice acting is... generally great. Kevin and Kenneth are perfect, although Rosie Perez, as the romantic interest / partner-in-crime local helping guide the new tourists, sounds more like she came from New York then from Mexico. Her demeanour makes her a psuedo-"Jessica Rabbit" of the movie... reportedly, the movie was originally meant for an older adult audience, but toned down slightly for a larger market, which explains some oddly suggestive romantic tension. The musical score is pretty inspired too, but that's a separate comment from the musical numbers with vocals. Yes, "The Road to El Dorado" is a musical, and the marketing department put much into the fact that Elton John and Tim Rice, the team behind Disney's "The Lion King," were writing the songs. But while most of the songs are good, they also feel entirely out of place in the movie; in some cases, it's as if Elton provided some old unused songs, and the editors prepared a random montage around it. That's being harsh, but it is a stretch to consider "El Dorado" a proper musical (although a stage adaptation might have been sucecssful).
The visual production is also a bit of a mixed bag, like the music. Visually, it's a feast. The cobblestone streets of Spain, through the lush green forest, and the golden roads of the lost city, all look fantastic. The creative team did an inspired job adapting Aztec culture into the visual design in a way that was palpable to a general audience. And the character designs are generally great too. But the animation? Like "The Prince of Egypt," it's impressively fluid and detailed, but moreso this time, can sometimes fall into cheap-looking Warner Bros. cartoons. Character animation sometimes pauses in-between frames, as if someone didn't bother to finish extra in-between animation for a shot. Pausing to look at reaction shots reveals expressions that look like a 1940's Bugs Bunny cartoon: expressive, but perhaps a bit too much so. The background characters also have problems. Yes, the movie uses CGI characters to help fill in massive crowds of citizens in El Dorado, and like "Prince of Egypt," it's done sparringly and carefully enough that it's almost impossible to notice (unlike their next film, "Spirit," where the team gets a little lazy). But look closely, and some hand-drawn extras will have even stranger cartoon expressions, as if drawn and animated by an intern in an hour. Some moments even look like extra digital manipulation was applied to a static 2D image to create more artificial movement, like breathing or bending slightly, both for the background and foreground characters. If you notice all of this, it can be very distracting, although I admit not noticing any of it when I first watched this as a kid. But let this movie be a lesson to aspiring animators: a high frame-rate and a lot of background movement does not always equal great animation. I forgot to mention the CGI backgrounds. The temples and other architecture is naturally in 3D, to better give a sense of scale and incorporate better camera shots. It doesn't blend well with the 2D characters, but personally, I didn't mind, and felt it improved the movie more than not. By the way, the film's visuals are all the more easy to appreciate on Bluray."The Road to El Dorado" is a flawed movie that barely passes as a feature film. It's more a "cartoon" then an "animation." But as a cartoon, it ticks all the boxes you want: a lovable cast of characters, thrilling chase scenes, and a fun sense of humor that feels intended for adults, so that the kids can feel a little more grown up watching it. And frankly, there aren't many other good animated films like it to compare with. It might not be a valuable piece of gold at the end of the day, but isn't the adventure the best part anyway?