The Road to El Dorado is a 2000 animated comedy film by DreamWorks SKG. The soundtrack features songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, music team from The Lion King.
The movie begins in 16th century (1519) Seville (in the south of Spain) and tells about two men named Tulio and Miguel. During a dice game using loaded dice, they win a map that purportedly shows the location of the legendary city of gold in the New World. However, their cheating is soon discovered and as a result, they end up as stowaways on Hernán Cortés' fleet to conquer Mexico. They are discovered, but manage to escape in a boat with Cortés' prize war horse and eventually discover the hidden city of El Dorado where they are mistaken for gods.
El Dorado is portrayed as a utopian civilization that combines facets of the Aztecs, Maya, Incas, and Atlantis.
The soundtrack was released as the album The Road to El Dorado; however, in some instances (such as "The Trail We Blaze"), the songs have been altered musically and vocally from the way they appeared in the film. The video game tie-in, released on PlayStation and PC, was named Gold & Glory: The Road to El Dorado.
Production
The creation of The Road to El Dorado was a challenge for the studio because Dreamworks had devoted most of its creative efforts to its previous animated film, The Prince of Egypt. Tom Hulce was previously considered to do the voice of either Tulio or Miguel.
Plot
In Spain 1519, two wanted con artists, Miguel (Kenneth Branagh) and Tulio (Kevin Kline), win a map purportedly to the city of gold, El Dorado along with a large number of other valuables by cheating at a game of dice (though the map itself was won fairly). Chased by an angry bull and the city's guards, the two inadvertently hide themselves on the ship belonging to Hernán Cortés and his troops as they set off to the New World. They manage to escape to a rowboat, inadvertently bringing along Cortés' horse, Altivo, and eventually end up ashore on the New World, where Miguel recognizes landmarks shown on the map. The three follow the map and end up where the map marks the entrance to El Dorado, but find only an enscribed monolith waiting for them. As they try to determine what to do next, a young tribal woman is chased by a group of guards, and Miguel and Tulio step in to protect her. The guards believe the two to be gods as shown on the monolith, and escort them along with the woman along a river cavern to El Dorado, truly a city made out of gold.
Miguel and Tulio are introduced to the city's elders, Chief Tannabok (Edward James Olmos) and high priest Tzekel-Kan (Armand Assante). After appearing to stop the eruption of a nearby volcano by their words only, Miguel and Tulio are proclaimed to be gods despite Tzekel-Kan's suspicions, and are treated luxuriously. The woman they rescued from the guards, Chel (Rosie Perez), rapidly becomes aware of Miguel and Tulio's charade. She offers her silence and assistance and, in exchange, she is not punished for attempting to steal gold from the city and offered a trip back to "wherever you come from". After the night of a feast prepared by Chief Tannabok to honor them, Miguel and Tulio are shocked to find that Tzekel-Kan is ready to offer a human sacrifice, and insist that it be stopped, stating they will take the gold instead as their tribute. The two quickly conceive of a plan, and convince Chief Tannabok to build them a boat over the next few days so that the "gods" may return along with their tribute. While Tulio plans to wait out those days in their provided villa, Chel urges Miguel to go explore the city, allowing her to get romantically closer to Tulio.
Tzekel-Kan, finding Miguel playing ball with children in the streets, organizes a Mesoamerican ballgame match between them and the city's best players in the hopes that they will prove skilled enough to provide a modest challenge to the two. Miguel and Tulio quickly find themselves outmatched until Chel replaces the ball with a rolled-up armadillo that allows them to cheat and win the game. However, Tzekel-Kan catches a small cut on Miguel's forehead and is finally convinced that they are not gods. Tzekel-Kan brings to life a giant stone jaguar statue and chases Miguel and Tulio around the city, eventually leading them to the edge of a cliff overlooking a giant whirlpool. Miguel and Tulio use their con tactics to fake an argument and, in the resulting chaos, both Tzekel-Kan and the jaguar statue fall into the whirlpool. When he emerges from the whirlpool, Tzekel-Kan finds himself far outside El Dorado at the feet of Cortés and his men. Cortes threatens him and asks where he got his gold earrings. Tzekel-Kan notices the way that Cortes and his man stand are similar to the stances of the real Gods in the monolith; believing that they are the true Gods, he begins to lead them to El Dorado.
Though Miguel and Tulio are safe, the two wish to go separate ways: Tulio desires to leave the city with Chel and the gold, while Miguel opts to stay along with Altivo. Though they each are certain of what they want, they are reluctant to part ways. With the boat completed, Tulio and Chel prepare to depart as they say their tearful goodbyes to Miguel and the people of the city. Then, Tulio spots smoke on the horizon, and a messenger informs Chief Tannabok that Cortés is approaching the city. Though Tannabok is ready to fight, Miguel warns him that the people of El Dorado could not defend against Cortes's forces. Tulio comes up with a plan to topple the statue at the river's mouth in order to create enough wave force to propel the boat and collapse the pillars supporting the cavern entrance, as to seal the entrance to El Dorado forever and keep its population safe. As Tulio and Chel depart, their sails catch and fail to catch enough wind to allow the boat to clear the falling statue; Miguel forgoes his chance to stay in the city and jumps onto the boat with Altivo's help to pull the sails free, allowing the boat to clear the statue. Tulio's plan works as expected, though the boat and all their gold is lost as it collapses the pillars. Tulio, Miguel, and Chel reunite, and while disappointed about losing the gold, are happy to be alive and friends again, and they set off on Altivo, who still happens to be clad in golden horseshoes, towards their next adventure. Cortés, his army, and Tzekel-Kan later reach the sealed passage. Believing that there is in fact no El Dorado, Cortés and his men capture Tzekel-Kan and depart.
Cast
Characters
Tulio: the practical and logical of the pair. Initially, he only cares about the gold, but after falling in love with Chel, he comes to respect the people of El Dorado. Tulio is one of the protagonists in the film.
Miguel: the sensitive and artistic of the pair. He falls in love with El Dorado and its people, but ultimately gives them up for friendship. Miguel is the other protagonist in the film.
Tzekel-Kan: The Mad Priest of El Dorado and the main antagonist of the film. Arrogant, self-centered, bloodthirsty, power-hungry and sadistic, yet charismatic and comical, Tzekel-Kan rules over El Dorado with an iron fist. He competes with the Chief trying to please the "gods", but after Miguel stands up to him, he learns that Miguel and Tulio are in fact mortals and connives to destroy them. After returning from his alleged demise in the climax, he teams up with Cortes to capture the citizens of El Dorado in an act of treason, but is captured by Cortes after his plot is foiled. His final fate is unknown, although it is implied that he was to be sold as a slave.
Chief Tannabok: A good-hearted family man and the chief of the city. He works out that Miguel and Tulio are not gods, but is grateful enough to keep their secret.
Chel: Sassy, resourceful, attractive, and curvaceous, she is not fooled by the two "gods" for very long. Later on she becomes attracted to Tulio. She is cunning and seductive, and knows what to do to get what she desires. It has been noted by fans that Chel breaks out of the common female heroine archetype, therefore making her refreshing and unique.
Hernan Cortes: the ambitious leader of the Spanish armies, Cortes is hell-bent on conquering the New World and enslaving the people of El Dorado. Miguel and Tulio get on his bad side as the film begins. He teams up with Tzekel-Kan to accomplish his goal, but is disillusioned when Miguel and Tulio foil his plan. Cortes serves as a minor antagonist in the film.
Altivo: The horse that was once supposedly owned by Cortes. Now owned by Miguel. The horse is expressive, cynical, and self aware. He also has a severe weakness for apples.
Crew
Annie Awards
| Result |
Award |
Winner/Nominee Recipient(s) |
| NOMINATED |
Animated Theatrical Feature |
| NOMINATED |
Individual Achievement in Storyboarding |
Jeff Snow (Story supervisor) |
| NOMINATED |
Individual Achievement in Production Design |
Christian Schellewald (Production Designer) |
| NOMINATED |
Individual Achievement in Character Animation |
David Brewster (Senior Supervising Animator - Miguel) |
| NOMINATED |
Individual Achievement in Character Animation |
Rodolphe Guendonen (Supervising Animator - Chel) |
| NOMINATED |
Individual Achievement in Effects Animation |
Doug Ikeler (Effects Lead - Crashing the Gate) |
| NOMINATED |
Individual Achievement in Voice Acting |
Armand Assante ("Tzekel-Kan") |
| NOMINATED |
Individual Achievement in Music |
Hans Zimmer (Music)
John Powell (Music) |
References
External links
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DreamWorks Animation |
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| Computer-animated films |
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| 2D-animated films |
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Films produced with
Aardman Animations |
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| Future films |
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| Computer-animated TV series |
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| 2D-animated TV series |
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| Television specials |
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| Direct-to-video |
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| Shorts |
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