The Road to El Dorado
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Image:Theroadtoeldorado.jpg The Road To El Dorado is an animated film by DreamWorks SKG released in 2000. The soundtrack features songs by Elton John and Tim Rice.
The movie takes place in 16th century (1519) Spain, and tells about two men named Tulio and Miguel. During a game of dice in Spain, they manage to 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 Cortés' fleet to conquer Mexico. They are discovered, but manage to escape in a boat with Cortez's prize war horse and eventually discover the hidden city.
El Dorado is portrayed as a Utopian civilization that combines facets of the Aztecs, Mayas and Incas.
Synopsis Review
The creation of The Road To El Dorado was a challenge for the studio, as Dreamworks had devoted most of its creative efforts to its first animated film, The Prince Of Egypt. El Dorado was also plagued with a haphazard storyline, where the plot included interchanges of a children’s story and adult-themed humor.
El Dorado tells the story of Miguel (Kenneth Branagh) and Tulio (Kevin Kline). The men are Spanish scammers who, using a map they won playing dice, stowaway on legendary Hernán Cortés ship to the New World. Miguel and Tulio quickly discover El Dorado, where the natives accept them as gods. A local woman, Chel (Rosie Perez) joins their con, while the power-hungry high priest Tzekel-Kan(Armand Assante) and honorable Chief (Edward James Olmos) make other plans.
Criticism
As with other animated movies, the weakeness within The Road To El Dorado lay in its ignorance of historical fact. El Dorado makes no distinction between South America and México or the ancient American civilizations of the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas.
Also, there is a confusion between the two infamous men such as Hernan Cortes who is seen in the movie to look for the city, and Gonzalo Pizarro, who actually led the original Spanish expedition for El Dorado in 1541.