- “They came for the gold. They stayed for the adventure.”
- ―Tagline
The Road to El Dorado is a 2000 American animated adventure-musical film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It was directed by Eric "Bibo" Bergeron and Don Paul; Will Finn and David Silverman directed additional sequences. The film stars Kevin Kline, Kenneth Branagh, Rosie Perez, Armand Assante, and Edward James Olmos. The soundtrack features songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, as well as composers Hans Zimmer and John Powell. It is DreamWorks Animation's 3rd feature film.
The film follows two con artists, who after winning the map to El Dorado escape from Spain. After washing ashore in the New World, they use the map to lead them to the city of El Dorado, where its inhabitants mistake them for gods. Released on March 31, 2000, The Road to El Dorado grossed $76.4 million worldwide on a $95 million budget.
Plot[]
In Spain 1519, two Spanish con-men, Tulio and Miguel win a map to the legendary City of Gold, El Dorado, in a rigged gambling match (though ironically they end up winning the map fairly). After being accused of cheating with loaded dice, the two evade capture while being chased by a bull and hide in barrels, which are shortly loaded onto one of the ships to be led by Hernan Cortes to the New World. During the trip, they are caught as stowaways but manage to break free and take a rowboat with the help of Cortes' horse, Altivo. They land at an unknown shore at the edge of Mexico, and Miguel begins to recognize landmarks stated on the map. The map leads them to a relief outside of a waterfall where a young woman approaches them, chased by a number of guards. The guards see the image of Tulio and Miguel riding Altivo as the same on the totem, and believing them to be gods, escort them and the woman under the falls and into El Dorado, truly a city made of gold.
Tulio and Miguel are brought to the city's elders, Chief Tannabok and wicked high priest Tzekel-Kan. While Tannabok warmly welcomes them to the city, Tzekel-Kan mainly sees them as a way to enhance his own standing. Tzekel-Kan also believes that with the arrival of the gods comes "The Year of the Jaguar", a year in which the city will be purged of all wicked people. Tulio and Miguel begin to argue on what to do. Everyone is convinced they are gods when as a volcano is beginning to erupt, Tulio yells at Miguel to stop, and the volcano suddenly stops. After celebrations offered by both Tannabok and Tzekel-Kan, the two are taken to private quarters along with the woman they met earlier, Chel, who has seen through their ploy but offers to help maintain it as long as they give her a share of the gold and take her with them when they leave. Tulio and Miguel tell Tannabok the next day they are only here for a visit but will need a boat built to leave the city with the gifts the city has showered upon them.
Tannabok says it will take them at least 3 days to construct a vessel to carry both them and the gifts given to them by the people of El Dorado. Chel encourages Miguel to continue to explore the city while she gets close to Tulio. Miguel finds the streets empty and sees an old man being pushed by a guard, who tells him Tzekel-Kan had ordered the streets cleared to prepare for a sacrifice by the gods' orders. Miguel begins playing the guitar and begins to bond with the people. When Tzekel-Kan sees Miguel playing a ball game with the children, he demands that the gods play against the city's best players. Tulio and Miguel are clearly over-matched during the match, but Chel replaces the ball with Bibo the armadillo, allowing the two to cheat and score enough points to tie, but when Bibo rolls out of bounds, Chel accidentally throws them the wrong ball. In desperation to score the winning goal, Tulio unintentionally and unknowingly elbows Miguel in the forehead, causing a cut above his eyebrow. With assistance from Altivo, they win the game. However, when Tzekel-Kan offers to have the defeated players sacrificed, Miguel declares there is no need for sacrifices or him. While leaving, Tzekel-Kan sees the blood on Miguel's forehead and realizes that both he and Tulio are not gods.
As the boat is nearly finished, Tannabok tells Miguel that he is welcome to stay in El Dorado if he wants to. This leaves him torn with the decision; he loves the city of El Dorado, but he can't imagine life without his partner, Tulio. Meanwhile, as Tulio and Chel are negotiating on her cut of the gold, he eventually tells her he wants her to come to Spain with him. Only him. Miguel overhears their discussion and believes Tulio is abandoning him to be with Chel. As they are having their sendoff party, Tzekel-Kan conjures a giant stone jaguar to chase them through the city. Tulio and Miguel manage to outwit the stone jaguar, causing both it and Tzekel-Kan to fall into a giant whirlpool, thought to be the entrance to Xibalba, the spirit world. Tzekel-Kan comes outside El Dorado, where Cortes and his men are searching for gold. Thinking Cortes is a true god, Tzekel-Kan quickly offers to lead them to El Dorado. With their boat completed and loaded with gold, Tulio is ready to leave, but Miguel announces that he will be staying because he finds the city peaceful. As Tulio and Chel start to leave, they spot smoke on the horizon, realizing that Cortes and his men are quickly approaching the city with the help of Tzekel-Kan. To protect the city from the Spanish troops, Tulio determines they can use the boat to slam against rock formations under the waterfall path that will cave in and block access to the city. Even if it means losing all of the gold.
Putting the plan into action, the city's residents start to knock down a large statue to create a wave to propel the boat, but Tulio cannot get the sails up to give the boat enough speed to avoid the statue, even with the warriors and Tannabok holding it back with rope. Miguel forgoes his chance to stay in the city and jumps into the boat with Altivo to hoist the sails. The boat clears the statue in time, and Tulio's plan is successful; though the boat and its treasures are lost, the entrance to El Dorado is sealed for good. Tulio, Miguel, Chel, and Altivo hide as Tzekel-Kan brings Cortes and his men towards the waterfall. Once Tzekal-Kan finds out that the entrance has been blocked, an angry Cortes takes this as a lie. Cortes and his men then march away with a humiliated Tzekel-Kan in their hands. Tulio and Miguel, though disappointed they lost their treasure, take off in a different direction for a new adventure (with Chel), unaware that Altivo still wears the golden horseshoes he was outfitted with within the city.
Cast[]
- Kevin Kline as Tulio
- Kenneth Branagh as Miguel
- Rosie Perez as Chel
- Jim Cummings as Hernán Cortés
- Armand Assante as Tzekel-Kan
- Edward James Olmos as Chief Tannabok
- Tobin Bell as Zaragoza
- Frank Welker as Altivo
- Campbell Morton as Bibo
- Duncan Marjoribanks as Acolyte
- Elton John as Singing Narrator
See full cast at IMDB here
Trivia[]
- In July 2014, the film's distribution rights were purchased by DreamWorks Animation and transferred to 20th Century Fox.
- In the movie, Cortes is looking for El Dorado, but in real life, it was Gonzalo Pizarro who was looking for the legendary city of gold.
- Tzekel-Kan's sacred book contains a picture of a man fishing from the moon, a parody of the Dreamworks logo.
- After the film was released, a series of sequels were planned (in the vein of the Shrek franchise), but later on these were scrapped after the film flopped at the box office.
- This is DreamWorks Animation's second musical film. Their first one was The Prince of Egypt.
- This is the first DreamWorks Animation film to be released in March.
Gallery[]
Transcript[]
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