Luke
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CibbuanoThe Road to El Dorado
December 12th 2006 06:06
Yes, this film is a cartoon. No, I'm not embarrassed that I watched it - a lot of cartoon films are more enjoyable than their live-action colleagues. What mainly attracted me to this film was that it featured Kevin Kline and Kenneth Brannagh; a fine pair of actors if ever I saw some.
The movie follows two Spanish hustlers who happen upon a map to the legendary El Dorado, the city of gold. Sharing nearly a brain between them, they promptly stow away on a ship bound for South America and embark on typical Disney-styled adventure.
'The Road to El Dorado' isn't a Disney film, so it had that going for it right from the start. The vocal talent is higher-profile than I usually expect from traditional animation, and all are in fairly fine form. Humourously, Rosie Perez (Why? Why?! She has the most annoying voice on the planet!) plays one of the fattest-arsed heroines I've ever seen in a cartoon. And Armand Assante is surprisingly good as Tzekel-Kan; who makes for a more three-dimensional villain than one usually expects in the genre. In fact, my expectations led me to believe the main villain of the film would be the Spanish Conquistador who features near the beginning, but he is kept mostly in the background (thankfully), and we are given the High Priest of Sacrifice as the antagonist of the film instead - an interesting choice of bad-guy for a kid's movie. The two protagonists, Tulio (Kline) and Miguel (Brannagh), also make for an entertaining duo. It's great to see the producers eschewing the usual dull cartoon hero for the sorts of characters who are usually sidelined as the hero's sidekick.
I can't say I enjoyed this film as much I would've liked to though. The confrontation between Tzekel-Kan and the heroes is all good and exciting, but the real ending is a letdown, and you're never really sure why the conquistadors are necessary for the film to work. I'm probably over-analyzing, this being a kid's cartoon and all. I also don't understand why the makers feel it's necessary to fill these movies with dumb Elton John ballads though. I always hated the songs in cartoons when I was a kid, and I can't say they appeal to me now either - they're always the most boring parts, and they slow down the action way too much, so why do they think these songs will help sell the films to kiddies?
Oh well, hire it out if you're babysitting some kids and you want something that you can watch too. Though that goes without saying these days as far as animated films go; the sense of humour seems to be fairly adult-orientated at times and there's more than a few winks at the older members of the audience.
HIGHLIGHTS: Whilst traditionally animated (not computer-generated), there are some amazing visuals to look out for. A couple of new techniques were pioneered for this film, including a special kind of rendering used on anything gold. It's hard not to be impressed when you see it.
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