# Road to El Dorado, The (2000)

### reviewed by
Steve Rhodes

    THE ROAD TO EL DORADO
    A film review by Steve Rhodes
    Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes
    RATING (0 TO ****):  ** 1/2

Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Kline, as the voices of two sixteenth-century conmen from Spain, are the comics around whom DreamWorks's animated movie, THE ROAD TO EL DORADO, is built. Upon the shoulders of these wise-cracking characters, who are in just about every scene, rest the success or failure of the movie. Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio's script for them, however, is several gold nuggets shy of a treasure.

Miguel (Branagh) and Tulio (Kline) find themselves adrift in the Atlantic Ocean. In a small rowboat with few provisions and with a friendly horse that has the appetite of, well, a horse, Miguel and Tulio have nothing to be thankful for, save their map to El Dorado, the legendary city of gold.

Luckily, their boat strikes land near the entrance to El Dorado. Once inside the famous city, they are welcomed into a colorful kingdom that looks like a new Disneyland attraction -- sorry, DreamWorks. Besides featuring lots of gold, it also has bickering native leaders -- a rotund chief (Edward James Olmos) and a garishly made-up high priest named Tzekel-Kan (Armand Assante).

Following the tradition of such encounters with natives, the story has the Spanish swindlers being mistaken for gods by the locals. ("It's an entire city of suckers," proclaims a jubilant Tulio.) A scantly-clad El Dorado citizen named Chel (Rosie Perez) sees through the men from the beginning and demands to join them in their scam, as they try to grab the gold and get out of town.

For reasons which aren't clear, directors Bibo Bergeron and Will Finn are never able to make effective use of their expensive voice talent. Only Perez's spunky voice is recognizable. The rest sound blandly homogeneous like interchangeable radio newscasters.

The lively music for the picture features 6 original songs sung by Elton John. The movie's music and visuals easily surpass the story itself, which only works in fits and spurts. One good joke is followed by a half-dozen ones that aren't. The result is a movie that's kind of cute but rarely anything more.

THE ROAD TO EL DORADO runs just 1:22. The film is rated PG for mild thematic material, brief male nudity and language and would be fine for most kids of any age.

My son Jeffrey, age 10, gave the picture ***, but he complained that the ending was too abrupt. His buddies, Nickolas and Alan, both 10, gave the picture *** 1/2. All of the boys said that they thought the story was really funny and that their favorite characters were the horse and the monster.

Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com

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