The Road to El Dorado

I showed my students the ball game scene from The Road to El Dorado because we’re learning about Mesoamerica, and the clip got me curious in watching the whole film. How the animators combined so many features of historic Central and Southern American civilizations in creating the fabled city of El Dorado delighted my history-teacher sensibilities and interest in such vibrant cultures. I thought the banter between Tulio (Kevin Kline) and Miguel (Kenneth Branagh) at the beginning was fantastic, but ultimately didn’t sustain throughout the film, while the film walked the line between its influences – the swashbuckling seriousness of The Man Who Would Be King and the easy breeziness of the Hope/Crosby Road movies.

The songs by Elton John and Tim Rice lacked the raw power and grandiosity of the songs they composed for The Lion King, and yet I think that was the point. They are supposed to be feel-good pieces of bubblegum pop, setting a jaunty pace for the grand adventure that Tulio, Miguel, and faithful horse Altivo will embark upon when the Doradoans (?) confuse the Spaniards for gods.

Like any great adventure film, the point is not the destination but the journey itself. Miguel and Tulio grow as humans, learning to let go of their overwhelming greed, and yet they still retain their scoundrel charm. I would’ve liked to have seen where Dreamworks would have taken these characters if the original hadn’t faced diminished returns at the box office.