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UK SciFi / Horror and Fantasy |  |
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The Road To El Dorado [2000]
ReviewsUnderrated as a great "buddy movie" Review date: 2007-06-04 Rating: 8 out of 10 First the good: Branagh and Kline do an excellent job at breathing life into the two main characters, Tulio and Miguel. "The Road to El Dorado" is at its heart a buddy-movie, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that the two voice-actors had so much chemistry together. They performed well with an excellent script which was consistently light and often hilarious. The artwork, particularly for El Dorado itself, is breath-taking, with quite possibly the most beautiful, detailed backgrounds I've ever seen in any film. When Tulio and Miguel sailed though the archway to get their first glimpse of El Dorado, I think I actually gasped out loud! The representation of the gold as well is very impressive and realistic, even seven years on. I really couldn't rate it highly enough, and were I judging the film on this alone, I'd have no hesitation about giving it full marks. The story and characters are quite well fleshed-out, although naturally the usual contrivances of all films are employed to get the heroes to their destination. Real conflict comes into play, however, and I will give the film its dues by saying that I was genuinely torn as to what I wanted to happen. Fans of action films set in "lost civilisations" - "The Mummy" and the Indiana Jones oeuvre spring to mind - will find this very easy to love. The DVD itself comes with some decent features as well: an interesting director's commentary and and a fairly entertaining "making of" documentary. The subtitles don't always match the dialogue exactly, but only real sticklers for accuracy will care about that, I imagine! Now the bad: While the landscapes were really beautiful, the characters themselves weren't quite so satisfying. There is limited range in both their physical appearances (a big head with a small, pointy nose describes most of them) and facial expressions. The story seems to lose itself in the final act, with a ferocious beast which doesn't quite seem to fit in with the Aztec (or Mayan, or Incan - the film never makes clear what people they are) civilisation. The ending too is a little unsatisfying. A huge disappointment were the songs written by Elton John. They are entirely unmemorable - with perhaps the exception of the slightly catchy "It's Tough To Be A God" - and often I felt even detracted from the film. I don't wish to become too involved in the potential "conquerer/savage" discussion, so it's suffice to say that "El Dorado" handles the problematic area of the European settlers' treatment of the South American natives as well as it conceivably could. It is apparently set in a world where racial conflict is near-unknown: Tulio thinks nothing of the idea of taking the native woman Chel back to Spain with him, for example. The two civilisations are even able to understand one another from a start - something I found rather jarring (especially after Disney's "Pocahontas"'s relative success at showing the American/European language divide). While all this perhaps does not quite ring true, the film makes no real claim to be telling "real" history, and by editing out the less savoury truths, only then does the story become suitable for young children. Overall, and in spite of my criticisms, this is a really wonderful film. I'd place it in my "top five" animated films of all time. From the gorgeous backgrounds to the excellent characters, this is a film which the entire family ought to be able to enjoy! Impressive. Review date: 2004-10-19 Rating: 10 out of 10 A splendid romp from start to finish, The Road To El Dorado drags animated features into the 21st century. We have an original and interesting story which overpowers the formula plot and keeps one amused and acutely aware throughout. The performances from all of the cast are flawless but Brannaugh and Kline truly shine and exibit their skills with the mastery and class that one expects from such talent. The soundtrack really is superb and is not the usual bland and over produced fare that we usually endure in an animated feature, we have the ever reliable Hans Zimmer showing off his heavenly composition skills providing a meaty atmospheric score. The songs too are in the hands of masters with Sir Tim Rice penning the lyrics and Sir Elton John lending his unique expertice in the music and arranging fields. The songs are sublime and have tunes which dance up and down and tickle your ear drums, and the words are insightful and thought provoking. Overall, this film has it all, A good story, Top drawer acting, excellent direction, wonderful and genuine comedy, outstanding visuals, inspired soundtrack, and most of all this film is the first in it's genre to be honestly enjoyable for all ages. The Road to Entertainment Review date: 2004-04-24 Rating: 10 out of 10 Please disregard the regrettably jaded and cynical Amazon review of thismovie! The Road to El Dorado is a delight from title to end-credits!Visually superb, the characters are dynamic and work together beautifully,with a line of witty banter second to none. Elton John's music iscertainly NOT "forgettable" (actually it took me a couple of weeks to stopwhistling the theme tune...) and the soundtrack CD is also a very goodbuy. The film is a good family view, and I mean a GOOD family view:children, adults, and even bored teenagers will enjoy this. Better than Disney! Review date: 2003-11-07 Rating: 10 out of 10 This is a fantastic movie! My 4 year old son has made me sit through it many times and I still enjoy watching it. The animation is superb, mixing cutting-edge CG 3D backdrops with stylishly drawn main characters. It's similar in technique to Tarzan, but arguably better done. The script is packed with great one-liners for the adult audience - "HOLY SHIP!" is yelled as a wayward boat heads towards Tulio and Miguel (try explaining the joke to a 4 year old!) The acting is first class, which is to be expected with actors of Ken Branagh and Kevin Kline's calibre. Even the sound track is excellent, with some great tracks from Elton John which really suit the movie (another similarity with Tarzan and its Phil Collins-penned songs). Overall, this is a outstanding animation, certainly better than anything Disney has produced in recent years. I'd recommend it to any fans of the genre or anybody with kids. Product Details/SpecificationsActor(s): Kenneth Branagh Armand Assante Edward James Olmos Kevin Kline Rosie Perez Creators: Kevin Kline (Primary Contributor) Kenneth Branagh (Primary Contributor) Karey Kirkpatrick (Writer) Ted Elliott (Writer) Terry Rossio (Writer) Director(s): Recording label: Dreamworks Home Entertainment Manufacturer: Dreamworks Home Entertainment EAN: 5051189123634 Binding: DVD Number of items: 1 Format: Anamorphic, Animated, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen, Release date: 2001-05-07 Universal product code (UPC): 678149092493 Number of discs: 1 Aspect ratio: 1.78:1 Audience rating: Universal, suitable for all Region code: 2 Running time: 89 minutes Theatrical release date: 2000-03-31 Language: English (Original Language) Language: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired) Language: Dutch (Subtitled) Language: Dutch (Dubbed) Language: German (Dubbed)
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