The Road to El Dorado
Encyclopedia
The Road to El Dorado is a 2000 American animated adventure comedy film by DreamWorks
. The soundtrack
features songs by Elton John
and Tim Rice
, the music team from Disney
's The Lion King
.
The movie begins in 16th century (1519) Seville
(in the south of Spain) and tells about two men named Tulio and Miguel. During a dice
game using loaded dice, they win a map that purportedly shows the location of El Dorado
, the legendary city of gold
in the New World
. However, their cheating is soon discovered and as a result, they end up as stowaway
s on Hernán Cortés
' fleet to conquer Mexico. They are discovered, but manage to escape in a boat with Cortés' prize war horse and eventually discover the hidden city of El Dorado where they are mistaken for gods. It is inspired by Rudyard Kipling
's The Man Who Would Be King
.
El Dorado
is portrayed as a utopia
n civilization that combines facets of the Aztec
s, Maya
, Incas, and Atlantis
, and located in Ecuador or El Salvador.
Its soundtrack was released as an album with the same name; however, in some instances (such as "The Trail We Blaze"), the songs have been altered musically and vocally from the way they appeared in the film. The video game tie-in, released on PlayStation and PC, was named Gold & Glory: The Road to El Dorado.
had devoted most of its creative efforts to its previous animated film, The Prince of Egypt
.
s, Tulio (voiced by Kevin Kline
) and Miguel (Kenneth Branagh
) 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). Accused of cheating and getting chased by a bull, the two evade capture and hide in barrels, which are shortly loaded onto one of the ships to be led by Hernán Cortés
(Jim Cummings
) 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 Cortés' horse, Altivo (vocal effects by Frank Welker
). They land at an unknown shore, and Miguel begins to recognize landmarks stated on the map. The map leads them to a totem marker outside of a waterfall. As they try to decipher the markings on the totem, 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 (Edward James Olmos
) and wicked medicine man Tzekel-Kan (Armand Assante
). While Tannabok warmly welcomes them to the city, Tzekel-Kan mainly sees them as a way to enhance his own standing. After celebrations offered by both Tannabok and Tzekel-Kan, the two are taken to private quarters along with the woman, Chel (Rosie Perez
), who has seen through their ploy but offers to help maintain it as long as they take her with them when they leave. Tulio tells 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 them with; Tannabok says it will take them a few days to construct a vessel.
As they spend time with the locals, Miguel finds the city peaceful and expresses interest in staying. Chel encourages Miguel to continue to explore the city, allowing her to become closer to Tulio. When Tzekel-Kan sees Miguel playing a ball game with children, he demands that the gods play against the city's best players. During the match, Tulio and Miguel are clearly over-matched, but Chel replaces the ball with a rolled-up armadillo, allowing the two to cheat and win the game. During the match, Tzekel-Kan sees a small cut on Miguel's forehead, and realizes that they are not gods. To show this to the rest of the city, Tzekel-Kan conjures a giant stone jaguar
to chase them through the city. Though somewhat intimidated at first, 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 to outside El Dorado, where Cortés and his men are searching for gold. Tzekel-Kan, thinking Cortes is a god(a reference to the fall of the Aztec Empire), quickly offers to lead them to El Dorado.
With their boat completed and loaded with treasures, Tulio is ready to leave but Miguel announces that he will be staying. As Tulio and Chel start to leave, they spot smoke on the horizon, realizing that Cortés and his men are approaching the city with the help from Tzekel-Kan, hoping to take it over. 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, but they will need to give the boat enough speed to do so. The city's residents start to pull 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. Miguel forgoes his chance to stay in the city and jumps into the boat with Altivo to finish hoisting 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 Cortés and his men towards the waterfall. Once Tzekal-Kan finds out that the entrance has been blocked, an angry Cortés takes this as a lie, and orders his men to place Tzekel-Kan into custody for leading them for nothing. Cortes and his men then march away with a humiliated Tzekel-Kan in their hands. Tulio, Miguel, and Chel, though disappointed they lost their treasure, take off in a different direction for a new adventure, unaware that Altivo still wears the golden horseshoes he was outfitted with in the city, and prefers to keep that fact to himself.
.
film to earn a "rotten" rating. Critics said the predictable story and thin characters made for a flat film.
. The film had a good hold in its second weekend, down only 29% to $9,085,803 and finishing in third place for a $2,819 average from 3,223 theaters. The film closed on June 29, 2000, after earning $50,863,742 domestically and $25,568,985 overseas for a worldwide total of $76,432,727. Produced on a $95 million budget, the film is considered a box office bomb.
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...
. The soundtrack
The Road to El Dorado (Soundtrack)
The Road to El Dorado was the soundtrack released by singer Elton John and lyricst Tim Rice, with contributions by Hans Zimmer, for the animated motion picture The Road to El Dorado....
features songs by Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
and Tim Rice
Tim Rice
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon "Tim" Rice is an British lyricist and author.An Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning lyricist, Rice is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus...
, the music team from Disney
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
's The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...
.
The movie begins in 16th century (1519) Seville
Seville
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville. It is situated on the plain of the River Guadalquivir, with an average elevation of above sea level...
(in the south of Spain) and tells about two men named Tulio and Miguel. During a dice
Dice
A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...
game using loaded dice, they win a map that purportedly shows the location of El Dorado
El Dorado
El Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a highland lake.Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors...
, the legendary city of gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
in the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
. However, their cheating is soon discovered and as a result, they end up as stowaway
Stowaway
A stowaway is a person who secretly boards a vehicle, such as an aircraft, bus, ship, cargo truck or train, to travel without paying and without being detected....
s on Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
' fleet to conquer Mexico. They are discovered, but manage to escape in a boat with Cortés' prize war horse and eventually discover the hidden city of El Dorado where they are mistaken for gods. It is inspired by Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
's The Man Who Would Be King
The Man Who Would Be King
For the 1975 film based on this story, see The Man Who Would Be King "The Man Who Would Be King" is a short story by Rudyard Kipling. It is about two British adventurers in British India who become kings of Kafiristan, a remote part of Afghanistan...
.
El Dorado
El Dorado
El Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a highland lake.Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors...
is portrayed as a utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...
n civilization that combines facets of the Aztec
Aztec
The Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
s, Maya
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
, Incas, and Atlantis
Atlantis
Atlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
, and located in Ecuador or El Salvador.
Its soundtrack was released as an album with the same name; however, in some instances (such as "The Trail We Blaze"), the songs have been altered musically and vocally from the way they appeared in the film. The video game tie-in, released on PlayStation and PC, was named Gold & Glory: The Road to El Dorado.
Production
The creation of The Road to El Dorado was a challenge for the studio because DreamWorks AnimationDreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
had devoted most of its creative efforts to its previous animated film, The Prince of Egypt
The Prince of Egypt
The Prince of Egypt is a 1998 American animated musical drama film and the first traditionally animated film produced and released by DreamWorks Animation. The film is an adaptation of the Book of Exodus and follows the life of Moses from being a prince of Egypt to his ultimate destiny to lead the...
.
Plot
In Spain 1519, two con artistConfidence trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility,...
s, Tulio (voiced by Kevin Kline
Kevin Kline
Kevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
) and Miguel (Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Branagh
Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
) win a map to the legendary City of Gold, El Dorado
El Dorado
El Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a highland lake.Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors...
, in a rigged gambling match (though ironically they end up winning the map fairly). Accused of cheating and getting chased by a bull, the two evade capture and hide in barrels, which are shortly loaded onto one of the ships to be led by Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
(Jim Cummings
Jim Cummings
James Jonah "Jim" Cummings is an American voice actor who has appeared in almost 100 roles. He has appeared in classic animated movies such as Aladdin and The Lion King, as well as taking on roles in more current films, such as Bee Movie, Princess and the Frog, and Winnie the Pooh.-Personal...
) to the New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
. During the trip, they are caught as stowaways, but manage to break free and take a rowboat with the help of Cortés' horse, Altivo (vocal effects by Frank Welker
Frank Welker
Franklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
). They land at an unknown shore, and Miguel begins to recognize landmarks stated on the map. The map leads them to a totem marker outside of a waterfall. As they try to decipher the markings on the totem, 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 (Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos
Edward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
) and wicked medicine man Tzekel-Kan (Armand Assante
Armand Assante
-Personal life:Assante was born in New York City and raised in Cornwall, New York, the son of Katherine , a music teacher and poet, and Armand Anthony Assante, Sr., a painter and artist. His father was Italian and his mother was Irish, and was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family...
). While Tannabok warmly welcomes them to the city, Tzekel-Kan mainly sees them as a way to enhance his own standing. After celebrations offered by both Tannabok and Tzekel-Kan, the two are taken to private quarters along with the woman, Chel (Rosie Perez
Rosie Perez
Rosa María "Rosie" Pérez is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, director and community activist.- Early life :...
), who has seen through their ploy but offers to help maintain it as long as they take her with them when they leave. Tulio tells 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 them with; Tannabok says it will take them a few days to construct a vessel.
As they spend time with the locals, Miguel finds the city peaceful and expresses interest in staying. Chel encourages Miguel to continue to explore the city, allowing her to become closer to Tulio. When Tzekel-Kan sees Miguel playing a ball game with children, he demands that the gods play against the city's best players. During the match, Tulio and Miguel are clearly over-matched, but Chel replaces the ball with a rolled-up armadillo, allowing the two to cheat and win the game. During the match, Tzekel-Kan sees a small cut on Miguel's forehead, and realizes that they are not gods. To show this to the rest of the city, Tzekel-Kan conjures a giant stone jaguar
Jaguar
The jaguar is a big cat, a feline in the Panthera genus, and is the only Panthera species found in the Americas. The jaguar is the third-largest feline after the tiger and the lion, and the largest in the Western Hemisphere. The jaguar's present range extends from Southern United States and Mexico...
to chase them through the city. Though somewhat intimidated at first, 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 to outside El Dorado, where Cortés and his men are searching for gold. Tzekel-Kan, thinking Cortes is a god(a reference to the fall of the Aztec Empire), quickly offers to lead them to El Dorado.
With their boat completed and loaded with treasures, Tulio is ready to leave but Miguel announces that he will be staying. As Tulio and Chel start to leave, they spot smoke on the horizon, realizing that Cortés and his men are approaching the city with the help from Tzekel-Kan, hoping to take it over. 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, but they will need to give the boat enough speed to do so. The city's residents start to pull 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. Miguel forgoes his chance to stay in the city and jumps into the boat with Altivo to finish hoisting 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 Cortés and his men towards the waterfall. Once Tzekal-Kan finds out that the entrance has been blocked, an angry Cortés takes this as a lie, and orders his men to place Tzekel-Kan into custody for leading them for nothing. Cortes and his men then march away with a humiliated Tzekel-Kan in their hands. Tulio, Miguel, and Chel, though disappointed they lost their treasure, take off in a different direction for a new adventure, unaware that Altivo still wears the golden horseshoes he was outfitted with in the city, and prefers to keep that fact to himself.
Cast
- Kevin KlineKevin KlineKevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre, voice, film actor and comedian. He has won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for five Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and an Emmy Award.- Early life :...
as Tulio, one of the con artists who pretend to be gods so they can get gold. He is the planner who wanted to leave El DoradoEl DoradoEl Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a highland lake.Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors...
with the treasure. - Kenneth BranaghKenneth BranaghKenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from Northern Ireland. He is best known for directing and starring in several film adaptations of William Shakespeare's plays including Henry V , Much Ado About Nothing , Hamlet Kenneth Charles Branagh is an actor and film director from...
as Miguel, one of the con artists who pretend to be gods so they can get gold. He is the fun-loving one who wants to stay in El Dorado. - Rosie PerezRosie PerezRosa María "Rosie" Pérez is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, director and community activist.- Early life :...
as Chel, a beautiful young woman from El Dorado who discovers Tulio and Miguel's con and decides to play along. In exchange, she will return to Spain with them and get some of the gold. She falls in love with Tulio. - Armand AssanteArmand Assante-Personal life:Assante was born in New York City and raised in Cornwall, New York, the son of Katherine , a music teacher and poet, and Armand Anthony Assante, Sr., a painter and artist. His father was Italian and his mother was Irish, and was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family...
as Tzekel-Kan, the fanatically insane high priest who has a fixation for human sacrifices. - Edward James OlmosEdward James OlmosEdward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
as Chief Tannabok, the kind chief who welcomes Tulio and Miguel. - Jim CummingsJim CummingsJames Jonah "Jim" Cummings is an American voice actor who has appeared in almost 100 roles. He has appeared in classic animated movies such as Aladdin and The Lion King, as well as taking on roles in more current films, such as Bee Movie, Princess and the Frog, and Winnie the Pooh.-Personal...
as Hernán CortésHernán CortésHernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century...
, the merciless and ambitious leader of the expedition to find El Dorado. - Tobin BellTobin BellTobin Bell is an American film and television character actor. After years of work doing stand-ins and background work on films, he got his first major acting job in Mississippi Burning and went on to star in made-for-television films and guest star in television shows throughout the 1990s.Bell...
as Zaragoza - Frank WelkerFrank WelkerFranklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
as Altivo, Cortés' horse who ends up teaming up with Tulio and Miguel.
Soundtrack
The original score was composed by Hans Zimmer and John Powell and performed by Zimmer, whilst the original songs were written by Tim Rice and Elton John and performed by Elton John. The song "It's Tough to be a God" is a duet performed between John and Randy NewmanRandy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
.
Annie Awards
| Award | Winner/Nominee Recipient(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Animated Theatrical Feature | ||
| Individual Achievement in Storyboarding | Jeff Snow (Story supervisor) | |
| Individual Achievement in Production Design | Christian Schellewald (Production Designer) | |
| Individual Achievement in Character Animation | David Brewster (Senior Supervising animator - Miguel) | |
| Individual Achievement in Character Animation | Rodolphe Guendonen (Supervising Animator - Chel) | |
| Individual Achievement in Effects Animation | Doug Ikeler (Effects Lead - Crashing the Gate) | |
| Individual Achievement in Voice Acting | Armand Assante Armand Assante -Personal life:Assante was born in New York City and raised in Cornwall, New York, the son of Katherine , a music teacher and poet, and Armand Anthony Assante, Sr., a painter and artist. His father was Italian and his mother was Irish, and was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family... ("Tzekel-Kan") |
|
| Individual Achievement in Music | Hans Zimmer Hans Zimmer Hans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the... (Music) John Powell John Powell John Powell is a British composer, best known for his scores to motion pictures. He has been based in the United States since 1997 and has composed the scores to over fifty feature films. He rose to fame in the late 1990s and 2000s, scoring numerous animated films, and collaborating with... (Music) |
|
Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. It currently holds a 49% "rotten" rating out of 101 reviews at Rotten Tomatoes, with 49 positive reviews, making this the first DreamWorks animatedDreamWorks Animation
DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. is an American animation studio based in Glendale, California that creates animated feature films, television program and online virtual worlds...
film to earn a "rotten" rating. Critics said the predictable story and thin characters made for a flat film.
Box office
The film earned $12,846,652 on opening weekend, for a $3,992 average from 3,218 theaters. The film earned second place at the box office that weekend, behind Erin BrockovichErin Brockovich (film)
Erin Brockovich is a 2000 biographical film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The film is a dramatization of the story of Erin Brockovich, played by Julia Roberts, who fought against the US West Coast energy corporation Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Roberts won the Academy Award, Golden Globe,...
. The film had a good hold in its second weekend, down only 29% to $9,085,803 and finishing in third place for a $2,819 average from 3,223 theaters. The film closed on June 29, 2000, after earning $50,863,742 domestically and $25,568,985 overseas for a worldwide total of $76,432,727. Produced on a $95 million budget, the film is considered a box office bomb.