The Road to El Dorado is a 2000 animated comedy about two Spanish con artists who stumble into a hidden city of gold. It should be a great premise. Instead, it mostly feels like a movie built to sell toys, with jokes aimed at kids and a plot that barely holds together.
Trailer, via YouTube Movies.
The Premise
The story follows Tulio (Kevin Kline) and Miguel (Edward James Olmos), two schemers who fake their way through a map to El Dorado, thinking they are heading to a fortune. They find the city instead of the gold they expected, and the adventure that follows is supposed to be about friendship and greed.
The problem is that the script never commits to either theme. Tulio is meant to be clever and greedy, but his schemes feel thin and obvious. Miguel is supposed to be loyal, but he spends most of the movie being pushed around by Tulio’s plans.
What Works
There are a few moments that land:
- The early scenes in Spain, where Tulio and Miguel first meet and hatch their scheme, have some sharp writing.
- The animation is bright and detailed, especially the city itself, which looks like something out of a dream.
- The voice acting is solid across the board, with Kline and Olmos both bringing energy to their roles.
None of it is enough to carry the film’s length.
What Doesn’t Work
The pacing drags badly. The middle stretch, where Tulio and Miguel try to navigate El Dorado’s politics, goes on too long and repeats itself. Characters talk over each other, and the humor often lands as filler rather than payoff.
The villain, a god-like figure voiced by Danny DeVito, is the sharpest element of the film. His scenes have a sharpness the rest of the movie lacks. But even he doesn’t get enough to do.
The songs are the weakest link. The main ballad is pleasant but forgettable, and the final song strains to tie everything together without doing much beyond filling time.
| Scene | Length | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Early Spain | Short | Strong |
| Middle El Dorado | Long | Weak |
| Final act | Long | Mixed |
The movie also leans heavily on product placement and tie-in marketing. This isn’t unusual for animated films of this era, but here it feels particularly heavy-handed.
Verdict
The Road to El Dorado is a film with a great idea and a weak execution. Its animation is bright, its voice cast is strong, and its villain is sharp. But its jokes are aimed at children, its plot is thin, and its pacing is poor. It’s a movie that tries to be clever and ends up being safe.
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