Shortly after it came out on video, I saw Dreamworks‘ Prince of Egypt.
I knew the basic story intimately, though of course the film took some
liberties with the Biblical account of Moses. It featured an A-list
cast, though I’m not sure I was aware of that at the time. I remember
gorgeous animation, reverent music and, most of all, a very oppressive
mood. It’s been a decade since I saw it, but my main impression of the
movie was that it was extremely dark, a generally dispiriting movie with
little humor to lighten the mood. One of these days I should watch it
again and see whether I still feel the same way; after all, it’s not
every day you get to see Sunday school hit the big screen. But after I
watched Prince of Egypt, I felt depressed, and that made me a little leery of The Road to El Dorado, which was released in 2000. I finally decided it was time for me to give that movie a chance, if only because Elton John and Tim Rice, the musical team behind The Lion King, had collaborated on the songs.
The Road to El Dorado is a sweeping cinematic tale that, like Prince of Egypt,
takes us to a very different time and place. On this occasion, it’s
1500s Spain, soon to be followed by the fabled city of El Dorado. Our
heroes are a pair of spunky young scam artists. Black-haired Tulio (Kevin Kline) is motivated primarily by material gain, while blonde Miguel (Kenneth Branagh)
longs for rousing adventure. They make a pretty great team, but their
personalities and goals are different enough that quarrels are
inevitable. It doesn’t take long to see that Miguel has an idealistic
streak that the more self-serving Tulio lacks; much of the film is about
bringing a balance back to their relationship as Tulio matures and
finds a way to help the people who have come to accept him with such
adulation.
While the animation style constantly reminded me
that this was a Dreamworks film, the characters and basic story arc
reminded me more of Disney’s Aladdin and Don Bluth’s Anastasia.
All three films are buddy comedies with two guys, an alluring girl, a
couple of amusing animal sidekicks and a corrupt, sorcerous advisor.
They also involve a major scam: street rat posing as prince, orphan
posing as princess, pair of Spaniards (with an American and British
accent, naturally) posing as gods. The almost-opening scene in this film
is strikingly similar to Aladdin’s One Jump Ahead, while the nightmarish visions induced by the creepy Tzekel-Kan (Armand Assante) recall Rasputin’s In the Dark of the Night.
But this is very much its own movie. And, much to my relief, it’s funny.
Kline and Branagh, who recorded their lines together, a rarity for
animated films, have wonderful chemistry that the animators capture.
Their characters are well written, and they perform them perfectly,
verbally jousting with one another at every opportunity. There’s quite a
bit of physical comedy too, especially involving Miguel’s horse Altivo
(Frank Welker), who doesn’t speak but is remarkably attuned to the needs
of his human companions. I do think that the movie occasionally moves
in a bit more of an adult direction than is called for. I don’t see that
anything is added by having Tulio swear or canoodle with the very
shapely Chel (Rosie Perez).
I was surprised but unoffended by the brief shot of the men’s bare
backsides in a comedic scene in which they go for a dip in a watering
hole; Mulan
had a similar scene, and there really wasn’t anything titillating about
it. But the profanity and overt sensuality seemed a little out of
place, and I‘m not crazy about having a villain (corpulent conquistador
Cortes) referencing the Bible as he justifies cruelty. Additionally,
some of the scenes involving Tzekel-Kan might well unsettle a sensitive
young child.
Villainous Tzekel-Kan is deplorable, not to
mention downright unpleasant to look at, with his enormous gums and
sneering expression. He seems friendly enough initially, but it
eventually becomes clear that these strangers who he initially took to
be gods are not behaving in the expected manner, and he decides to take
matters into his own hands. Meanwhile, the chief is an enormous man with
large, almost feminine, lips. Portrayed by Edward James Olmos,
he is soft-spoken and wise, and everyone else in town seems to be cut
out of the same mold, except perhaps the wily Chel. One thing that
bothered me (aside from the rather expected inconsistency in the main
characters’ accents) was the fact that there is no language barrier
between the explorers and these indigenous people. Are we supposed to
think that because this is a magical, golden city that they have some
sort of universal translator? There is never any indication that another
language is spoken in this city, and that seems very suspect to me.
For the most part, though, the story works. First and foremost, this is
a bromance, to the extent that Chel feels almost intrusive much of the
time. Then again, I’m not that crazy about the character, in part
because I find Perez so annoying, and also because Chel seems more
suited to a PG-13 world. That said, I’m a little unsure of what to make
of the movie’s one big end-credits hit, Someday Out of the Blue; I had initially taken it to be a Perfect Moment-style
love song, but the lyrics, for the most part, seem much more suited to
Miguel and Tulio’s complex friendship. Certain lines, however, make more
sense in the context of Tulio and Chel’s blossoming romance. I can’t
help wondering if Tim Rice and Sir Elton wanted us to see these
relationships in a different light, and even if the largely superfluous
character of Chel was added just to quell such speculations.
While I heard that song on the radio many times, the others in the film
were new to me. Elton performed all but one, the entertaining,
plot-advancing It’s Good to Be a God, sung by Branagh and Kline.
I’ve read complaints about the music, but I really enjoyed both Hans
Zimmer’s score and the new songs, poppish as they were. Phil Collins did
a beautiful job with the music in Tarzan, and I think Elton
fares similarly here. I found the songs catchy and effective for
capturing the mood of the moment without actually having the characters
break into song. Not that I would have complained about that.
Nonetheless, I thought it was a stylistic choice that worked, especially
with the introspective Friends Never Say Goodbye.
Now that I’ve watched Road to El Dorado,
I’m happy to report that I don’t feel depressed. I didn’t expect the
movie to be so funny, nor did I realize that Elton John would be
performing most of the songs in the movie himself. While I don’t know
how highly I would rank this on a list of animated favorites, I do think
it’s a shame that plans for a sequel were scrapped after the movie
failed to dazzle at the box office. This is definitely a duo that seems
destined for more adventures.
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