Now I'm going for an obscure one. The Road To El Dorado is a traditionally animated movie that was released on March 31st, 2000. It stars Kenneth Branagh, Kevin Kline, Rosie Perez, and Jim Cummings. It's also a musical comedy with songs made by Tim Rice and Elton John who both previously did songs for The Lion King. Now isn't that just coincidental? Sadly, the film was a box office flop, grossing only $76.4 million on a $95 million production budget, and was given mixed reviews at best.
The film has Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Kline voice two con artists named Miguel and Tulio respectively. Miguel and Tulio suddenly gain the map that leads them to the mythological city known as El Dorado. After stowing away onto a ship, Tulio and Miguel then find themselves in The New World until they stumble onto the titular city, where its native people mistake Miguel and Tulio as actual gods, which is honestly a hilarious concept. So what gives? Like I said, the concept of the plot is hilarious and is intriguing at times. Branagh and Kline give great voice performances and have great chemistry together. I might say Jim Cummings gives an underrated voice performance. It's reminiscent of the Bing Crosby/Bob Hope Road To... Movies. And the animation is reminiscent of another DreamWorks Animated Movie I'll mention later. So why did this film fail at the box office? Maybe it was risque. Maybe people thought the songs done by Tim Rice and Elton John weren't as good as The Lion King? Then again, it was overshadowed by a similar Aztec inspired film known as The Emperor's New Groove. And a year later, DreamWorks would then release another humble CG film known as Shrek. So clearly the success of Shrek would overshadow any of the other DreamWorks Animated Movies. It's a real shame that Road to El Dorado was overshadowed by all of this. Thankfully it's gained reevaluation and it has gotten a cult following. So now people are starting to see the film for the treasure that it is. This film has something for both kids and adults, so give it a watch, it ought to be an adventure.
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