what's going on guys i'm tyler and in continuing my series of 2D DreamWorks reviews
I'm here to let you know that "The Road to El Dorado" is NoPerfectMovie!
And it follows Kevin Kline & Kenneth Branagh
as a pair of con artists who discover a map that allegedly leads to
El Dorado; the long-lost city of gold! But once they get there, they are
immediately mistaken for Gods by the El Dorado citizens and in order
to make off with all the gold they can without being discovered,
the one citizen who knows for a fact that they're lying (Rosie Perez)
offers to coach them on how to be Gods so that
once they're done with the scheme, they'll hopefully take her back to Spain
along with it! And i was cautiously looking forward to
this movie, I had heard mixed things about it, I had heard
just how much money it lost at the box office-it wasn't really
the greatest thing to start off with but close people that I know on social media
really love this movie! They think it's one of the most underrated animated movies,
they love how it's more of a buddy comedy with risque humor as
opposed to a straightforward action adventure for all ages
which-you know, I got no problem with and I'm happy to say that "The Road to El Dorado"
was a genuine surprise and one of the biggest surprises was Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh as a
comedic duo-they have really fast-paced timing and chemistry
with each other and what was interesting was-I was
expecting Branagh to be the leader and Kline to be the sidekick but it's
actually the other way around and that's what makes it much more
refreshing to watch onscreen and a little sharper written too because
Kline is the type of self-appointed leader who
thinks he's a brilliant strategist but once he gets to step one, he can't
think of step two and immediately begins to keep obsessing over step one
hoping that an idea will come up in his head but
instead he gets a lot more nervous, more paranoid,
less self-esteem whereas Branagh is much more relaxed and free-spirited,
he believes in fate and improvisation in order to
advance his own cons and surprisingly that's actually what leads
the two of them closer on their journey and that's the overall theme of the
movie and the source of the tension between the two of them as friends!
Once they get to El Dorado, Kline immediately wants to
take the gold and get out as quickly as possible (the original plan),
but Branagh becomes so fascinated and enamored by
this city who treats him with much more respect than his own best friend that it
becomes tougher for him to decide whether or not
he should be blindly loyal to the only friend in his life or keep on
making his own choices, keep on letting life decide what to do next for himself
because it's a philosophy that keeps leading him closer and closer to a much
more interesting and exciting lifestyle and
that's a really interesting message for kids movies to
teach because I'm not really the biggest fan of letting improvisation
and letting fade really dictate your life, I'm a big fan of
strategy and routine... you have no idea how many times I've tried to make this
exact video just based on instinct and improvisation, I've tried
6 or 7 times and I keep fucking up regardless!
But you know what, at the same time
watching this movie made me think about the message and it made me want to try
something a little bit different and with all the
videos I'm doing with my buddy (Josh Gofton) right now, I'm starting to believe
more and more that i that i can actually pull this off!
And the villains themselves also have this exact same problem;
this high priest of El Dorado who believes that
human sacrifices is what makes the Gods bless them because of how sinful and
unpredictable and imperfect human beings are, and whenever anyone
challenges him with different beliefs, it only makes him try harder to reinforce
his own strict routines and schedules
and philosophies and that's exactly what leads to his eventual downfall!
More and more as I think about it,
this movie itself is a little more against religion in regards to
following the exact same belief system for hundreds and hundreds of years
and being so resistant to change! This is a surprisingly beautiful looking movie too!
I wasn't sure-I didn't really hear that
many things about the animation itself going into this movie but
it is bright, it is beautiful, it is colourful, it is really creative,
it feels realistic in regards to the designs of the citizens of El Dorado and
these Incan and Aztec buildings and
architecture and geography! All of these really
creative animals that they come across once they're in El Dorado are so
bright and colorful in a surreal way that sometimes
during the musical sequences especially, it makes it feel like you're watching
probably the best fever dream that you'll ever have!
And I said in my "Sinbad" review I didn't really
like how characters spend so much talking and less time
soaking in the moment to make the movie feel magical...
This movie takes a ton of times just to soak in how beautiful the city is-
to focus on how beautiful the culture is, there are so many
montages where Branagh takes a tour of the city, introduces himself
to the people and the people- who still think he's a god think he's
much more lenient and compassionate than they were expecting and it leads to some
heartfelt moments that are told purely through the expressions and through the body language
and through the really fast-paced movement of these characters
which is really all I can ask for with an
animated movie like this! Now in regards to problems, I thought
this was going to be an issue and it kind of was;
The songs in this movie! It takes the "Tarzan", "Brother Bear" and "Spirit" approach
of having a narrator tell the songs through the montages
and what makes it feel more like a
Disney knockoff than what "Spirit" did was the fact that the songs are written
by Elton John and Tim Rice and Elton John
is the one singing as the narrator. Now the fact that Elton John and Tim Rice
wrote the songs for "The Lion King" is enough for anyone to associate it with Disney
even though that may not even be what the producers
were going for! But just those behind the scenes
features makes me realize why 2D DreamWorks movies probably didn't do so
well at the box office it wasn't because they were bad...
it's because Jeff Katzenberg (head of DreamWorks and former head at Disney)
was really just living under Disney's shadow as he was creating these movies!
Because really think about it; "Prince of Egypt" having a reluctant hero who goes
back to his hometown to take his rightful place
in terms of musicals, that's 'The Lion King", "Spirit" (as i said in my video) kind of had
that "Tarzan" feel where it's the one singer singing these songs that narrate
explicitly what we're already watching on screen and
this movie kind of had that feeling but the songs themselves focused on what
characters were going through as opposed to what
was actually happening o screen and i kind of respect those songs a little
more for that but at the same time (as good of a singer as
Elton John is and as good of a writer as he is)
I don't really remember these songs, the only one i can kind of remember off the
top of my head is "It's Tough to be a God" but I remember
the sequence itself for being so surreal with the visuals and the colours
and the title "It's Tough to be a God" (because it is a decent title) as opposed
to the actual lyrics. They're not the best songs that Elton John
and Tim Rice have done together but honestly i've heard them do worse. And in
terms of characters, i was looking forward to seeing
Rosie Perez the most because i'm a big fan of hers
and i like the whole idea of her coaching these two on how to be Gods;
teaching them about their spiritual and cultural beliefs,
hopefully getting them more interested in the setting that they're in,
hopefully getting them to stay longer and making
some comedic scenarios where they're about to get something right and then
they just fuck it up! And there are moments like that but
they're not as funny as the bits where it's just the two of them
arguing over what's the better way to con someone; by having a strict routine
or by letting fate and luck dictate their choices?
And Perez herself as a character doesn't really get to do that much: at the beginning
she's very sly and sneaky-more so than
the two professional con artists where she's like "Hey guys,
I know exactly who you are, see you at the execution" & they're just like "Wait-wait,
what exactly is it that you want"?! And once you find out what this villain
has in store for El Dorado, it does make sense why she wants to run away with
them in the first place but then things start to get romantic
between one of them that leads to... a really risky bedroom joke that
I appreciate just for taking a chance on that but in terms of
romance I don't really know what it is that the two of them
see in each other and it's kind of where her character development stops!
And the third act itself is very anti-climactic, especially with how they
wrap up the villain because Armand Assante does
really good work as this villain; you genuinely believe
that even though he is really sadistic and over the top
he believes that human sacrifice is the best way to go
about things from a spiritual level, but the way
the way he's defeated in the end felt really
rushed and forced, it felt more of a story based decision as opposed to a
more entertaining decision. I know a lot of people whenever something short
happens in a climax it's just like "Well it makes more sense
for the characters"... Okay, fine but it still needs to be
entertaining-you could spend a couple more minutes having
an extra fight or an extra long chase in order to raise up the stakes & tension.
It's not that there weren't any stakes or tension in the finale because
without spoiling anything, these characters really do have to make some
sacrifices and without spoiling what those
sacrifices are you genuinely believe that they're
content with it but other than that it, the movie
kind of fizzles out and it just ends. It's the kind of ending that is
just like "Well, there could be sequels, there could be
multiple adventures" but it's not set up very well!
But that's about it, "The Road to El Dorado" was a genuine surprise; it was funny,
Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh had
really good chemistry with each other, Rosie Perez (in the couple scenes that
she has) that were effective, she was very cunning and sly but in a funny and
charming way, the animation is really beautiful and
even though the songs are nothing memorable, they're fine.
All in all, "Road to El Dorado" is a unique kids movie that you don't get very often
and for all those reasons, I'm going to give "The Road to El Dorado"
4/ 5. Guys, thanks as always for watching!
If you have seen "El Dorado", let me know in the comments below what you thought of it- also let me know how many shots you took
every time i said El Dorado because I'm getting pretty close myself...
anyways, be sure to stay tuned for more reviews including
the finale of my DreamWorks reviews, "The Prince of Egypt",
and be sure to like and subscribe! Take care!