My Own Personal Nerdy Disney and Animation Scrutinizing Analyses

Hi folks! Welcome to my My Own Personal Nerdy Disney and Animation Scrutinizing Analysis blog. A blog where I'm analyzing several Disney films, Disney or Animation in general! These entries are just meant to be my analyses. Not reviews or statements. Just fun analyses! Though I'll make some personal remarks now and then, the content of these entries are meant to be depicted objectively. They're made for entertainment purpose only and the pictures/clips are copyright Disney or other companies.

Make sure to leave a comment if you like this site! And if there's something you think could be improved, please let me know. But in a constructive way, please. And just a note; I'm not a Native English writer, so my incorrect grammar may be notable.

And finally; If you haven't seen the films, beware of spoilers! And the funny lines aren't meant to be nothing than funny. So I hope you won't find them offensive. If so, I apologize

The Gold was the adventure :) Don`t ask us why :)

Me and Altivo have a
strained relationship, so
that`s why I`m not riding
him :)

In the beginning of this new Millenium, it was clear that non-Disney companies were finally receiving some momentum and buzz with their animated movies. 20th Century Fox marked their way with the Disney spoof Anastasia, Warner Brothers made their impact with The Iron Giant (who despite wasn`t an instant Box Office hit, it still gained it`s legacy afterwards). But last, but not least, DreamWorks and PDI marked their way with their features. While DreamWorks was always perceived as being Disney and Pixar`s true challenger, the truth is that they didn`t manage to throw Disney from their throne until Shrek in 2001.

This is our (Spaniards)
way of doing magic :)

However, DreamWorks managed to make their own impact, with the more adult-oriented and edgier Antz and the Biblical and somber The Prince of Egypt. While the latter movie was the picture that managed to gain more buzz, the truth is while it did financially okay, it still marked a staple for DreamWorks and gave them something to live up to. And while their hand drawn followers would arrive in a time where animation would change forever, their first official follower to Egypt was none other than The Road to El Dorado.

General Information About The Road to El Dorado

Released in March 2000, The Road to El Dorado was the second of four hand drawn animated features made from DreamWorks before they eventually morphed into their mandatory CGI phase. And yes, it was their first animated feature for the new Millenium. It was directed by Eric "Bibo" Bergeron, Don Paul (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas) and Jeffrey Katzenberg uncredited (who helmed the Disney Renaissance). Some scenes were directed by Will Finn (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin) and David Silverman.

Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (Aladdin, Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean) wrote the screenplay, alongside with Philip LaZebnik (Pocahontas, Mulan, Egypt). The Road to El Dorado features an A-list star cast for it`s two leads, Kevin Kline (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beauty) and Kenneth Brannagh (Cinderella). Rosie Perez, Armand Assante, Edward James Olmos, Jim Cummings, Frank Welker and Duncan Marjoribanks were among the actors. The soundtrack was from none other than from Elton John and Tim Rice, who`s of course known for a certain movie named The Lion King. And the score was from Hans Zimmer and John Powell. Making their first animated collaboration since the feline phenomenon.

But unlike Lion King

, John performed the songs himself in the movie (and yes, where John was also animated for the music video, directed by Joseph Kahn). Being a part of the new trend in animation, where aging rock stars performed the songs for movies, following Tarzan (with the exception of It`s Tough To Be a God, which was performed by Kline and Brannagh).

Katzenberg was also the executive producer. Ronnie del Carmen (Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up), Brenda Chapman (Egypt, Brave), Lorna Cook (Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron, Spies in Disguise), Todd Y. Kurosawa (Lilo & Stitch, Bolt, The Swan Princess) and Simon Wells (Roger Rabbit, Balto, Egypt) were among the storyguys. William Salazar (Balto, Egypt) and James Baxter (Beauty, Hunchback) animated Tulio. Rodolphe Guenoden (who animated Tzipporah in Egypt) animated Chel. Kathy Zielinski (Mermaid, Hunchback) and Duncan Marjoribanks (Mermaid, Aladdin) animated Tzekel-Kan. Kristof Serrand (Balto, Egypt) and Fabio Lignini (Balto, Egypt) animated Altivo and Cortes (Serrand aslo did the final line animation). Pres Romanillos (Pocahontas, Mulan) animated the Jaguar. Klaus Badelt (Caribbean, Catwoman) was the Technical Music Advisor. Sandra Rabins and Penney Finkelman Cox (Antz, Egypt, Shrek) were also a part of this movie, as was Paul Lasaine (Egypt).

The Staple and Reception of The Road to El Dorado

Yes, I`m going to eat it just
like this :) It`s delicious :)

As for the overall staple and reception of The Road to El Dorado, it`s fair to state that it truly serves as a cult movie in every regard. It wasn`t a hit at the Box Office during it`s release and was mostly shunned critcially. Truth to be told, The Prince of Egypt was the only of the quartet of DreamWorks Hand Drawn pictures to achieve criticial and commercial success. And regardless of how DreamWorks managed to make four Hand Drawn movies in a row in a time where animation was slowly changing, El Dorado still managed to gain a slight fanbase through the years.

Yes, I`m (the man below) not
afraid of any of you. Cause
you`re harmless ;)

As for why the critics didn`t like it, they blamed the story, characters and the score. Some thought the pace was too brisk and that it was simply soulless and forgettable. Even the soundtrack didn`t do well either, as it peaked at the 61th spot on Billboard. As for my own personal opinion of El Dorado, it would be relevant to ask if it`s original reception was reserved. While my answer is no, the truth is that despite that El Dorado is a movie that I happen to love a lot, it`s still easy to see it`s flaws. It`s visually splendid, beautifully drawn, exciting and refreshingly funny and breezy (due to how most animated movies at the time were serious epics). But my overall consensus of El Dorado is that is a highly entertaining and enjoyable movie, but also a very flawed movie as well.

Comparisons to Disney Movies With a Similar Premise

I wanted to look smug for this
picture, despite that I`m tired
from my journey :)

A loose adaptation about the legendary, Meso-American myth of the titular city, The Road to El Dorado is essentially a semi-adaptation of a colonial myth (despite how the original story started in the 16th Century and the city was actually in Colombia). And sure, since it`s essentially another exploration of colonists exploring the New World, it would make it comparable to another feature that shares a similar premise, Pocahontas. But while that comparison is of course inevitable, it`s still superfluous. Just like Pocahontas, El Dorado is based on an Native American myth (despite how it`s based on Mayan people, El Dorado was a blend of Incas, Mayan and Aztecs). And just like Pocahontas, it has an interracial romance between a male settler and a Native gal. But unlike Pocahontas, El Dorado touches on the interaction between the Settlers and the Natives briefly, without settling on the colonization (and yes, El Dorado was criticized for it. But the creators didn`t wanted to make the Natives be like noble savages or the Spaniards like civilized saviors). And unlike Pocahontas, El Dorado wasn`t based on a Historical person. And unlike Pocahontas, El Dorado has two White leads and makes the Natives secondary characters (despite how El Dorado remarkably enough has two villains from each culture: Cortes and Tzekel-Kan).

No, you should obey the guy :)
Cause we`re the bosses ;)

And unlike Pocahontas,
El Dorado is a comedy, first and foremost. However, another comparison would`ve of course been The Emperor`s New Groove. For portraying a South American Dynasty. But that comparison is even more superfluous. Despite being set in Latin America, Groove is a rather vague, anacronistic and non-specific depiction of Incan culture. Without truly dwelving into the aspects of the culture (as Kingdom of the Sun would`ve been). However, what Groove has in common with El Dorado is how it`s also a comedy, despite how the El Dorado is visually more polished and has more flair. And also being a buddy picture and having a small set of characters. But unlike El Dorado, Groove doesn`t give the lead character a love interest whatsoever and is centered on a non-White lead. And sure, technically El Dorado would also be comparable to the following Atlantis The Lost Empire, which also had a pretty similar premise: Of a White explorer discovering an ancient, lost culture and a interracial romance.

Comparisons to it`s DreamWorks Counterparts

Since we`re all alone, we can
lay like this :)

In reality,

The Road to El Dorado has the trademarks the DreamWorks animated features had a the time: A bromance between two male leads (who are essentially meant to be scroundlers, despite how Miguel is essentially the most sympathetic of the duo), a female love interest, two cultures clashing (despite how Sinbad Legend of the Seven Seas was very eclectic with it`s cast) and a villlain who doesn`t get defeated. And no matter what you can say about DreamWorks ambitions, at least they shall have genuine praise for their explorations of non-White myths. But El Dorado is first and foremost a buddy picture (cause yes, their dynamic was inspired from Joey and Chandler from Friends). Katzenberg deliberately wanted the movie to be about the sidekicks in animated movies, as opposed to the heroes. For being dysfunctional losers. But it was a challenge to not have them upstaging each other.

Since I`m (Tzekel-Kan)
conceited, I`m not good at
hiding how I`m delighted that
this shot was dedicated to
me :)

However, since

El Dorado was following the heels of The Prince of Egypt, it served as a complete departure from it. But it was a deliberate choice, to balance out the seriousness from the Biblical Egypt. But out of the fabulous four of the DreamWorks features, El Dorado was undoubtly the most gung-ho, frivolous and comedic. And regarding the short-lived trend of rock stars lending their voices to animated features, it`s funny how DreamWorks made two movies that followed the rut in a row (the following would be Spirit). But it was a deliberate choice to have that route. As Disney would at least wait four years before making a movie where artists would lend their voices to a picture, with Brother Bear.

The Flaws of The Road to El Dorado

Yes, I`m (Chel) attracted to
you, despite your size :)

The flaws of The Road to El Dorado lies on the screenplay, with is treated with many issues that are simply not as worked out as they should`ve been. The biggest issue is the langauge barrier: How the Spaniards and the Natives are completely able to understand each other without further question. And yes, it would be easy to frown at the "listen with your heart"-device that was used in Pocahontas (since let`s face it, it was too unrealistic). But at least Pocahontas had a device for it. In El Dorado, there`s really no device for the language-barrier at all, which makes the interaction not belieavable. The conflict between Tzekel-Kan and Chief Tannabok is treated superficially, without delving really into it (which was a deliberate choice from the directors).

We`ve listened to Tarzan Boy
too many times :)

Even Chel`s motivation is never explored or explained (which also was a deliberate choice). The final conflict between Tulio and Miguel is not particularly worked out, since Tulio betrays Miguel and their resolution to their conflict is not particularly satisfying. As Tulio should`ve been the one who mended the executed. And the ending, while having it`s own resonance, feels too abrupt and not particularly well executed. Perhaps these flaws of the screenplay was a result of the problems within the crew and how they pulled the movie in different directions. But as for the final moral to the story, despite how El Dorado is mostly fun and frivoulous, it has a traditional and simplistic with it`s arc for it`s characters (of greed versus anti-greed).

The Sexual Overtones of The Road to El Dorado

Well, this is a dysfunctional
fruit :) Don`t ask me why :)

However, regardless of the structural faults in the screenplay, The Road to El Dorado is also highly notable for one specific thing. For the sexual overtones of the relationship between Tulio and Chel (who`s undoubtly the most sexualized character DreamWorks has ever made). Sure, there`s nothing particularly explicit or graphic about the overtones between them. But it`s still present and not particularaly handled in a subtle way. In that regard, El Dorado truly lives up to it`s PG rating (back when PG rating was particularly a big deal). But in that regard, it would`ve made it instantly comparable to Disney`s Hunchback, for also featuring sexual overtones.

Yes, this is a non-PG way of
seduction, girls :)

However, still both movies treates those issues differently. While Hunchback was rather radical and controversial with it`s sexual content and depitcting a lust from a cynical villain (and Hunchback never even earned a PG rating, as it should`ve have), El Dorado essentially features sexual content between two lovers. Sure, is it particularly kid friendly? Not necessarily. But is it truly elaborate or radical? Not particularly. It is of course questionable to have it in an animated movie pitched for kids.

This is what gold does to ya,
girls :)

But yeah, the sequence was originally much more steamier and was in a bathtub. And yes, Chel was toned down, as she was more sexier and also skinnier. But the crew wanted her as a full-figured woman with a rounder shape and not like the typical beautiful, Disney heroine. When Perez saw the design of Chel, she thought her ancles were too big. And yes, Chel gained some criticism for being a sex toy by Olin Tezcatlipoca, director of Mexica Movement. And sure, the naked butts of Tulio and Miguel are shown (which received some reaction) and Tulio and Miguel`s friendship could`ve been easily interpreted as a gay relationship (which yes, there were more references to. But afterwards thrown away).

Behind the Scenes Information

I wanted to make my eyes
huge. Don`t ask me why :)

The idea for

The Road to El Dorado came from Katzenberg, who gave Elliott and Rossio Hugh Thomas's book Conquest: Montezuma, Cortés and the Fall of Old Mexico. Desiring to make an animated film set in the Age of Discovery. At the spring of 1995, Elliott and Rossio made a treatment inspired by the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby Road to... films with self-interested, comedic anti-heroes who sets out to find the Lost City of Gold after getting a map to its location. Steven Spielberg was involved. Will Finn and David Silverman were originally the film's directors and planned to release it for fall 1999. Originally, the story was conceived as dramatic, due to Katzenberg's urge for large-scale animated films. It was going to be more complex and have deeper characterizations. Which conflicted with the film's lighthearted elements. Originally Miguel was a raunchy Sancho Panza-like character who died, but came back to life, so the natives assumed he was a god. Elliott compared it to the 1999 war comedy Three Kings, which ended with the downfall of the Aztec Empire from Hernán Cortés. And yes, the script had originally our heroes encountering a city that was mistaken for El Dorado and would end tragically.

These are my poses for the
Olympics next year :)

Because of the tone change, the film was put on hold (where it was jokingly referred to as El Dorado: The Lost City on Hold). The crew wanted it to be rated PG-13, but then realized they couldn`t exclude the younger kids. Finn and Silverman left the project in 1998 for disputes over the film's creative direction. And yes, since Groove was on it`s way, Katzenberg wanted El Dorado to be completed before Groove. On August 15, 1998, Kline, Branagh and Perez were cast. Because the animation department was busy with Egypt, the studio devoted more resources on it film than on El Dorado. In 1996, Rice and John were asked to compose seven songs. Rice wrote the lyrics first and gave them to John to compose the music. But the majority of the songs from the first version were thrown out. However, the songs on the soundtrack were different from the versions from the movie. A "Cast & Crew Special Edition" version of the soundtrack exists, but as a promo-only release. And yes, Backstreet Boys sang backing vocals on Friends Never Say Goodbye, uncredited. And The Eagles members Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit sang background vocals on Without Question. The team went to Yucutan Mexico for inspiration, led by archeologist John Pohl. Where they studied ancient Mayan cities of Tulum, Chichen Itza, and Uxmal.

This is our crocodile ritual :)
Don`t ask us why :)

Kline and Brannagh recorded their scenes together, which was urged by the directors. The opening scene was the only purely CGI sequence. Both Tulio and Miguel were deliberately given more color to stick out from the gray environment of Spain. Most of the backgrounds were switched by having traditionally drawn backgrounds and digitally produced. In El Dorado, Kansas, an event was held where the streets were painted gold for the film's home video release. The production took four and a half years and 485 artists from 30 countries. Each director had their own task: Bergeron owersaw the effects, background and color models, while Paul oversaw animation, post-production and recording. Tulio`s design was inspired by John Cleese for his "tall man funny walk" and Nicholas Cage for his masculine build without puffery. The Jaguar was a tricky character and it took two years before they animated it. But the challenge was to have the Maya designs, without being too difficult to animate. Dusty Horner animated it as an organic being and as a hard object, combining both. El Dorado was the first time where artists would take paintings, scan them to the computer and use Adobe Photoshop.

I`m rehearsing for Christina
Milian`s Am to PM video :)

The layout department made over twenty 3D sets on El Dorado more than four times as many as Egypt. But the process was more fun than Egypt, as they didn't have the same technical hurdles that they had. With the "tradigital" platform in place, it had less problems visually than Egypt. But stylistically it's a bolder film. and the use of dialogue in the film is much tighter. For the climatic rafting scene, Doug Ikeler developed a system called Spryticle, to enhance and give details to the waves of water. Which had hand-drawn animation copied to the particle system and put it on the particles. So it multiplied it a thousand fold. And it was inspired by The River Wild with Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon. The animators on the movie actually animated Elton himself of the movie. And it was done in a couple of weeks. El Dorado had the widest release for a cartoon ever at the time, playing in 3,218 theaters in the US. And PDI helped the crew with the CGI.

Epilogue

We were placed between this
standee, to make it kid
friendly :)

At the end, it`s hard to conclude a movie like The Road to El Dorado. A movie that is highly enjoyable, but also hampered by it`s flaws. Is it fair to call it an uneven film? Yes. But is it fair to call it a broken film? Perhaps no. Regardless of my previous statements of it`s aforementioned flaws, the truth is that I do have my soft spot for it. I genuinely loved it when I saw it for the first time in the middle of my teens. And loved it on DVD when I got it the following and frankly still do love it as an adult. For it`s aforementioned strengths and also, for most properties, for nostalgia. As for it`s other strengths, I do like the songs (well, at least El Dorado, The Trail We Blaze and Without Question) despite how they`re not as great as those from The Lion King. And the score from Zimmer and Powell is really good, too.

Since I`m (Chel) the woman, I
should be in the middle. For
obvious reasons, duuuh :)

And yes, since it`s regarded as a cult classic, there are many who considers it to be underrated. It would be tempting to wonder if it`s ever going to escape that latter staple, despite how it`s now received it`s status as a cult classic. But while that being said, since this entry was meant to synergize it`s 25th Anniversary (yes, it`s hard to believe that for someone who was in the middle of his puberty that this movie is now that old), there`s nothing else to wish The Road to El Dorado Happy 25th Anniversary and may you continue to have many more.