Tulio & Miguel are 2 con artists who have always dreamt about having an adventure of a lifetime. They also dream of being stinking rich too! When they win a map during a dice game, their luck changes & they are set for adventure. The map is one that leads to the legendary city of gold … El Dorado.
Whilst being chased by a group of thugs that didn’t like being cheated out of their money, Tulio & Miguel end up stowing away aboard a Spanish warship. The ship belongs to Cortes, a conquistador who’s out to find new lands & pillage them in the name of Spain. The 2 misfits are found & thrown in the ship’s brig, to be flogged a few times & then sold as slaves in Cuba.
Fate has it that Miguel & Tulio escape with the help of Cortes’ war-horse Altivo & they end up washed up on the shore of a beautiful island. Now their quest for El Dorado begins! Before long they bump into the beautiful, sexy & very manipulative Chel. Chel’s a native who’s stolen from her tribe & is on the run from them. Watch Miguel & Tulio change from misfits into misfit gods & have plenty of laughs along the way!
That’s all of the story that I’m going to tell you as I don’t want to totally ruin it for anyone who has been silly enough not to have seen this film!
There’s fun, laughter, frolics, danger & mayhem all the way through the film as Miguel & Tulio set off for El Dorado. Enjoy listening to the brilliant songs that are littered throughout the film which add energy & excitement at the right times.
Songs that you’ll here in the film are:
El Dorado .. Performed by Elton John
The trail we blaze .. Performed by Elton John
It’s tough to be a god .. Performed by Kevin Kline & Kenneth Brannagh
Without question .. Performed by Elton John
Friends never say goodbye .. Performed by Elton John
Someday out of the blue .. Performed by Elton John
The mixture of Brannagh & Kline results in totally brilliant characters that really would normally be sidekicks to a main character, but have deserved a film of their own! They are just hilariously funny from start to finish!
The directors picked a lot of serious actor types to voice the characters but it really paid off. Here are the voice listings for you.
Tulio .. Kevin Kline (enjoys knocking Miguel’s dreams into the dust & is a bit of a realist.)
Miguel .. Kenneth Brannagh (a real dreamer that’s always got his head in the clouds.)
Chel .. Rosie Perez (a real beauty that’s manipulative, streetwise & knows what she wants.)
Chief Tanni .. Edward James Olmos (a warm hearted guy that’s got his tribe’s interests at heart.)
Tzekel-Khan .. Armand Assante (the local High Priest who’s witty, but blood thirsty.)
Cortes .. Jim Cummings (the Spanish conquistador who’s after new lands & all their riches. Really mean.)
Altivo .. Frank Welker (the war-horse with a sense of humour & loads of intelligence & courage.)
The special effects & mixture of live filming together with animation is fantastic to say the least & DreamWorks has pulled off another first with this film. It’s just a lively film that will have you laughing all the way through it!
As this is the DVD version it wouldn’t be complete without a run down of the ‘Extras’ that you can find on the disc & there’s some good ones to be found!
Directors’ Commentary .. Here’s where the 2 directors give you a run down of various scenes of the film & what it took to film them. I found this a very interesting bit.
Scene Selection .. There’s 4 scenes for you to watch & analyse at your leisure. This is where you get to see the scenes in there glory.
Behind The Scenes .. A great feature that will have you glued whilst it’s on! See how the cast voiced the characters. There’s some really funny stuff here from Brannagh & Kline! Watch out for radio room sword fights & a few other bits & bobs.
Basics Of Animation .. Learn how animation is done. It’s amazing the amount of work that is put in by the various crewmembers. Well worth watching, as you’ll really be amazed at how the film is put together.
Elton John Music Video .. The video to the song ‘Someday out of the blue’. See Elton transformed from man to cartoon & enjoy his brilliant voice.
Theatrical Trailer .. Watch the trailer that advertised the film in the cinemas & the television.
In all & like I’ve said a few times in my op, this is a truly great animated film from DreamWorks that will have you riveted from start to finish. There’s special effects galore, wonderful music & songs, fun, laughter, love & loads more that will help you to really enjoy the film.
Marks out of 10 would have to be 30. The kids gave it a more realistic score of 100, which was after watching the film 4 times in a row! If you’re a big kid or a little kid you will love El Dorado!
UK offers Woolworth’s is selling it at £16.99 at the moment & the video version is £12.99. There’s also the offer of getting Mouse Hunt with it for an extra £2.99.
What are you waiting for … GO GET IT & ENJOY!!