Dreamworks’ latest foray into animation is the result of an interesting idea.  Jeffrey Katzenberg and company decided to take the best aspect of recently successful animated films – the wisecracking sidekick – and build a film around this scene-stealing cut-up.  And just to drive the hilarity home, the writers used two of these class clowns as the main characters in The Road to El Dorado.  I can picture well-dressed executives greedily rubbing their hands together while visualizing coffers full of doubloons at the mere thought of a film with two hammy leads.  Think of how great a movie would be with Eddie Murphy’s Mushu (from Mulan) and Danny DeVito’s Philoctetes (from Hercules) as the two main characters.

Okay, El Dorado isn’t that great.  The two leads (Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh) are funny, but not over-the-top enough to ruin the film.  The slick animation is on par with Dreamworks’ last traditionally animated film, The Prince of Egypt, but the story is much more formulaic than its predecessor.  And to top things off, the sidekick in El Dorado still steals the show.  

El Dorado begins in 1519 Spain, where soon-to-be-legendary explorer Cortes (Jim Cummings, the voice of Tigger and Winnie the Pooh in The Tigger Movie) is about to set sail for the New World, which he intends to conquer for Spain.  In addition, Cortes plans to find and plunder El Dorado, the legendary City of Gold.  He’s a big meanie and points out that his crew was selected more carefully “than Christ’s apostles.”  Imagine that job interview.

Meanwhile, two lightweight hoodwinks - Miguel and Tulio (Kenneth Branagh and Kevin Kline from Wild Wild West) - shoot craps with loaded dice in a crowded Spanish alley.  Like Jack Dawson in Titanic, they win an unusual pot that includes a map to the City of Gold.  Before long their deception is discovered and, during their escape, the two men accidentally end up on Cortes’ ship.  Before they can escape, the ship is already well into its voyage across the Atlantic.  With the help of Altivo, Cortes’ faithful horse, Miguel and Tulio manage to procure a rowboat and steal away in the darkness of night.  With the horse.

After rowing around in circles for days, the trio finally reaches terra firma.  Of course, the particular spot they land on is the precise location that corresponds to the start point on the map to the City of Gold.  So Miguel, Tulio and Altivo make their way through the jungle and mountains and eventually find the city, which is run by the typical friendly fat guy (Edward James Olmos, Selena) whose second-in-command is the typical evil skinny guy that wants to be in charge (Armand Assante, The Odyssey).

Thanks to an ancient legend and a healthy dose of dumb luck, the people of El Dorado mistake Miguel and Tulio for gods.  The men want to stay just long enough to pilfer all the gold they can carry from the trusting inhabitants, and are able to fit in with the help of a local con woman that looks like a porn star (Rosie Perez, It Could Happen To You).  Even though they have to hit the road before Cortes and his men find the city, Miguel and Tulio have a hard time leaving their new luxurious lifestyle.

If El Dorado seems more Disney-ish to you than Egypt did, it’s because most of the filmmakers here were pilfered from the Mouse House.  The film’s three directors (Robert “Bibo” Bergeron, Will Finn and Don Paul) worked on A Goofy Movie, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Pocahontas, respectively.  The music in El Dorado comes from the writing team responsible for The Lion King, and features five new songs performed by Sir Elton John.  There’s also one of those Disney animating secrets that animates - I swear to God - a bull with a nutsack the size of Rhode Island.  If you don’t see it, wait for the DVD.

The voice work is fine all around.  Kline and Branagh sound like they had a great time working on this project, and Perez’s voice isn’t the screeching nasal nightmare you’re used to hearing.  She’s much more restrained and, as a result, her voice is quiet and – gulp – almost soothing.

Now there’s something I never thought I would say.

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