The Road to El Dorado

Directed by:	Bibo Bergeron Don Paul
Written by:	Ted Elliott Terry Rossio Philip LaZebnik
Release date:	March 31, 2000
Running time:	89 minutes

The Road to El Dorado is a 2000 animated comedy film released by DreamWorks Pictures and the second film to be hand-drawn animation, the first being The Prince of Egypt. Harry Gregson-Williams the music score. He collaborated with Alan Silvestri. The soundtrack features songs by Elton John and Alice Cooper. The film only airs on The WB around the time of Christmas.

Plot

In Spain 1519, two con artists, Tulio (voiced by Kevin Kline) and Miguel (Kenneth Branagh) win a map to the legendary City of Gold, El Dorado, in a rigged gambling match. Accused of cheating and getting chased by a bull, the two evade capture and hide in barrels, which are shortly loaded onto one of the ships to be led by Hernan Cortes (Jim Cummings) to the New World. During the trip, they are caught as stowaways, but manage to break free and take a rowboat with the help of Cortes' horse, Altivo (vocal effects by Frank Welker). They land at an unknown shore at the edge of South America, and Miguel begins to recognize landmarks stated on the map. The map leads them to a relief outside of a waterfall. As they try to decipher the markings on the relief, a young woman approaches them, chased by a number of guards. The guards see the image of Tulio and Miguel riding Altivo as the same on the relief, and believing them to be gods, escort them and the woman under the falls and into El Dorado, truly a city made of gold.

Tulio and Miguel are brought to the city's elders, Chief Tannabok (Edward James Olmos) and wicked medicine man Tzekel-Kan (Armand Assante). While Tannabok warmly welcomes them to the city, Tzekel-Kan mainly sees them as a way to enhance his own standing. After celebrations offered by both Tannabok and Tzekel-Kan, the two are taken to private quarters along with the woman, Chel (Rosie Perez), who has seen through their ploy but offers to help maintain it as long as they take her with them when they leave. Tulio tells Tannabok the next day they are only here for a visit, but will need a boat built to leave the city with the gifts the city has showered them with; Tannabok says it will take them a few days to construct a vessel. As they spend time with the locals, Miguel finds the city peaceful and expresses interest in staying. Chel encourages Miguel to continue to explore the city, allowing her to become closer to Tulio. When Tzekel-Kan sees Miguel playing Tlatchli (an ancient South American ball game ), with children, he demands that the gods play against the city's best players. During the match, Tulio and Miguel are clearly over-matched, but Chel replaces the ball with a rolled-up armadillo, allowing the two to cheat and win the game. During the match, Tzekel-Kan sees a small cut on Miguel's forehead, and realizes that they are not gods. To show this to the rest of the city, Tzekel-Kan conjures a giant stone jaguar to chase them through the city. Though somewhat intimidated at first, Tulio and Miguel manage to outwit the stone jaguar, causing both it and Tzekel-Kan to fall into a giant whirlpool, thought to be the entrance to Xibalba, the spirit world. Tzekel-Kan comes to outside El Dorado, where Cortes and his men are searching for gold. Tzekel-Kan, thinking Cortes is a god (a reference to the fall of the Inca Empire), quickly offers to lead them to El Dorado.

With their boat completed and loaded with treasures, Tulio is ready to leave but Miguel announces that he will be staying. As Tulio and Chel start to leave, they spot smoke on the horizon, realizing that Cortes and his men are quickly approaching the city with the help from Tzekel-Kan, hoping to take it over. To protect the city from the Spanish troops, Tulio determines they can use the boat to slam against rock formations under the waterfall path that will cave in and block access to the city, but they will need to give the boat enough speed to do so. The city's residents start to pull down a large statue to create a wave to propel the boat, but Tulio cannot get the sails up to give the boat enough speed to avoid the statue. Miguel forgoes his chance to stay in the city and jumps into the boat with Altivo to finish hoisting the sails. The boat clears the statue in time, and Tulio's plan is successful; though the boat and its treasures are lost, the entrance to El Dorado is sealed for good. Tulio, Miguel, Chel, and Altivo hide as Tzekel-Kan brings Cortes and his men towards the waterfall. Once Tzekal-Kan finds out that the entrance has been blocked, an angry Cortes takes this as a lie, and orders his men to place Tzekel-Kan into custody for leading them for nothing. Cortes and his men then march away with a humiliated Tzekel-Kan in their hands. Tulio, Miguel, and Chel, though disappointed they lost their treasure, take off in a different direction for a new adventure, unaware that Altivo still wears the golden horseshoes he was outfitted with in the city, and prefers to keep that fact to himself.

Cast

• Kevin Kline - Tulio. He and Miguel are con artists who pretend to be gods so they can get gold. He is the planner who wanted to leave El Dorado with the treasure. He falls in love with Chel, a beautiful woman from El Dorado. Miguel is his best friend.
• Kenneth Branagh - Miguel. He is the fun-loving one who wanted to stay in El Dorado. Tulio is his best friend.
• Rosie Perez - Chel. A beautiful young woman from El Dorado who discovers Tulio and Miguel's con and plays along with their con. In exchange, she will return to Spain with them and get some of the gold. She falls in love with Tulio.
• Jim Cummings - Hernán Cortés- the merciless and ambitious leader of the expedition to find El Dorado. Cummings also plays additional voices.
• Armand Assante - Tzekel-Kan- the fanatically insane medicine man who has a fixation for human sacrifices and black magic.
• Edward James Olmos - Chief Tannabok. He is the kind chief who welcomes Tulio and Miguel.
• Tobin Bell - Zaragoza
• Frank Welker - Altivo- Cortés' horse who ends up teaming up with Tulio and Miguel.
• Duncan Marjoribanks - Acolyte - Tzekel-Kan's henchman
• Bibo - An armadillo that travels to El Dorado with Miguel and Tulio.

Trivia

• The movie was intended to start a series, but because of poor box office results, the sequels were cancelled.

• Voice artists in animated movies usually record their parts alone, with no other actors in the studio with them. In a break with this tradition, Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh recorded their dialogue together.
• The Road to El Dorado was a challenge for the studio because most of its creative efforts were used in The Prince of Egypt.

DREAMWORKS PICTURES

Presents

"THE ROAD TO EL DORADO"

Directed by

ERIC "BIBO" BERGERON, MIKE NAWROCKI, CHRIS OLSEN, DON PAUL, BRIAN K. ROBERTS, RONALD SMITH, PHIL VISCHER

Produced by....BROOKE BRETON, JENNIFER COMBS, CHRIS OLSEN, AMEAKE OWENS, BONNE RADFORD

Executive Producer.............................................................................................................JEFFREY KATZENBERG

Co-Executive Producer.................................................................................................................BILL DAMASCHKE

Written by......................................................TED ELLIOTT, MIKE NAWROCKI, TERRY ROSSIO, PHIL VISCHER

Created by...........................................................................................................MIKE NAWROCKI, PHIL VISCHER

Original Songs Music and Lyrics by....................................................................................ELTON JOHN, TIM RICE

Musical Score Composed by........................JOHN POWELL, KURT HEINECKE, PHIL VISCHER, HANS ZIMMER

Production Designer.....................................................................................................CHRISTIAN SCHELLEWALD

Art Directors

PAUL LASAINE, DANIEL LOPEZ-MUNOZ, WENDELL LUEBBE, JOSEPH SAPULICH, RAYMOND ZIBACH

Supervising Editors............................................................................................JOHN CARNOCHAN, DAN MOLINA

Editors......................................................................................................................VICKI HIATT, MIKE NAWROCKI

Supervising Director........................................................................................................................TOM BANCROFT

Production Managers..................................................................JENNIFER COMBS, JILL HOPPER, MARK SWIFT

Artistic Supervisors

Story Artists..............................................................................RONNIE DEL CARMEN, TIM HODGE, JEFF SNOW

Animation Director...............................................................................................................................CHRIS OLSEN

Animation...................................................................................................................................KRISTOF SERRAND

Layout................................................................................................LORENZO E. MARTINEZ, DAMON O'BEIRNE

Scene Planning...........................................................................................DAVID MOREHEAD, JAMES WILLIAMS

Background...................................................................................................................................KEVIN TURCOTTE

Final Line...................................................................................................................................KRISTOF SERRAND

Color Models........................................................................................................................DAVID SVEND KAROLL

Digital Supervisor...................................................................................................................................DAN PHILIPS

3D Effects..............................................................................................................................................BUD MYRICK

2D Effects.......................................................................................................................................STEPHEN WOOD

2D Digital Effects...................................................................................................................................JANE GOTTS

Scanning....................................................................................................................................STUART CAMPBELL

Animation/Digital/Final Check...................................................................................PAT SITO, SHAUNA STEVENS

Digital Paint.......................................................................................................................................JILLIAN TUDOR

Music Supervisor.....................................................................................................................MARYLATA E. JACOB

Casting by....................................................................................................................................LESLEE FELDMAN

Costume Designer............................................................................................................................KELLY KIMBALL

Big Idea Top Tomato...........................................................................................................................PHIL VISCHER

Additional Sequences Directed by...........................................................................WILL FINN, DAVID SILVERMAN

VOICE TALENT

Tulio.......................................................................................................................................................KEVIN KLINE

Miguel.......................................................................................................................................KENNETH BRANAGH

Chel......................................................................................................................................................ROSIE PEREZ

Tzekel-Kan..................................................................................................................................ARMAND ASSANTE

Chief..................................................................................................................................EDWARD JAMES OLMOS

Cortes................................................................................................................................................JIM CUMMINGS

Altivo................................................................................................................................................FRANK WELKER

Zaragoza.................................................................................................................................................TOBIN BELL

Acolyte.............................................................................................................................DUNCAN MARJORIBANKS

Kid #1................................................................................................................................................ELIJAH CHIANG

Kid #2.......................................................................................................................................CYRUS SHAKI-KHAN

Narrator.................................................................................................................................................ELTON JOHN

Cast for English - language version only

STORY

Additional Dialogue by............................................................................................................KAREY KIRKPATRICK

Additional Screenplay Materials by...............................................................................................PHILLIP LaZEBNIK

Storyboard Artists

REJEAN BOURDAGES, DAVID BOWERS, LUIS CONTRERAS, PAUL FISHER, EDMUND FONG, TIM HODGE, VICTORIA JENSON, JENNIFER LEREW, TED MATHOR, DOUGLAS McCARTHY, DONALD MORGAN, SCOTT SANTORO, BRIAN SHEESLEY, DAVID SOREN

Additional Story Artists

RANDY CARTWRIGHT, BRENDA CHAPMAN, LORNA COOK, SYLVAIN DEBOISSY, JAMES FUJII, JURGEN GROSS, STEVE HICKNER, TIM HODGE, ERIC KOENING, TODD Y. KUROSAWA, TONY LEONDIS, STEVEN MARKOWSKI, HENRY MAYO, KEVIN O'BRIEN, CONRAD VERNON, FRANS VISCHER, SIMON WELLS

CHARACTER DESIGN

3D Design Manager...........................................................................................................................STEVE FULLER

Character Designers........................TOM BANCROFT, CARLOS GRANGEL, NICOLAS MARLET, TONY SIRUNO

Additional Character Design.............................................................................................................JAMES WILSON

Character Sculptors.............................................................................................DUSTY HORNER, KENT MELTON

Character Model Sculptor.................................................................................................RAFFAELLO VECCHIONE

VISUAL DEVELOPMENT/DESIGN

Additional Production Design......................................................................................................VICTORIA JENSON

Additional Art Director.........................................................................................................................SAM MICHLAP

Sequence Designers..........................................................................................SETH ENGSTROM, DAVID JAMES

Visual Stylist...............................................................................................................................KRISTEN HENSHEN

Sets Designer..........................................................................................................................DANIEL CACOUAULT

Background Key Designer...................................................................................................................MARC LUMER

Senior Environmental Designer.......................................................................................................BRIDGETTE LEE

Prop Designer...............................................................................................................................HANI D. EL MASRI

Senior Concept Designers................................................................DANIEL LOPEZ-MUNOZ, JOSEPH SAPULICH

Visual Development Concept Illustrators/Artists

DENNIS BREDOW, DIDIER CONRAD, LUC DESMARCHELIER, DAREK GOGOL, CRAIG MULLINS, CHRIS OLSEN, BRUCE ZICK

Key Background Stylist......................................................................................................................FRED WARTER

Pre-Visualist......................................................................................................................................WILL X. RIVERA

Visual Consultant.....................................................................................................................................JOHN POHL

CHARACTER ANIMATION

TULIO

Voice......................................................................................................................................................KEVIN KLINE

Senior Supervising Animator............................................................................................................JAMES BAXTER

Supervising Animator...................................................................................................................WILLIAM SALAZAR

Animators

CLAUDIO ACCIARI, CINZIA ANGELINI, CECILE BENDER, ARNAUD BERTHIER, JENNIFER CARDON, RICK FARMILOE, LIONEL GALLAT, STEVE HORROCKS, JAKOB HJORT JENSEN, FABRICE JOUBERT, KEN MORRISSEY, KEVIN O'HARA, PEDRO RAMOS, EMIL SIMEONOV, DAN WAGNER, ALEX WILLIAMS, SCOTT WRIGHT

Rough Inbetweeners...........................................................ERIK CHICHESTER, CAMERON HOOD, ERIK KUSKA

MIGUEL

Voice........................................................................................................................................KENNETH BRANAGH

Senior Supervising Animator.......................................................................................................DAVID BREWSTER

Supervising Animators...............................................................................SERGUEI KOUCHNEROV, BOB SCOTT

Animators

DAVID B. BOUDREAU, ADAM BURKE, CLAIRE MORRISSEY, ANTHONY GRAY, RICHARD SANGUOON KIM, BRAD KUHA, ROBERT MILNE, TOM OWENS, JEAN-FRANCOIS REY, ERIK C. SCHMIDT, ANDREA SIMONTI, DIMOS VRYSELLAS, ERIC WALLS

Rough Inbetweener....................................................................................................................ARTHUR VALENCIA

CHEF

Voice....................................................................................................................................................ROSIE PEREZ

Supervising Animator.........................................................................................................RODOLPHE GUENODEN

Animators

MANUEL ALMELA, BRUCE FERRIZ, BO JOHANNESSON, DAVE KUPCZYK, PHILIPPE LE BRUN, CLAIRE MORRISSEY, MIKE NGUYEN, JANE POOLE

Rough Inbetweener......................................................................................................................XAVIER RIFFAULT

TZEKEI-KAN

Voice...........................................................................................................................................ARMAND ASSANTE

Supervising Animator.....................................................................................................................KATHY ZIELINSKI

Animators

ROBERT BRYAN, MIKE CHAVEZ, EMANUELA COZZI, RICARDO CURTIS, TIM GEORGE, STEVE HORROCKS, DUNCAN MORJORIBANKS, GARY PERKOVAC, JEAN-FRANCOIS REY, MARK WILLIAMS

Rough Inbetweener..........................................................................................................................BANG WON LEE

CHIEF

Voice.................................................................................................................................EDWARD JAMES OLMOS

Supervising Animator......................................................................................................................FRANS VISCHER

Animators

DAN BOULOS, KENT CULOTTA, MAXIMILLAN GRAENITZ, TERESA MARTIN, SYLVIA MULLER

ALTIVO/CORTES

Voice of Cortes..................................................................................................................................JIM CUMMINGS

Supervising Animator.................................................................................................................KRISTOF SERRAND

Animators

OLIVIER COIPEL, CATHERINE FERADAY, LUIS GRANE, FABIO LIGNINI, MARY ANN MALCOMB, SIMON OTTO

Animating Assistant.......................................................................................................MARIATERESA SCARPONE

Rough Inbetweener..............................................................................................................MARC BASCOUGNANO

JAGUAR

Supervising Animator................................................................................................................SYLVAIN DEBOISSY

Animator....................................................................................................................................PRES ROMANILLOS

Animating Assistant.....................................................................................................................GREG WHITTAKER

ARMADILLO

Supervising Animator....................................................................................................................NICOLAS MARLET

SAILORS/BALL PLAYERS

Supervising Animator........................................................................................................................PATRICK MATE

Senior Animator................................................................................................................................RONALD SMITH

CG Character Animators

MARK BEHM, MICHAEL B. COMET, THOMAS DANEN, ROBERT DOLLASE, ROBERT ELLIS, THOM FALTER, ADAM HOLMES, HEATHER JONES, TIM LANNON, MICHAEL LAUBACH, JOSEPH "MOTHER BRAIN" McFADDEN, MIKE NAWROCKI, CHRIS OLSEN, JOSEPH SHAW, RONALD SMITH, PHIL VISCHER

Animation T.D............................................................................................................................MICHAEL B. COMET

Animation Generalists.....................................................MARK BEHM, MICHAEL B. COMET, ROBERT DOLLASE

Lead Rigger...............................................................................................................................MICHAEL B. COMET

Riggers...............................................................................................................MARK BEHM, MICHAEL LAUBACH

Lead Modeler.......................................................................................................................DANIEL LOPEZ-MUNOZ

Modelers

MARK BEHM, ADAM HOLMES, BILL JACOBY, MICHAEL LAUBACH, MIKE SANDERSON, SEUNGYOUB (KULL) SHIN

Additional Modelers....................................JOSEPH "MOTHER BRAIN" McFADDEN, SEUNGYOUB (KULL) SHIN

Texture Artists.....................DENNIS BREDOW, BILL JACOBY, MIKE SANDERSON, SEUNGYOUB (KULL) SHIN

Layout Artists.............................................................................................................TIM LANNON, YIN-FANG LIAO

Master Lighting Artist..................................................................................................................LUKE MARTORELLI

Lighting Artists............................................................ADAM HOLMES, MICHAEL LAUBACH, LUKE MARTORELLI

FX Artists...............................................................................MARK BEHM, ADAM HOLMES, MICHAEL LAUBACH

Compositor........................................................................................................................................ADAM HOLMES

Render Compositor.........................................................................................................................LESLY BENODIN

Assistant Editor................................................................................................................................DAVID WATSON

Sound Editor...................................................................................................................................MIKE NAWROCKI

Dialogue Breakdown......................................................................................BRIDGET MILLER, MIKE NAWROCKI

Re-Release Project Coordinator..................................................................................................JENNIFER COMBS

Production Coordinator

Visual Development.......................................................................................................................ANDREW YOUSSI

Production Assistant

Visual Development....................................................................................................................AMANDA FRAGALE

Visual Development.......................................................................................................................ANDREW YOUSSI

Assistants

Administrative Assistant in the Executive Offices/Assistant to Michael Hagerty...............................JANET GOGINS

Database Development Architect..................................................................................................LENNIE JARRATT

Data Analyst..........................................................................................................................................GILES DAVIS

Render Lead................................................................................................HOWARD "BUDDY" WILLIAM LEWIS III

Render Wranglers.....................................................................LESLY BENODIN, KEN GREENE, ADAM HOLMES

Software Developers.................................................................LESLY BENODIN, KEN GREENE, ADAM HOLMES

Project Coordinator......................................................................................................................ADELIA ERICKSON

Image Handling.............................................ROBERT ELLIS, MIKE NAWROCKI, CHRIS OLSEN, PHIL VISCHER

Lead Integration Installation Technician........................................................................................SHARI A. MARTIN

Senior Systems Administrator...................................................................................................JOSEPH RICE, Ph.D.

Studio Systems Administrators..................................MICHAEL HARRISON, BOB LANDON, JOSEPH RICE, Ph.D.

Chief Entertainment Oficer and Chief Creative Officer.......................................................................PHIL VISCHER

Corporate Trainer...................................................................................................................MARIE FIELDS, P.H.R.

Vice President of Theatrical Marketing.....................................................................................................KRIS FUHR

General Manager............................................................................................................................ANTHONY FORD

Marketing Writer.....................................................................................................................CHRISTOPHER BUNN

Marketing/Customer Service Representative Director...........................................................................JOSIE GUTH

Senior Marketing Brand Manager................................................................................ROZELDA (ZEL) PETERSON

Marketing Project Coordinator/Design Studio.......................................................................................PAIGE CRAIG

Marketing Assistant......................................................................................................................PAULA HARTZLER

Vice President of Design......................................................................................................................KAREN POTH

Design Manager....................................................................................................................................JOHN TRENT

Senior Marketing Designer...............................................................................................................MARK FRANKEL

Vice President Director of Licensing and Development.........................................................................BILL HALJUN

Architect and Director of Development...............................................................................................AMY HOWARD

CBA Licensing Manager/Director of CBA Sales and Marketing.........................................WILLIAM "BILL" REEVES

Director of Recruiting and Staffing..............................................................................................................JANA DAY

Staffing/Facillities/University Leader/Director and Facility Supervisor and Training Coordinator

TIMOTHY MEIDL, M.S.E.

Finance

Manager of Corporate Consolidations, Budgets and Plans............................................................GARY JOHNSON

Financial Analyst...................................................................................................................AMY VAN DER MOLEN

Executive Director.................................................................................................................................JHANA LOWE

Special Ed Parapro..........................................................................................................................LAURA SCHUPP

Landscape Architecture Intern.................................................................................................ELIZABETH BOWLER

Design

Senior Designer...............................................................................................................................PAULA SANDOR

Character Artist/Illustrator...................................................................................................................GREG HARDIN

Production Artist............................................................................................................................RODNEY PAYTON

Design Studio Project Coordinator....................................................................................................DIANA CRABBE

Core Markets

Core Markets Intern...............................................................................................................REBECCA PETERSON

Licensing

Licensing Liason.........................................................................................................................ANGELICA GARCIA

Content Consultants and Educational Advisors..............................................SCOTTIE MAY Ed.D., LISA VISCHER

Vice President of Production..................................................................................................DAN "AWOG" PHILIPS