YMMV / The Road to El Dorado

• All Animation Is Disney: Like with the other hand-drawn DreamWorks films, this film is sometimes mistaken for a Disney movie. In fact, one of the first things that pop up for the movie on a Google search is questions of whether the movie was made by Disney or not. The fact that Katzenberg brought over some of the Production Posse who worked on The Lion King and Aladdin adds to the confusion.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • What kind of villain was Tzekel-Kan? A Well-Intentioned Extremist who wanted to cleanse the city of all evil? Or a blood-hungry sadist, using the ancient texts as an excuse to carry out his sick desires?
  • Or, for that matter, what was the chief's goal? Was he just a kind-hearted man who respected Miguel and Tulio despite knowing they weren't the gods they pretended to be, or did he see them as an opportunity to win power away from Tzekel-Kan? It also may have been a little of both; perhaps he saw them as better religious leaders than the high priest.
• Audience-Alienating Premise: The film is an homage to the Road to ... films starring two Spanish thieves who find the titular city and get mistaken for gods. Further complicating things is that, like many other animated movies that suffer from this trope, it can't decide whether it wants to appeal mainly to kids or adults. (Though a combination of this and bad marketing did lead to the movie failing at the box office, it largely contributed to the film's Cult Classic status). Kevin Koch, an assistant animator, cited this trope as part of the reason for the film's lack of success.
• Awesome Art: El Dorado is absolutely GORGEOUS, appropriate enough for a golden city. The rest of the film is no slouch either, from the busy Spanish ports to the lush, verdant Central American jungle.
  • The opening sequence deserves a special mention, as it is depicted through striking, fast-moving Mayan-inspired animation.
• Best Known for the Fanservice: It goes without saying that the character of Chel is easily more popular than the movie itself; go to any DeviantArt page of Chel fanart, and see how many commenters claim that they have never seen the film but love Chel. She's even become a popular cosplay choice, thanks to her official outfit being its own Sexy Whatever Outfit, and thus easy to pass as both "sexy" while still being movie-accurate, as well as being relatively easy to make (it doesn't even need any shoes). Special mention goes to the scene where she and Tulio make out and, due to the way it's animated, it's implied that she gave him a blowjob. Not many non-adult animated movies have implied sex scenes.
• Comedy Ghetto: Another reason why the film bombed at the box office and didn't do well with critics is that compared to The Prince of Egypt, it is more humor-driven.
• Complete Monster: Tzekel-Kan is the power-hungry and sadistic High Priest of Eldorado, who fanatically practices human sacrifice despite the protests of his people. Mistaking Miguel and Tulio, who arrived in the city, for gods, Tzekel-Kan tries to sacrifice citizens for their favor, like a random innocent citizen or a sports team after a loss. When his plan to "cleanse" the city of non-believers fails and he learns that Miguel and Tulio are not gods, Kahn brings the Jaguar statue to life, sacrificing his most loyal servant before setting him on Tulio and Miguel, not caring that all the city and its inhabitants are in mortal danger. Defeated and miraculously surviving, Tzekel-Kan decides to lead Hernán Cortés and his army to his city, willing to allow him to massacre his entire people and destroy El Dorado, as evil revenge for his defeat.
• Cry for the Devil: Tzekel-Kan is not a nice man, being a bloodthirsty sacrifice fanatic with a deep misanthropy that manifests in a desire to brutally cleanse the world of anyone he deems "wicked". His ultimate fate is still all shades of messed up, with more than a few viewers feeling bad that an Indigenous man, no matter how evil, is dragged off by Spanish Conquistadors for slavery or death while said Conquistadors will colonize the continent.
• Cult Classic: Received mediocre reviews and pulled in some poor numbers at the box office during its initial release, and several crew members have revealed that making the film was no picnic either. However, those who saw it in theaters or on home video as children have fond memories of it for its quotable dialogue, as well as the fact that it was one of the only traditionally-animated American films from The Millennium Age of Animation.
• Die for Our Ship: There used to be a site just for Chel haters, and many people on fanart and fanfic sites do give this reason for hating her. That, and that she's a "slut". That the one relationship she has in the film is with Tulio exclusively and pretty enthusiastically mutual, her mode of dress is hardly out-of-place in her home, and Miguel flirts lightly with most of the women he stands near never cross their minds.
• Fair for Its Day: At the time of the film's release, Chel was actually lauded as a feminist character: she was clever, independent and confident in her sexuality, and tagged along the male main characters following her own agency and desire for power (as a review stated, Chel's voice actress Rosie Perez "savours her feminist babe's moments in the spotlight, wrapping the men around her tanned little finger with her alluring sexuality"). Many years later, with the change in sensibilities about what exactly qualifies as feminist, she was gradually seen as its exact opposite, as people started focusing more on her being a highly sexualized character, uncomfortably stereotyped as a sexy native, and carrying what was perceived as sexist traits. While she has remained a fan favorite, she doesn't hold the same connotations anymore, and mentions about it tend to cause debate.
• Fanfic Fuel: With the main concept of the movie being Those Two Guys starring as the main characters, some people like to imagine different stories with scenarios involving Miguel and Tulio as comic relief characters.
• Fanwork-Only Fans: With Chel being more popular than the movie itself, you can expect to find fans who only know the movie through fan art and cosplays of her and not even know what the movie is about.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Disney's Tangled came out 10 years later. Flynn and Maximus look like Tulio and Altivo. Plus there's the "wanted" poster at the beginning that looks like Flynn's.
  • Others have also jokingly compared Miguel and Tulio to Thor and Loki, which means they are gods. Especially funny since Miguel directed the first movie.
  • Zaragoza, the sailor who Miguel and Tulio win the map from at the beginning, is voiced by Tobin Bell. So him challenging Miguel and Tulio to one more game could've gone very differently.
• Ho Yay: And how! The relationship between Tulio and Miguel is extremely close, on the level of Like an Old Married Couple. From their naked bathing together and Miguel's jealousy at Tulio and Chel to their ability to communicate ideas without speech and Miguel's use of "the face" on Tulio, along with how very comfortable they are in each other's company. Indeed, some argue that the film works best if you go through it under the assumption that the two are repressed (or even not so repressed) homosexuals. It also spawned a (false) rumor that they were originally written as a gay couple and Chel was added in later (which was debunked when early model sheets and test footage popped up on the internet).
• LGBT Fanbase: In addition to the borderline homoeroticism mentioned above, Miguel and Tulio get as many shirtless scenes (and at least one where they're completely naked, with a quick glimpse of their bare asses no less) as Chel does of shots focusing on her butt, and this "equal opportunity" fanservice has made the film very popular among bisexuals.
• Memetic Mutation: Has its own page.
• Moral Event Horizon: Initially, some of Tzekel-Kan's unpleasant traits can be explained away by the in-universe culture clash even though he is a bit too enthusiastic about the grislier aspects of it. In fact, he is livid with passion about sacrificing his own people despite the gods' lack of interest. And then he finds in Hernan Cortes the god that he envisioned and sells out his own people to certain butchery at the hands of the conquistadores and it becomes apparent that by any culture's standards, Tzekel-Kan is slime.
• Older Than They Think: Although the history was based on The Man Who Would be King, lovers of historical curiosities might note that, rather than the Conquest of America, the movie's premise evokes the real life tale of Blas Ruiz and Diogo Veloso, two adventurers from the Spanish Empire that became governors of the kingdom of Cambodia before being betrayed (and killed) by the Great Vizier.
• One-Scene Wonder: Tobin Bell as the voice of Zaragota (the map owner).
• One True Threesome:
  • For those who like the Miguel/Tulio pairing but don't hate Chel for canonically ruining it. It helps that Tulio and Miguel both go slack-jawed when around her, and of course there is Miguel and Tulio's extremely close relationship.
  • The movie has shown up on a couple of online lists of "Movies That Should Have Ended In A Ménage à Trois".
• The Problem with Licensed Games: Gold And Glory The Road To El Dorado is generally regarded as having poor graphics, simplistic puzzles and being way too short.
• Questionable Casting:
  • Not the movie itself so much as Elton John's tie-in Concept Album soundtrack. Rather than the original version of "It's Tough To Be A God" (which is on the soundtrack for the instrumental score), it's a smooth jazz-style duet with, of all people, Randy Newman.
  • The European Spanish dub already pulled a stunt casting by putting actor Joel Joan to voice Tulio, but this was better received than its choice for Chel, voiced by veteran actress Victoria Abril, who sounds much older than Rosie Pérez.
• Special Effect Failure: A lot of the CGI in this film really shows its age now and heavily clashes with the splendid hand-drawn animation. While most of it is reasonably well incorporated and isn't too terribly distracting, the most egregious example of this trope presents itself in the climactic final sequence with the gold-loaded boat, with the pile of gold itself looking like one solid lump instead of the thousands of distinct items it's supposed to be.
• Spiritual Successor: To several different movies.
  • Many thought of this film as Dumb and Dumber for kids and set in Latin America, which explains how quotable both films are.
  • The film is seen by many fans as a Spiritual Successor to the old Hope and Crosby "Road to ..." movies.
    • The connection is referenced in the film itself during "It's Tough to Be a God", where Tulio and Miguel's aquatic reflections are briefly made to resemble those of Hope and Crosby.
  • To The Lion King, at least production-wise. Producer Jeff Katzenberg recruited Elton John to write the songs because they had enjoyed each other's company while making that film.
• Trailer Joke Decay: The trailers gave away some of the more memorable quotes before the film came out.
• Uncertain Audience: The film couldn't quite shake off this issue when it first came out, resulting in it largely being a Box Office Bomb. It's an animated movie set during the exploration of the new world involving two European friends finding the legendary El Dorado. Despite its wacky premise, it was much darker then advertised, containing blood, innuendos, and not shying away from making the Spanish conquistadors (namely Hernán Cortés) as terrifying as one could imagine. At the same time, it had a lot of slap-stick comedy, quirky songs like a Disney movie would, and in general it was looking like your standard children's animated movie. Without a clear audience, it ended up not doing well, though nowadays, it lives on well online thanks to both of these elements being liked by fans years later.
• Vindicated by History: When the movie was first released, critics were unimpressed and it was also not very strongly liked by most audiences, due in large part to the film being advertised as being for kids, in addition to the presentation looking a bit alienating for most moviegoers. Over the years, however, the movie is well regarded across the internet for the animation quality (even with some minor Special Effect Failures), likable and extremely funny leads, and the sheer amount of memes that came from the movie. Its popularity makes it comparable to the first Shrek movie nowadays in fact.
• Visual Effects of Awesome:
  • The animators invented a whole new way to CGI colour all of the gold in the movie, down to the last coin, so that it would actually shine like gold, rather than just being yellow — like Miguel's blond hair.
  • Despite a lot of the CGI looking rather dated now, the film has splendid hand-drawn animation. The jaguar statue fight is the film's real show-stopping sequence, particularly for the jaguar's animation — except for a couple shots, almost all of it is very carefully done hand-drawn animation.
  • The water effects for when the boat crashes in the film's climax were a then-amazing and creative merger of hand-drawn animation and computer effects.^note They hand-animated one little clop of water splashing, multiplied it numerous times, and composited it all together to give an illusion that they had painstakingly drawn all of that water by hand.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: While the film is filled with feel-good humor, it has some instances of blood and near cursing.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: On the other hand, it's not an adult movie, but it's certainly no kiddy film either (mostly because of its adult humor). This severely damaged marketing and ticket sales, resulting in disappointing revenue — the campaign targeted kids under ten and no one else.

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