Truth be told, I probably never would have seen this movie if not for the internet fandom that has exploded forth from it over the years, with the plethora of memes and gifs that are near unavoidable, and that I totally appreciate. On that note, the charm is certainly there. From the timeless animation, the visual expressiveness of the characters, the gorgeous scenery and backdrops... It has that unmistakable oldschool 2D driven charm, magic that ages like nothing else.
After coming off of my first viewing of the film, I feel those things to an extent, but also a major sense of missed opportunity, and unanswered questions all over the place.
Being truly objective paints a lot of problems unfortunately. How in the heck can this isolated tribe, cut off from the world, understand the language of our leads to begin with? How and why did the volcano decide not to erupt, and even recede? Awfully convenient timing. Is there only a single tunnel into El Dorado and nothing more, anywhere? Why did the Armadillo even help them? - These particular questions are just the tip of the iceberg, and ultimately, whether those things phase you or not, have already long been digested as a matter of "how much does it really bother you?". For some people, they won't care about these types of things and will argue that the point was to make a joke. Admittedly, the Armadillo ball game moment did make me laugh!
For me when looking at things objectively, the problems come with these milder elements, but very much at the forefront for me, the primary problems I have come down to the characterisation, motivation and resolution.
Tulio and Miguel have a great buddy relationship that through the course of the film shows signs of splintering as they frankly - start growing up.
I was enjoying this contrast between them and display of growing, to have their own ideals, and how it also started to mirror the sour relationship between the two tribe leaders. It reminded me of The Prince of Egypt in this regard. So where was this going? Were they going to be at odds at the climax and ultimately go their separate ways? How would this affect the tribe's outlook and their religion should they truly come to blows and start giving contradictory directives?
On a side note, other questions raise their heads for me such as Chel. Why was she stealing? Why does she seem so disillusioned with the tribe? Is she the only one? Why does she want to leave so badly? Does she have friends? Family? Motivations? Goals? Does she have any direct history with the tribe leaders? If so, what does that look like? My only conclusion was that she was a bored rebel, but we never get real clarification of her actual character and why she is the way she is, so I'm left with assumptions and questions.
Going back to Tulio and Miguel - I will say that we don't get the classic old "you lied to us!" moment with the tribe, which I was truly anticipating. Some people will say this is a nod to the film's originality by not including such a "trope". I would say that I don't think that to be original is an inherently good quality, especially if it goes against logic and leads to anticlimactic payoffs to obvious setups (Looking at The Last Jedi).
So, the film dabbles with these things on the surface, but my ultimate problem is that all of it just turns out to be... pointless. Reason being is because these concepts never come to a head in any way and feel as though they're brushed under the carpet in favour of a climax involving the characterless, stoney faced Spaniards. The group that nobody cares about. The group that literally have zero characterisation beyond being the bad guys. These guys have less personality than the Huns from Mulan.
Regarding the tribespeople themselves (outside of the two leaders who of course cotton on to the truth about the pair), I have other questions.... Did the general tribespeople realise that Miguel and Tulio weren't gods after all? Did that revelation affect them in a positive or negative way? We don't know. We don't learn anything meaningful about the impact the pair have on the tribe and their beliefs at the end of the day when all is said and done, only that they are god fearing people.
So we have a lot of unanswered questions and flat resolutions here. After having seen it, I feel like the creators desperately wanted to make a sequel to this film and had ideas spiralling in their heads involving this trio, rather than a desire to tell a complete story in one movie. I feel this is the reason Miguel and Tulio couldn't be separated, so we could see more of their adventures. This sadly serves to undermine their growth, and for the people calling this film mature, I have to disagree when you look at the writing and characterisation. The final act has the pair revert to exactly the way they were in the beginning. To change developed personality qualities and flaws on a dime doesn't make for a mature story in my opinion and it has only lead in this case to an unsatisfying conclusion. Again I would bring up The Prince of Egypt by comparison, which is leagues more mature and frankly a far better and more engrossing character driven movie in every way.
The only difference with the pair at the end is that "now they don't care about the gold any more." For Tulio this could be construed as him caring more about saving his own skin than getting rich as he had no choice but to do away with it at that stage anyway due to the circumstances. This one sense of development for the pair is just not good enough, and doesn't at all make up for the missed opportunities we had to tell an engaging story that could have the pair truly change as people in my opinion.
Regardless - Sadly we never saw the result of a sequel to this film, due to its performance at the box office.
Finally, I should comment on the soundtrack which I found to be, alright. I've forgotten most songs already as I finish up this review, about an hour after having seen it, which is a shame. I don't think it's Elton John's best for an animated film, that's for sure.
In conclusion, I'm sure many people will feel like I'm just taking the movie too seriously but I have to be honest to what I see and digest when watching a film. When it raises more questions than it answers, and leaves you with an unfulfilling climax. It adds up to leave me with disappointment in what I just saw. I would like to cut this film slack on account of the positive elements and its obvious charm but for me, there's too many shortcomings in the story, mainly the characters, and I feel like I didn't miss a whole lot by never seeing this film as a kid until now. Were I seeing this as a kid for the first time I'm sure a lot of these things wouldn't bother me but such is life! I hope people are able to enjoy the film more than I did because nobody should hope to be disappointed.
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