Art of the Road to El Dorado
/The Road to El Dorado is an animation movie produced by DreamWorks Animation, and co-directed by Don Paul and Eric "Bibo" Bergeron in 2000. Shortly before the public announcement of DreamWorks SKG in October 1994, former Disney chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg had met with screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and gave them a copy of Hugh Thomas's book, Conquest: Montezuma, Cortes and the Fall of Old Mexico, desiring to make an animated film set in the Age of Discovery. By the spring of 1995, Elliott and Rossio devised a story treatment inspired by the Bob Hope and Bing Crosby ‘‘Road to...’’ films with self-interested, comedic anti-heroes who would set out to find the Lost City of Gold after acquiring a map to its location. Will Finn and David Silverman were originally the film's directors with a tentative release scheduled for fall 1999. Originally, the story was conceived as a dramatic film due to Katzenberg's penchant for large-scale animated films, which conflicted with the film's lighthearted elements.
This version of the story had Miguel initially conceived as a raunchy Sancho Panza-like character who died, but came back to life so much that the natives assumed he was a god, as well as steamier love sequences and scantly clothing designed for Chel. In Elliott and Rossio's treatment, the film was meant to end with Miguel and Tulio saving the Mayan people from Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés who would abandon their civilization to live in the nearby jungle amidst the tragic backdrop of the destruction of their culture. However, while The Prince of Egypt was in production, Katzenberg decided that their next animated project should be a departure from its serious, adult approach, and desired for the film to be an adventure comedy. Because of this, the film was put on hold, where it was jokingly referred to as El Dorado: The Lost City on Hold due to several rewrites. Miguel and Tulio were rewritten as petty swindlers, and the setting of the film was changed to a more luscious paradise.
The pictures on this page are a collection of artworks created for this movie.
THE STORY
In 1519 Spain, con-artists Miguel and Tulio win a map to the legendary City of Gold, El Dorado, in a rigged dice gamble (though they ironically win the map fairly after Tulio was given normal dice from one of the opponents). After their con is exposed, the two evade the guards and accidentally stow away on one of the ships to be led by conquistador Hernán Cortés for the New World. At sea, they are caught and imprisoned, but break free and steal a rowboat with the help of Cortés' mistreated horse, Altivo.
Their boat reaches land, where Miguel begins to recognize landmarks from the map, leading them to a totem marker near a waterfall that Tulio believes is a dead end. As they prepare to leave, they encounter a native woman, Chel, being chased by guards. When the guards see Tulio and Miguel riding Altivo as depicted on the totem, they escort them and Chel to a secret entrance behind the falls, into El Dorado. They are brought to the city's elders, kindhearted Chief Tannabok, and wicked high priest Tzekel-Kan. The pair are mistaken for gods when a volcano coincidentally erupts but simultaneously stops during an argument between them and they are given luxurious quarters, along with the charge of Chel. She discovers that the two are conning her people, but promises to remain quiet if they take her with them when they leave the city. The two are showered with gifts of gold from Tannabok, but disapprove of Tzekel-Kan attempting to sacrifice a civilian at the gods' ritual. Meanwhile, Cortés and his men reach land…
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