Road to animation riches - The Road to El Dorado
12/18/2000
(DreamWorks, color, PG, 89 min., plus supplements, Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1, anamorphic widescreen, $26.99), following The Prince of Egypt and the video premiere Joseph: King of Dreams, is further proof that DreamWorks is more than able to give Disney a run for its money in the animated-feature arena.
The images in El Dorado are nothing short of stunning; the studio appears to have mastered the blend of traditional and computer-aided animation processes. And like the best of the Mouse House's, the movie is successful at appealing to both children, with its adventure plot and colorful characters, and adults, with its wink-wink dialogue and slightly off-color innuendoes. Of course, reuniting Disney's Lion King musical team of Elton John, Tim Rice and Hans Zimmer for the soundtrack didn't hurt either. (A couple of the songs are quite hummable, and one appears as a nifty music video).
Leading the supplements are a scene-specific commentary track by directors Bibo Bergeron and Eric Bergeron and a handful of DVD-ROM games for kids. The glitter on this family-friendly city of gold is dual Dolby Digital and DTS tracks, which seems to be turning into a DreamWorks staple feature. --Gary Frisch
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