Cinema The Road to El Dorado (2000) - So Much Gold... And Colors

[Arnox]

Rating

4.00 star(s)

​

The movie that is the source for a ton of fun memes, and lots of amazing vibrant animation and art. Tons of gold for you, tons of gold for me... But hey, unfortunately, not all that shines is silver and gold. There's some pyrite in here too, so I can't give it a full five stars. For one, there's a singing segment in here that I personally don't like. I never liked singing in movies. When it's played for laughs like in The Mask, it's fine, but when done straight, I just... I just can't. It's too silly to me and breaks me out of my immersion. Another thing is that the villain is just a bit too one-note. A little too much of a cardboard cut-out. Which is a shame because with just a little bit more depth and complication to the plot, I think Tzekel Kahn could actually have been a really awesome villain.

There's a segment where Kahn talks about how, as a ruler, people will not respect you if they do not fear you. He also talks about how imperfect humans are and can be, and how that drives the need for sacrifice to keep the people in line. Unfortunately though, the plot fails the villain here as we never once see that deep imperfection described. Or at least, not in the city occupants (besides Tzekel Kahn) or the main characters anyway. Of course, we, as adults, know that Tzekel Kahn isn't right (We DO know that, right?), but all the same, this is a story and it needs to show us that. It needs to expand on its own subject matter. In fairness though, this movie is not exactly targeted at my age group, and I can't think of a crime that is both serious enough that would demonstrate Kahn's point of view at least a little while still maintaining the movie's overall cheerful vibrant tone. But maybe a serious crime isn't needed at all. Maybe we could just see Miguel and Tulio's lackadaisical approach putting the city in a little bit of chaos.

Ah well. At least Kahn here at least gets a badass quote that also shows just a glimmer of what we could have had.

Do you know why the gods demand blood? Because gods don't bleed.

There's actually a ton of philosophical and ethical roads we could go down with that quote as a starting point, but that's not really what this thread is about, so we'll put a pin in that little thought grenade. Alright then, so... Road to El Dorado. Is it worth a buy watch? Definitely, but just know to expect a bit less edge and a bit more fluffiness than is necessary.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Tzekel Khan is right, from how you describe it. People are imperfect and the mob/masses do need sacrifices to scapegoat and hate to keep them in line. That's just a sad reality. Remember occupy wallstreet? Clinton-related "accidents"? Look at all the hate for jews/white people, nationalists/immigrants, bluewing/redwing, blacks/ACAB, muslims/atheists, etc.

 

[Arnox]

Tzekel Khan is right, from how you describe it. People are imperfect and the mob/masses do need sacrifices to scapegoat and hate to keep them in line. That's just a sad reality. Remember occupy wallstreet? Clinton-related "accidents"? Look at all the hate for jews/white people, nationalists/immigrants, bluewing/redwing, blacks/ACAB, muslims/atheists, etc.

This isn't about a ruler being loved or respected or feared. That's actually a red herring. It's instead better to uphold the social contract. We're also going to get a bit into Starship Troopers philosophy here too and mention the idea that political power of any kind is exercising the power of violence and destruction to reinforce laws, new or old. We look to subgroups of people sometimes as scapegoats because we're angry and we want justice and it's so easy to take a group and say, "Those dudes there. That's the problem." But I believe that in a properly functioning society, there is no longer a "need" of people for racism or sexism or sacrificial lambs of any kind. There WILL always be a need though for laws to have teeth to them. While you can't just use the stick all the time, you need the carrot too, the stick is still important.

Tzekel Kahn is right in that we still need violence in society to reinforce laws, but he is definitely NOT right in that we need sacrificial lambs to remind people to stay in line. The law, again when properly functioning, already does that in a fair manner as needed for each situation. Parties found guilty in a fair trial are given the stick. Parties that are innocent are given the carrots. Simple as that.

 

[Signa]

Yup. I like that the movie exists and James Baxter helped nail that animation so well, but because it's a kids movie there's so many things that fall flat. It always feels like they have a foundation of something amazing but never was able to build it into the epic tale it could have been.