The Road to El Dorado: Critic Reviews

This trip down The Road to El Dorado proceeds under the speed limit all the way.

This is one Road whose gold apparently got paved over.

The Road to El Dorado is a bit too standard-issue to climb out from under its nouveau Disney house style look and supply much in the way of innovative glitter.

One wonders who was this animated film made for, anyway? Certainly not for kids. And not for this adult.

Did the filmmakers really know where they were going when they started on this Road?

Timid and flat.

Engaging children's entertainment.

Yes, it has Elton John and Tim Rice songs, but The Lion King this ain't.

Suffers from demographic schizophrenia.

I expected to have a lot more fun...than I did, which is a shame. I think it's going to fall quickly by the wayside.

The less you know about history, the better your chances of enjoying this movie . . .

El Dorado is not striking or groundbreaking, but it's accomplished enough.

Immerses the viewer with vivid color and awe-inspiring artwork from the first frame.

The filmmakers want an epic feel to the film, but they provide neither context nor dimension to the people of El Dorado themselves.

As good as most recent post-Katzenberg Disney films, and certainly -- with its stylised characterisation and bursts of witty dialogue -- a great deal better than the Mouse's turgid mega-budget epic Dinosaur.

A nice animated trip for kids, but hardly a required journey for grown-ups.

Good clean fun, that will keep kids (and most adults) absorbed in its shiny cartoon bubble throughout.

Gets by with a story that is good but not great -- not unlike the famous Road movies made 50 years ago by Bob Hope and Bing Crosby.

In the few moments when the noise and the fast-paced story subside long enough for a good look at the scenery, the animation is impressive.

Not only is the story reed thin, but it's also undercut by continual anachronistic dialog that's funny but alienates us from the adventure and characters.

Everything about it evokes comparisons to other animated features, and while it more or less holds its own, nothing comes across as new or even interesting.

Certain scenes are good, but visual wonder can only take a film so far, especially when that visual wonder is becoming an expected component.

Funny and harmless family entertainment.

A lazy, torpid piece of animated tourism destined to leave the more demanding varieties of small children in the audience reaching for their Pikachus.

The animation is handsome but hardly stirring.