The Road To El Dorado Details

This third animated feature from DreamWorks — following Antz and The Prince Of Egypt — finds Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh voicing a pair of rascally 16th-century Spaniards who stumble upon the fabled South American city of gold. Mistaken for gods, the two must fake divinity long enough to run off with the loot, but the evil High Priest (Armand Assante) has other ideas. The film starts and finishes strongly, and boasts at least two terrific action set pieces, though the talky in-between sequences noticeably drag on. The mix of conventional animation and computer graphics is good, and while the film is not quite up to the best of Disney, it's proof that the Mouse's monopoly on quality cartooning can no longer be taken for granted.

An animated film very much in the Disney mould and tipping its hat to the Bing Crosby-Bob Hope Road comedies of the 40s, but lacking both a memorable story and hummable songs.