About The Road to El Dorado
In Spain 1519, two wanted con artists, Miguel (Kenneth Branagh) and Tulio (Kevin Kline), win a map purportedly to the city of gold, El Dorado along with a large number of other valuables by cheating at a game of dice (though the map itself was won fairly). Chased by an angry bull and the city's guards, the two inadvertently hide themselves on the ship belonging to Hernán Cortés and his troops as they set off to the New World. They manage to escape to a rowboat, inadvertently bringing along Cortés' horse, Altivo, and eventually end up ashore on the New World, where Miguel recognizes landmarks shown on the map. The three follow the map and end up where the map marks the entrance to El Dorado, but find only an enscribed monolith waiting for them. As they try to determine what to do next, a young tribal woman is chased by a group of guards, and Miguel and Tulio step in to protect her. The guards believe the two to be gods as shown on the monolith, and escort them along with the woman along a river cavern to El Dorado, truly a city made out of gold.
Miguel and Tulio are introduced to the city's elders, Chief Tannabok (Edward James Olmos) and high priest Tzekel-Kan (Armand Assante). After appearing to stop the eruption of a nearby volcano by their words only, Miguel and Tulio are proclaimed to be gods despite Tzekel-Kan's suspicions, and are treated luxuriously. The woman they rescued from the guards, Chel (Rosie Perez), rapidly becomes aware of Miguel and Tulio's charade. She offers her silence and assistance and, in exchange, she is not punished for attempting to steal gold from the city and offered a trip back to "wherever you come from". After the night of a feast prepared by Chief Tannabok to honor them, Miguel and Tulio are shocked to find that Tzekel-Kan is ready to offer a human sacrifice, and insist that it be stopped, stating they will take the gold instead as their tribute. The two quickly conceive of a plan, and convince Chief Tannabok to build them a boat over the next few days so that the "gods" may return along with their tribute. While Tulio plans to wait out those days in their provided villa, Chel urges Miguel to go explore the city, allowing her to get romantically closer to Tulio.
