This animated feature, directed by ex-Disney veterans for the DreamWorks group, follows the escapades of Tulio and Miguel, two con men (voiced by and caricatured to look like Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh), in 16th-century South America.
The plot recycles Kipling's tale The Man Who Would Be King - already a Connery-Caine live-action adventure - with the gold-digging rascals being treated like gods by the Indians until they realise human sacrifice comes with the job. (Worry not: no one's chopped, though the stone demon conjured up by a high priest whose nose has been even more severely outjointed by loss of face may cause the very young a few squeals).
The early surf-and-turf sequences, at sea and in the jungle, are the most inventive and amusing, thanks to a quirky and indestructible grey stallion that stows away in the couple's rowboat when they jump ship on Cortes's expedition. "Does this seem a dream to you?" says one of our heroes as they laze in the longboat with the chummy nag. "Yeah," comes the answer, "but the horse is a surprise."
Later sequences in the Inca city are over-designed, over-active, over-talky: in compensation there's an engagingly silly demonstration of how basketball was invented, played here (and won) with a roly-poly anteater as a helpful ball. Cheerful if a mite conventional, with songs and music by Elton John and Tim Rice.
The Road To El Dorado
Cert: U
