Father Geek here with a report on the plotline of Dreamwork's beautiful El Dorado. 1st let me tell you that this is going to be one Hell-of-a gorgious animated motion picture. I've seen hundreds of storyboards, concept paintings, fully rendured background paintings, etc... Also I've traveled to every major Mayan site in Mexico and Central America, and a lot of the minor ones too, and the artists on this project have faithfully caught the look and feel of their subject matter. They have really captured the lifestyle, clothing, etc.. also,remaining true to the known facts of the period. Speaking of period, this is a period piece (1500's) more or less, keep that in mind while you read the sketchy storyline below.
Well, I read that you're looking for story stuff about Dreamworks new flick, City of El Dorado. The Dreamworks guys stopped by our film school a few months back and showed us clips from Prince of Egypt as well as enlightening us a bit about El Dorado, since some of us could possibly be hired to work on the film.
Here's what I remember. Essentially, two swindlers end up with a map to the fabled city of gold while pulling off some sort of scam. When their current get-rich quick attempt goes bad, they have to scram and end up lost at sea through a series of misfortunes.
That's when they wash up on the shores of El Dorado. Because of their appearance and odd habits, the locals start worshipping them. It's the biggest scam of their lives and they could get away with hordes of riches and convince the people they're gods. And then, one of the guys falls in love with one of the citizens of El Dorado....
We saw some concept art and they stressed that they wanted to give it a much different feeling then Disney flicks based on a particular culture.
So, at least at that point, that's the way the story was headed. I hope this proves useful to you. Of course, the Prince of Egypt stuff was pretty mind blowing. Some of the special effects, particularily on the plagues were unlike anything I've ever seen. Between those visuals and the bold new direction this seems to be forging for the North American animation market, I'm solidly set for opening night this December. If you use this, you can call me Mr. Aizu
