With all the adventure films that have been made it's hard to be original. One could opt for strong story lines, great acting or humour. El Dorado has opted for violence. And a lot of it. The story is quite simple (finding gold) and the way to do that is apparently with the help of guns. And riffles. And more guns. And shoot anybody who gets in the way.
The acting and directing I find very, very sloppy. I do like Shane West but in this film I think he's terrible. In one scene he and his friends are strolling towards a village. Then a dialogue starts and Shane's character (Jack) starts panting. Why? To make him more butch? Someone must have told him it looks manly. No, it doesn't. It sounds like Jack has asthma. And Jack makes a habit of panting his way through his scenes. There's a scene in a library and the hero and heroine are looking at some papers that are over 400 years old. Normally one would handle these documents with care and respect whilst wearing gloves. Nope, not here. Like they hold yesterday's newspaper: opening and folding and throwing it about. Most peculiar.
There are some special effects, very clever done yet totally misappropriate in this film. Kids will love it, I think. But then again, total body count is over a 100 (give or take a few) so you might think twice before you let your little ones see this picture.
O well, it was a rather cold and rainy summer evening when it was aired in The Netherlands. Ideal circumstances for this film.
The acting and directing I find very, very sloppy. I do like Shane West but in this film I think he's terrible. In one scene he and his friends are strolling towards a village. Then a dialogue starts and Shane's character (Jack) starts panting. Why? To make him more butch? Someone must have told him it looks manly. No, it doesn't. It sounds like Jack has asthma. And Jack makes a habit of panting his way through his scenes. There's a scene in a library and the hero and heroine are looking at some papers that are over 400 years old. Normally one would handle these documents with care and respect whilst wearing gloves. Nope, not here. Like they hold yesterday's newspaper: opening and folding and throwing it about. Most peculiar.
There are some special effects, very clever done yet totally misappropriate in this film. Kids will love it, I think. But then again, total body count is over a 100 (give or take a few) so you might think twice before you let your little ones see this picture.
O well, it was a rather cold and rainy summer evening when it was aired in The Netherlands. Ideal circumstances for this film.