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A Rough Story Line For EL DORADO
SPOILER ALERT !!
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
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Is it just me, or does this story sound a lot like The Man Who Would Be King? Maybe Dreamworks and Disney are more similar than some might think. Neither can come up with an original story. Mind you, this is not necessarily a bad thing, so long as the story is told well. Disney's track record in this department is questionable. Opinions seem to vary depending upon your disposition toward Disney. If this is the story Dreamworks is using, I hope they give Rudyard Kipling credit.
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Get Sean Connery and Michael Caine to do the voices, make them both masons, and then the rip-off would be complete. Actually, that would be pretty cool......
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Since there are only eleven original ideas in existance anyway singling out MWWBK as "the" source is plain silly. If anything El Dorado owes more to Hope/Crosby Road movies than Kipling, at least in tone. These days ideas are a dime a dozen. The streets of Hollywood are choked with the bodies of failed screenwriters with good ideas. What matters is the execution, and so far El Dorado looks pretty damn fine. (And as you look at those cels, keep in mind that Rosie Perez is doing her voice. Yowza!)
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I'm not sure if I agree entirely with Anton Sirius here...Sure, the TONE of the movie might be Crosby/Hope, but the plot outline DOES bear many similarities to TMWWBK. As for good ol' Chel there (See the pics of Eldorado page), I LOVE the design..it's hard to see in those scans, but here's a girl with a fairly realistic body, in that her thighs and hips have more solidity than the waifish looking Belle or Ariel, without the siliconed look of Pocahontas. And incidently, the Directing animator of this stunning beauty is the same guy who animated the stunning beauty Zephora from Dreamworks upcoming Prince of Egypt....Rodolph Guenoden...Hang on to your hats guys, he's an incredible draftsman!
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Actually, according to my instructor back in my college creative writing course, there are 36 basic plots or stories. Period. Everything is a rehash or recombination of these 36 plots.
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First off, I'd like to address all of the creative writing professors who claim there are a finite number of plots and themes. This is absurd. To assume this, we must also assume that we are the only beings in the universe and that our sense of consciousness is the only form of thought. Moreover, we must also assume that mankind in its present state is as advanced as we are going to get. Didn't Poe just invent both the horror and the mystery tales only a little over a century ago? Didn't man just learn to fly less than a century ago?
People who make a creativity limting claim such as this are individuals who can only come up with 11 or 18 or 36 different plots. Sad really.
To change the subject, I think that it is interesting that El Dorado is being made with so much attention to detail of the acrhitecture, yet so little concern for the historical accuracy of the Mayan culture. Let me get this straight, two stranger walk into a Mayan city, and aren't brutally and savagely sacrificed to the gods? And there is a Mayan princess who is beautiful? You mean she wasn't a short, squat woman, with a large broad nose, as was commonplace amongst the Mayans? And I guess since this is a cartoon, they are going to leave out the viscious brutality of the Mayan religion, warfare, and sport, as well.
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I think what we are getting involved with is a question of semantics. You see, to me plot is more a specific thing. While we might be able to find variations on the same themes. The plot of Last Crusade is INdy and his father trying to find the Holy Grail and stop the Nazis from world domination. This is a variation on the classic theme of a character seeking redemption, however, I don't think you can accurately claim that this is the same plot as Toy Story.
Now, Enemy Mine, on the other hand, has the same plot as Hell in the Pacific only set in outer space. It is still the same plot. Two members of warring nations crash land on a remote place, and then carry out their own private warfares before becoming friends.
I mean shit, if you are a Bhuddist, then everything is the same plot, right? -
Just to address some points you brought up...Yes, these two scalliwags end up being taken for gods, but ONLY by the High Priest, at first, as their coming was kinda ordained by legend, and was fortold to bring an age of vicious sacrifice and dark brutality, both quite fancied by or holy man here...ANd as for the women, well, since the direct decendants of Mayans. Incas and Aztecs are who we would now call LAtin Americans, let me just say, living in LA, there are a TON of gorgeous latinas walking around...but Chel doesn't look like Pocahontas, she does have more, shall we say, Hispanic features..*S*
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Mr. A was absolutely right, i happened to be there when dreamworks came to school, and dorado is looking sooo good.But dont forget the importance of their moral dilemma...they prayed to God that if they survived their shipwreck, theyd change their bad ways...and then they find they are offered gold and riches on the island by the natives.
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