20 Underrated Movies From 2000 You've Probably Never Seen

Released: 31st March 2000 (US)

A year before Shrek established that genre-parodying snark with a CGI raised eyebrow was a niche in the market that they could exploit for all it was worth, DreamWorks Animation were struggling to find their particular selling point.

Referred to within the company as "El Dorado: The Lost City On Hold" because it was delayed so many times and went through so many writers and directors as a serious adventure story was reworked into a kid-friendly comedy, El Dorado was symptomatic of a studio without an identity.

Costing almost $100 million, its box office takings were barely 75 million. It also opened to poor reviews, still standing at just 48% on Rotten Tomatoes. Its failure helped to hasten the end for traditional hand-drawn animation at DreamWorks.

But here's the thing: El Dorado is genuinely great. Its script from Zorro and Pirates Of The Caribbean writers Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio has the same bright, quippy energy and appealing balance of parody with genuine adventure as those films. Kevin Kline and Kenneth Branagh are lots of fun as the bickering duo of con artists at the heart of the story. Elton John's music is catchy and lively.

It's a better film in almost every way than many of the Shrek knock-offs that the studio would shortly turn to instead and slowly a small but dedicated fanbase has begun to discover that.