Kevin Kline: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. Tulio - The Road To El Dorado (2000)

Tulio from The Road to El Dorado fits nicely with Joey Boca in the mischievous fast-talking hustler category. Alongside Kenneth Branagh's Miguel, Tulio escapes imprisonment for petty crimes and finds El Dorado, the golden land that time forgot, nestled in the South American rainforest. The pair are mistaken for gods and hatch various plans to extract gold from the city, and Kline's vocal performance is unparalleled. Much of the pacing of the movie can be attributed to the rapid-fire exchanges between Tulio and Miguel, and were it not for their quick banter the otherwise plot-light El Dorado would certainly drag. And Kline's vocal performances are often overlooked - he lent his voice to The Tale of Despereaux as well as Disney's two Hunchback of Notre-Dame movies. As Tulio, though, he's perfect. A mix of gusto and idiocy makes for a frustratingly likable quality found in so many of his live-action roles, and to bring that quality to a character using only your voice is surely no small feat. This is why Tulio numbers among his greatest roles - while Kline is an impressive physical actor, boasting an almost Jim Carrey-esque ability to make his face and body seem like rubber, his subtle delivery of dialogue may take a backseat to his visual antics. But when Kline stands behind the animated Tulio, his ease with dialogue and his grasp of language can be appreciated more fully. Ultimately, this makes for a memorable role and an enjoyable movie, which I believe is kind of the point.