Les mystérieuses cités d'or

The original Mysterious Cities of Gold is a gem in animation and a beloved part of my childhood. The producers waited 30 years to do a sequel and it does not fully live up to the original. The most heartbreaking thing is the voice casting; they sound horrible. Tao had the husky voice and Esteban had the sweet high-pitched voice. What really grinds my gears is that Disney makes a huge effort in keeping their voice casting consistent with every generation yet this French production does not put in the same effort to maintain consistency.

There are other inconsistencies. Mysteries that had a basis in science and physics have been replaced by magic. The Golden Condor, for example does not operate the same way and the medallions also act differently.

Kokapetl is the most irritating character. Previously he served a useful purpose of warning everyone when danger was near. Here he is a loud squawking screaming chicken always in your face. He also interrupts during the documentaries. To top it off, he has his own short documentary following the educational part where he asks a question from something seen in that episode.

The story overall is not all bad. This could have been a better sequel if not for those dreaded points I mentioned. If you can get past those cringeworthy shortcomings, you will be able to enjoy this. The animation is very glossy aided by modern technology.

This should have been done in 1992 and then we would not have those problems mentioned here. The production would have been more consistent in all of its elements.