Tear Jerker / The Road to El Dorado

• The movie is all in all very cheerful but there is this one scene:
  Tulio: I want you to come to Spain with me and Miguel. (Beat) Especially me. Mostly me. Only me. Forget Miguel.
  Chel: *giggles* Well...as long as that's what you want. Me too.
  Tulio: OK. Deal?
  Chel: Deal.
  They kiss, the camera pans out to Miguel and Altivo
  Altivo: *gasp*
  Miguel: Forget Miguel? Well, forget Tulio.
  • The utterly miserable expression on Miguel's face is painful, and Tulio's blind ignorance of how much damage he's done is almost as bad.
  • Arguably worse is the fact that Tulio was clearly exaggerating when he made said claim.
• Once Tzekel Khan reveals that he's onto the boys' con, Tulio initiates the "Betrayal and Fight" skit he and Miguel used at the beginning. Miguel goes along with it and it's...not as playful this time around:
  Miguel: Look, it was his stupid plan!
  Tulio: My plan was to lie low! But your plan was to run off and go "Oh look at me, look at me, I'm a god!"
  Miguel: That's not true!
  Tulio: Oh, who are you kidding? You're buying your own con!
  Miguel: At least I'm not dating mine!
  Tulio: I...Ooh, low blow. Listen, Mr. High and Mighty, we'd both be sailing out of here with a mountain of gold if you'd just listened to me!
  Miguel: Well, now you have all the precious gold and Chel! So what do you need me for?!
  Tulio: Well, maybe I don't need you anymore!
  Miguel: Well, then, why don't you just go back to Spain and I'll stay here, and we'll both get what we want?!
  Tulio: That's fine with me, pal!
  • A small detail that just makes it worse: Whereas Tulio merely pushes and slightly slaps Miguel, Miguel shoves, backhands, and even throws a punch at Tulio. You'd almost think the escalation was Miguel's attempt at getting through to Tulio's thick skull that he wasn't acting.
  • After Tzekel Kan and the Jaguar are sent down the cliff, Tulio laughs and says that was good acting. But the frown Miguel tells him he wasn't acting.
• "Friends Never Say Goodbye". While it is full of heartwarming little moments of the villagers saying goodbye to Tulio and Chel, it's also full of bitterness and regret at the separation of Tulio and Miguel. They are both about to make the biggest mistake of their life, and they can feel it. The rift between two characters who've spent the rest of the movie as close as brothers is achingly, visibly wrong.
  Miguel: Well...Good luck.
  Tulio: Yeah, you too...
  • Not surprisingly, this was Elton John's favorite song he wrote for the movie.
• The sacrifice of the assistant.