Dora and the Lost City of Gold review (500TH POST!)

DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD:

LIVE-ACTION ADAPTATION IS AN UNEXPECTEDLY FUN ADVENTURE FOR ALL AGES!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND NICKELODEON MOVIES

Dora the Explorer and her new friends on the adventure of a lifetime in Dora and the Lost City of Gold

            The explorer who captivated children since her introduction back in 2000 makes her big-screen debut in Dora and the Lost City of Gold, a live-action film adaptation and continuation of Nickelodeon’s popular educational animated series Dora the Explorer from their Nick Jr. block. While I watched a lot of Nickelodeon shows growing up like Rugrats, SpongeBob Squarepants, Blue’s Clues, The Fairly OddParents, Invader Zim, and Avatar: The Last Airbender to name a few, Dora the Explorer was released after my time but I would eventually familiarize myself with the basic premise of the series through my little sister who watched it when she was young.

            From what I’ve seen, it’s a harmless show for little kids with some nice animation, a colorful cast of characters, and some adventures to keep them entertained while also learning a few phrases in Spanish along the way. Apparently, the show did its job too well as it spawned several merchandise and a couple spin-off shows like Go Diego Go revolving around Dora’s cousin Diego and a sequel series Dora and Friends: Into the City…which I know absolutely nothing about. 

            Now we have this live-action film adaptation set some time after the events of the series with Dora as a teenager having to transition from life in the jungle to high school, oh the wacky shenanigans. I’ll be real with you all, when the film was first announced I thought it was a joke, Dora the Explorer who spent her time embarking on exciting adventures in the jungle being thrown into a boring, old high school in suburbia…also, it was rumored that it was going to be produced by the Destroyer of Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Michael Bay as if it couldn’t get any more surreal but luckily that was just a rumor. 

            Even without Bay’s involvement this still seemed like an odd project and when I first saw the trailer, I was convinced that it wasn’t a real movie but rather a fake trailer that was deleted from Tropic Thunder and Paramount decided to release on the internet just because. But posters, movie theater standees, and commercials on TV started popping up so naturally this was real. 

            It’s such a bizarre concept that I was curious to see how much of a disaster Dora and the Lost City of Gold was going to be. And coming out of it, the film is anything but a disaster and instead a fun adventure movie for the whole family. 

            This sounds insane but the DORA THE EXPLORER movie is a very enjoyable movie that’s entirely different from its source material in tone but still retains its spirit leading to some very humorous in-jokes for those who grew up with the original show. It’s a good balance between being faithful to the source material and still appealing to the mainstream. 

            The film follows Dora (Isabela Moner-100 Things to Do Before High School, Transformers: The Last Knight, Instant Family) who has lived her whole life in the jungle and going on exciting adventures with her cousin Diego and her best friend Boots the Monkey. But when Diego’s family moves out of the jungle and into the city at a young age, Dora is left on her own to explore with only Boots at her side.

            Now a teenager Dora learns from her parents Cole (Michael Peña-Ant-Man 1 and 2, The Martian, My Little Pony: The Movie) and Elena (Eva Longoria-Desperate Housewives, The Sentinel, Arthur Christmas) about a lost city of gold known as Parapata which is thought to be an old legend but her parents tell her that they will embark on a journey to find it…unfortunately, not with Dora.

            Claiming that the jungle is too dangerous for Dora alone, her parents arrange a flight for Dora to go to the city and spend time with Diego (Newcomer, Jeff Wahlberg) and his family. You know what that means? Dora the Explorer goes to high school, let the wackiness begin. 

            Dora has a very difficult time fitting in as she is overly energetic and for a lack of better word a little ditzy. But while on a field trip/scavenger hunt at a museum, Dora, Diego, and their classmates Sammy (Madeleine Madden-Around the Block, Ready for This, Tidelands) and Randy (Newcomer, Nicholas Coombe) are captured by a group of treasure hunters searching for Parapata and brought to the jungle to solve the mystery behind the lost city of gold, outsmart the mischievous Swiper the Fox (voiced by Benicio del Toro-Sicario 1 and 2, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars: The Last Jedi), and save her parents from an even greater threat. 

            The film also stars Temuera Morrison (Star Wars: Episodes II and III, Moana, Aquaman) as Powell, Adriana Barraza (Babel, Cake, Wild Horses) as Abuelita Valerie, and Pia Miller (East West 101, Home and Away, Bite Club) as Aunt Mami. 

            Overall, Dora and the Lost City of Gold is a fun time for all-ages and a lot better than it had any right to be. A movie based on an educational show that most parents put on for their little kids to keep them occupied and they could have thrown anything together just to make a quick buck off a nostalgic property, but they didn’t. 

            The film fully embraces its absurd premise and has fun with referencing and paying homage to the original series but never to the point where it’s distracting. A couple examples I have are a brilliantly funny scene early on in the film where Dora looks at the camera and asks the audience ‘Can you say Delicioso?” in which Michael Peña tells Eva Longoria “It’s just a phase” which had me genuinely tearing up laughing and a clever use of the original show’s animation I dare not ruin here but let’s just say you may want to watch this movie while on a form of substance but…this is a “Family Picture Review” no naughty business here. 

            Isabela Moner is the heart and soul of this movie and she eerily portrays Dora perfectly and not once did I think she was out of place. I was convinced that I wasn’t watching an actress play a live-action teenage Dora, I was watching the actual character as a teenager and in live-action, perky face, sunny and at times annoying personality, and all, and it all works and it’s never to the point where it makes Dora look dumb, she remains a smart and experienced jungle adventurer but not the strongest social skills in the high school environment, that’s relatable.

            Is it a movie I would see again and buy when it comes out on home media? Probably not, but for a one-time viewing in the theater Dora and the Lost City of Gold was one of the most pleasant surprises I’ve had in recent years. With a fish-out-of-water story reminiscent of the 1997 film adaptation of George of the Jungle mixed with an Indiana Jones adventure and some references and homages to its source material sprinkled in and you got a fun movie to take the kids to, all I can say is “Vámonos”.