Movie Review: Dora and the Lost City of Gold

 

 
Film Info
 

Release Date: August 9, 2019
 
MPAA Rating: PG
 
Starring: Isabela Moner, Eva Longoria, Michael Peña, Eugenio Derbez, Jeffrey Wahlberg, Adriana Barraza, Temuera Morrison, Nicholas Coombe, Madeleine Madden, Danny Trejo, Benecio Del Toro
 
Director: James Bobin
 
Writer: Nicholas Stoller, Matthew Robinson
 
Producer: Kristin Burr
 
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
 
External Info: Official Site
 
Genre: ,
 
Critic Rating
 
 
 
 
 


User Rating
4 total ratings

 

What We Liked


A family-fun, mini-sized “Jumanji” that is at its funniest when playfully mocking aspects of the original “Dora the Explorer” cartoon.

What We Didn't Like


Paper-thin characters and poorly CGI'd Boots and Swiper.


0
Posted  August 10, 2019 by

 
Read the Full Review
 
 

Do-do-do-do-Dora. Do-do-do-do-Dora. Anyone with a child born within the past two decades is cursing out loud, singing the “Dora the Explorer” theme song in their head, or perhaps both! Either way, it’s inescapable in the live-action Dora and the Lost City of Gold in which a teenage Dora is forced to survive the challenges of high school and the jungle.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold poster

Opening with a young Dora and Diego deep in the jungle, Dora soon finds herself without her best friend when Diego moves to the city. Left with only her parents, she spends the next ten years being homeschooled by her professor parents, Elena (Eva Longoria) and Cole (Michael Peña), and making friends with the animals she finds on her many adventures. It’s only after Dora (Isabela Moner), now a 16-year old girl, stumbles upon a key to the lost city of Parapata that her parents send her to live with Diego and his family so that they may explore Peru and find the ancient Incan ruins.

Face to face with her biggest adventure and exploration yet — high school — Dora’s intense energy and inability to understand social cues quickly place her on the wrong end of the popularity scale. It also pits her against queen bee Sammy (Madeleine Madden), the class know-it-all and her unbeknownst-to-her rival, and her one-time best friend Diego (Jeffrey Wahlberg) in an environment that Diego describes as “life or death.” Diego, now a tall, skinny, handsome teenager who is trying to find his own way, struggles heavily with having to be associated with Dora — Dora dressing up as an actual celestial star at the “Come as Your Favorite Star” winter dance certainly doesn’t help.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold

Isabela Moner in “Dora and the Lost City of Gold.” Photo by Vince Valitutti – © 2018 Paramount Players, a Division of Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Bad turns to worse for Dora and Diego when they, along with Sammy and nerdy Randy (Nicholas Coombe) are kidnapped by mercenaries seeking Dora’s map and the treasures that exist within Parapata for themselves. The teenage adversaries are now forced to work together to save themselves and Dora’s parents in the ensuing paint-by-the-numbers action adventure.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold is at its best when playfully mocking the long-time cartoon series. Such as: Dora talking randomly to the camera as if the viewer can and will respond (“Can you say severe neurotoxicity?”); singing the backpack song on her way to school so that she doesn’t forget anything; or Sammy asking why a fox needs a mask. Yep, Swiper and Boots both make appearance, awful CGI and all.

While Dora and the Lost City of Gold won’t win any awards for best family movie of the year, the film’s PG-rating allows for a fun, clean film for children and tweens alike. A toe-tapping ensemble song featured during the credits will bring a smile to all, but the post-credits scene is best left only for the biggest fans of the television show.

Mark Eaton

Mark Eaton

Mark is an entertainment junkie, spending much of his leisure time watching movies, TV, or listening to any and all genres of music. Most evenings, after finishing a day of work and hanging with his wife and kids, Mark can be found in an eternal battle with his DVR, trying to clear it before another 5-6 hours of shows are recorded the next day. With a past career in the publishing industry, working with libraries and K12 and academic institutions, one would think that Mark adopted a greater love of reading books, however if it isn’t the newspaper, entertainment industry magazines (Variety and Entertainment Weekly are his favorites), or perusing websites such as Deadline, THR, and Cinemablend, it doesn’t readily exist in Mark’s universe. Favorite Films: Goodfellas, Cocktail, Top Gun, Dazed and Confused, The Breakfast Club, Austin Powers, Airplane
Mark Eaton

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