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.
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.
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