The Nerdee Foodee

Dora the Explorer has been teaching kids about the Spanish culture and language since 2000. In the wake of the current trend of live action adaptations, Nickelodeon wanted to take their little explorer to the next level by following the latest trend of giving her own live action movie. They combined live action with classic animation and CGI in a fun, kooky movie. Just in time for back to school season too!

Parents associate the name Dora with wide variety of educational topics and audience interactivity. This film will not let them down. Dora and the Lost City of Gold brings together classic tv show lessons along with modern positive messages. Throughout the film, kids will get a healthy dose of fun facts from the South American Hispanic culture to animals native to that area (i.e. poison frogs). On top of that simple Spanish words are introduced and repeated during the run of the film. The interactive part maybe more for nostalgic purposes with the older crowd and kept to the beginning of the movie, but it will pump the young ones up for the rest of the film.

Where this franchise matures (besides making Dora a teen) is its message to kids of all ages. The power of friendship and family is great. Dora didn’t start out with many friends, but formed friendships for life. Sometimes you never know who will become your best friend. It can come out in the wildest of places from the person you least expect. So be nice to everyone no matter your differences. Family is also your support system. Diego may have found Dora embarrassing, he still looked after his cousin and supported her. Another message that is repeated all the way through is, be true to yourself and stay positive. Dora may have her quirks that made her different from the rest, but she didn’t dull her shine. Kids these days need to hear that more and more. It is nice to see a movie really bring these messages to the forefront.

A lot of children’s movies these days rely heavily on crude humor that borderlines on being too much. DATLCOG shies away from that mold. There is a good mix of physical humor and jokes. Few jokes can be approaching that line, but it what makes the movie watchable for multiple age ranges. Even a teen or young adult who is taking a sibling can find something to relate to and find funny.

DATLCOG maybe a kids’ movie, but there is some aspects it should be applauded for. Writer Matthew Robinson took an animated child’s series and brought it to life. He made an excellent choice to not make it serious, but had fun interspersing the animated quirks throughout. Dora would break the 4th wall at times, and like any normal people would do, they would question who she was talking to. This ode to The Office humor would draw the attention to many young adult viewers. Plus it is like you plucked Dora from the animated show and dropped her into our world. Speaking of plucking animated Dora and dropping her in our world, Isabela Moner is Dora. She embraces the quirks and runs with it. Her acting paired with the direction of James Bobin makes Dora beyond life and very cartoony, which is very fitting being contrasted with the rest of the cast. The cast is a star studded group of brilliant Hispanic actors and actresses. Viewers will enjoy seeing Eva Longoria and Michael Pena being quirky parents as well as Danny Trejo voicing Boots the loveable monkey sidekick.

That being said there were a few things that fell short. While embracing the source material fairly well, one character felt out of place. Swiper the fox was just thrown into the movie with no purpose next to the main villain. Characters just accepted a talking fox like it was normal. Boots looked fairly realistic for a blue monkey, yet Swiper looked out of place CGI wise. He was very animated and had choppy fur. It almost looked like two different animators worked on both animal characters. The blending of the landscape was not very polished at times. If you look you could see what was set and what was added in in editing.

Some of the comedy suffered from what plagues comedy today. There were comedic moments that were drawn out past the point of funny. It felt like beating a dead horse into the ground. At times some of the humor came off more as awkward more than funny. As previously stated The Office humor of being self aware and breaking the 4th wall worked, there were times characters would address something then forget it moments later. This made character development slow at times, and messed with some continuity. That is more nitpicky than anything.

Summer maybe coming to a close with school starting back up for kids, but they do not have to start back without one more adventure. Dora and the Lost City of Gold makes education fun for the young ones while bring a Spy Kids flair for the older crowd. There might also be Easter eggs for jungle adventure film junkies (i.e. Jumanji and Indiana Jones). Parents will not feel guilty for making this a movie for family night. Hopefully Nickelodeon makes the choice of bringing Dora back for more adventures in the future.

3/5 Traveling Ghosties