Dora and the Lost City of Gold
Summary: An awkward teenager from the jungle first encounters modern high school, then several of those highschoolers join Dora in trekking through the jungle.
Warnings: Moderate peril. Betrayal. Vomiting. Several mentions of ‘mating’. Several mentions of ‘poo’ (including singing about it and implying that someone is doing it). Cartoon (very brief) nudity. References to ‘gods’ being angry.
Opinion: My first impression is that this movie has a very limited audience. Most children who are young enough to want to watch the preschool cartoon are far too young to watch this movie - the situations of danger, the mature humor, the emotional/social conflicts are too much for that age range. But older children will likely be turned off by the perceived immaturity of this particular product.
On the negative side of things, the first part of the movie feels like it drags as Dora, our awakard heroine, is thrust into a modern high school. She clearly doesn’t fit-in in ways that are cringe-worthy (and children who are sensitive to embarrassment in movies will detest some of these scenes). Once the obligatory humiliation is out of the way and the movie switches to the jungle, things pick up considerably and become more fun.
There are also several things to recommend about this movie. First, the adventure is fairly good, with lots of different variety of problems, including puzzles for the group of heroes to solve. The main actor is excellent with nearly unrelenting optimism and cheer. Dora’s parents, while perhaps a little silly, aren’t excruciatingly inept, although they do need their 16 year old daughter to rescue them in the end. (Faint praise there, perhaps, but I put this on the positive side since most parents in films like this are far worse. At least these parents seem extremely loving and supportive without being exceptionally permissive).
Overall, I thought it was more fun than not and while I don’t recommend it strongly, I do suggest it for something different.
Sequels/Remakes: This is based on the Dora the Explorer cartoons and for greatest enjoyment, I recommend watching at least one episode of that series (although I don’t have that series in my recommendation lists as I found it obnoxious in large doses).
Educational Value: 1 out of 3 stars. The original series is meant to be educational, but this movie is not.
Cultural value: 1 out of 5 stars. Not culturally relevant at all and highly skippable.
Age rating: This show is appropriate for ages 7 and older. As mentioned in my opinion, this movie is far more mature than the cartoon - NOT appropriate for preschoolers.
Return to Film Lists Here