Dora and the Lost City of Gold

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SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

     Dora and the Lost City of Gold is the live action adaptation of the kid’s cartoon, Dora the Explorer. Isabela Moner stars as Dora, the intelligent and audacious daughter of two professors (Eva Longoria and Michael Peña). After Dora goes to live with her cousin Diego (Jeff Wahlberg) in the city, she finds herself swept up into a nefarious plot to discover Paraplata, the ancient, lost city of gold.

     Amid a crowded weekend of new releases, Dora and the Lost City of Gold makes a great choice for the kids. Dora is a delightful adventure, unabashedly positive and funny in a way few movies today have the courage to be. And unlike the kid’s features coming from Pixar and Disney these days, which often cater to adults as much as kids, Dora feels more explicitly designed for the younger crowd.

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     For those unfamiliar with the premise, Dora involves jungle-faring, ancient-puzzle-solving misadventures in the vein of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Tomb Raider, or the more kid-friendly Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Compared to something like Indiana Jones, Dora is goofier, much lighter on its feet and, *ahem* infinitely more thoughtful with its racial politics. And of course, it includes elements from the Dora the Explorer show (like Swiper the Fox, voiced by Benicio del Toro).  

     The cast has some real heavyweights. Isabela Moner gives a crucial performance in the lead role, making Dora self-assured, capable, and (pleasantly) cheery. Most importantly, she energizes the movie’s first act, which otherwise struggles to get off the ground. But throughout much of the second act, it’s Eugenio Derbez, who plays fellow explorer Alejandro, who gets the most laughs. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves, but Derbez clearly gets a kick out of being the butt of the joke.

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     The adventure and the jokes and the cast aside, I think Dora has something really special. Dora is a kind of hero, unfazed by cynicism or ridicule, that we don’t get to see too much these days. With her at its center, the world of Dora and the Lost City of Gold is one to which I’d want to return—and that’s saying a lot.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold is rated PG for action and some impolite humor.

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