Dora y la ciudad perdida

"Can you find the map behind either of the three bushes?" is one of several things little Dora would ask her viewers on her show Dora the Explorer. I was in middle school when Dora the Explorer made it's debut on Nickelodeon. I was already too old for it, but it was a monster hit for the under seven demographic it was aiming for. From the few episodes I saw, it did it's job well buy keeping kids interacting with the show. But unlike Blues Clues that had very mundane and general mysteries, Dora the Explorer at least tried to add a little more education with zoology and a main character that was Latina. I merely saw it as harmless while Nickelodeon saw it as money.

In the age where reboots and remakes are all the rage, it makes sense Hollywood would want to tap into the nostalgia of Dora before it was too late. When a movie was announced, I kept wondering how that would be done as movies based off a little kid aimed material rarely sells. Just as the people who've made movies off of Sesame Street and Thomas the Tank Engine. But Dora and the Lost City of Gold tries something different; it tries to be funny.

Young teenager Dora (played by Isabela Moner) may be grown up, but still loves exploring the South American jungle with her monkey Boots (played by Danny Trejo), singing songs to herself and keeping an upbeat sprit about her life. After a fall, her parents Cole (played by Michael Peña) and Elena (played by Eva Longoria) decide that she needs to be around kids her own age and send her to Los Angeles to go live with her cousin Diego (played by Jeff Wahlberg).

When going to Diego's high school, she finds her jungle skills and knowledge out of place in a culture of cliques and teenage angst. Nevertheless, she continues to be herself while trying to get back her friendship she used to have with Diego. The both of them are on a fieldtrip when they and two other students get kidnapped by treasure hunters who hope Dora can lead them to her parents who are searching for a lost city of gold. Their sent back to South America, but get away thanks to a fellow explorer Alejandro (played by Eugenio Derbez). Even with an adult, it's up to Dora to lead her friends into the jungle the find her parents and perhaps a lost city of gold.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually liked Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Not only was it genuinely funny, but it kept my interest in a story that seems like a safer version of Goonies. Is it as good as the latter? No, in fact there are moments that are too dumb, but for the most part, this is a movie that knows what it is and wants to be: a silly adventure. There's nothing wrong with being silly.

This is a movie that's made for fans of Dora the Explorer, but it's also for those that made fun of it. It's aware of how annoying the cartoon was for the adults who had to listen to it when their toddlers watched it. A lot of it works thanks to Isabela Moner, who remains as committed as hell to not only making her work as a likable character, but one who can be a literal live-action cartoon.

While I had fun, I know that regular adult are not going to get into this at all if they don't have some nostalgia with the character. What does hurt it is while it tries to evolve Dora and her adventure, it still succumbs to cliché family movie parts like the annoying geek character and bathroom jokes. I understand it's a film that still has to appeal to children, but if movies like Inside Out and Up have shown anything, the story can still be great without having to go for lowbrow humor. A part of me also realizes that if I was around ten, I would have dug this movie and maybe even asked my parents to take me to it again.

I'll give this seven Doras out of ten. Again, even though I liked it and had fun with it's meta jokes, this is not meant for adults unless they have some nostalgia or even at least some interest. It weird to think that the CGI Lion King remake was bad while a live action Dora the Explorer was better then expected. I suppose it's earned the right to sing "We did it"

The Plot is a wholly ridiculous story ripped from multiple Tarzan movies of the 40's and 50's. But go with it.

Six-year old Dora (Madelyn Miranda) and Diego (Malachi Barton) are having fun growing up in the jungle with their academic parents. (At least, you assume Diego's parents are there somewhere... this is all very vague!). Dora's parents - Cole (Michael Peña) and Elena (Eva Longoria) - are explorers on a lifelong mission to discover the lost Inca city of Parapata. Parapata is famed to be crammed with gold - "more than all the rest of the world's gold put together".

But Dad makes clear that they are not in it for the financial benefit: the motto is explorers = good; treasure hunters = bad.

But Dora's idyllic childhood is rocked when Diego has to return to civilization and she has to grow up alone with her parents.

Roll forwards 10 years and Dora has grown. Now as Isabela Moner, she discovers a vital clue to Parapata's location. But this signals a change for Dora, since she is not allowed on the expedition and must go to a far wilder place: to join Diego, now Jeff Wahlberg (nephew of Mark) in an LA high-school.

But Mum and Dad are not the only ones on the trail of Parapata's treasures, and together with new friends, the spiky "mean-girl" Sammy (Madeleine Madden) and the nerdy astronomy geek Randy (Nicholas Coombe), they must mount a rescue mission that takes them.... you'll NEVER guess where..!

The film is a blast for kids, and probably suitable for emotionally robust kids of all ages. Nobody actually dies, despite falling unfathomably long distances onto rocks! However, the film also pulls off that great and welcome trick by dropping in enough jokes for parents to be entertained. "Yumm... delicioso!" says young Dora. Then breaking the fourth wall "Can YOU say delicioso?". Fleabag-style this confuses the hell out of Mum and Dad. Cole says to Elena, "Don't worry... she'll grow out of it". And fortunately, she does before the joke becomes tiresome!

There's no warning about drug-taking, since the hallucinogenic scene with exploding flowers will go right over young kid's heads. But I found it very amusing!

There are also some fun "fish out of water" high school scenes. We've seen many of these before with the likes of Spider-Man, but here they are light-touch and fun.

When things get back into the jungle, they take on a much whackier angle. It's all very "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull", but without the crushing disappointment! But again, kids will love the puzzle-solving and the "Mummy-ish" gothic humour. The only part of this that I think might disturb young kids is a quicksand scene, that parents might like to pre-warn youngsters that everything will work out fine!

Holding the whole film together like a little Duracell Bunny of vitality is 18-year old Isabela Moner, who is a genuine talent, honed in the Nickelodeon studios. She was impressive in the above average "Instant Family", and I predict she will go onto great things over the next 10 years.

Elsewhere, a "Pointless" answer from the cast is Benicio del Toro as the voice of "Swiper", a bizarrely talking and poorly-disguised fox! This probably makes more sense to those who know the original kid's cartoon!

Even more annoying is Dora's (strangely multi-coloured) monkey Boots... the Jar Jar Binks of the film, who might amuse very young children but probably not many other folks.

Final Thoughts: Here's a film that is not trying to be anything other than a fun and much needed summer outing for families. Disney used to do this sort of live-action family film thing so well in the 70's and 80's, before they got obsessed with pointless recreations of their cartoon classics.

The director is James Bobin, who's formerly directed a number of the Muppet movies, and this movie breathes with the same sense of anarchic fun without being too up itself.

The film occasionally makes you cringe, with some dreadfully (and deliberately) naff songs, but I enjoyed it and for the right audience (kids 8 to 12) I think they'll have a blast.

(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies on this new-fangled internet thing, or else on Facebook... whatever the earth that is. Thanks).

I didn't think I would like this teenage adventure, but I did. This film is a fun filled adventure, with much positivity, fun and thrill. Scenes are colourful, songs are upbeat, and the film is quite a fun ride. I can't believe I liked it!

I like watching animation and movies meant for younger audience sometimes. Most of the timed they are for all audiences. But when you get scenes like, repeat the word after me and songs about digging poo holes.. it's hard to watch as an adult..

OK, joking aside, we all thought this was gonna flop spectacularly. Dora has had a very rocky reputation and a live-action version sounds like a terrible idea. But to my surprise this was a very charming and pretty funny movie. It is mainly aimed at kids and that meant a bit of cringe-worthy moments here and there, but the whole product is just a lot of fun, and I'm saying this as someone who despises Dora The Explorer. Give it a watch, you may end up liking it.