Dora and the Lost City of Gold
Directed by: James Bobin
Written by: Matthew Robinson and Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Isabela Moner, Jeff Wahlberg, Eugenio Derbez, Madeleine Madden, Nicholas Coombe, Michael Peña, Eva Longoria, Temuera Morrison, Christopher Kirby, Madelyn Moner, Malachi Barton, Isela Vega, Q'orianka Kilcher, Adriana Barraza, Pia Miller
Voices by: Danny Trejo, Benecio del Toro
Adventure/Family - 102 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 9 Aug 2019
Written by: Matthew Robinson and Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Isabela Moner, Jeff Wahlberg, Eugenio Derbez, Madeleine Madden, Nicholas Coombe, Michael Peña, Eva Longoria, Temuera Morrison, Christopher Kirby, Madelyn Moner, Malachi Barton, Isela Vega, Q'orianka Kilcher, Adriana Barraza, Pia Miller
Voices by: Danny Trejo, Benecio del Toro
Adventure/Family - 102 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 9 Aug 2019
Director James Bobin tends to poke fun at his subjects. He cut his teeth on TV shows designed to mock and skewer their plots and characters with Da Ali G Show and Flight of the Conchords. His first movies, the reboot of the Muppet movie and Muppets Most Wanted laugh at many of the Muppet quirks and inside jokes. With Dora and the Lost City of Gold, Bobin makes room for plenty of light-hearted one-liners and in-your-face references to the early-2000’s animated TV series. The lack of subtlety for the jokes is intentional because Dora the movie is meant for young ones, even though Dora is no longer six, but 16. There is no keeping up with the original audience, 16 year-olds are not going to see Dora on a Friday night, but for the young ones, Dora is packed with fart jokes, unrelenting pep, a song about pooping, and dire warnings of how awful high school will be. Six year-olds are going to love it.
It makes sense the script was co-written by Nicholas Stoller, for among his long list of comedic scripts is Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, which has a character named Professor Pee Pee Diarrheastein Poopypants Esquire. The script is not all potty humor; there are adventure gimmicks, a beginner’s mystery, and the message the film really wants you to walk away with – there is a big difference between explorers and treasure hunters. Explorers are good. The discovery is the reward. Treasure hunters are bad. They exist to exploit, steal, and they do not understand nor value the meaning of friendship. Leading us through this abridged children’s version of Raiders of the Lost Ark is the glowing presence of Dora (Isabel Moner, Sicario: Day of the Soldado).
It makes sense the script was co-written by Nicholas Stoller, for among his long list of comedic scripts is Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, which has a character named Professor Pee Pee Diarrheastein Poopypants Esquire. The script is not all potty humor; there are adventure gimmicks, a beginner’s mystery, and the message the film really wants you to walk away with – there is a big difference between explorers and treasure hunters. Explorers are good. The discovery is the reward. Treasure hunters are bad. They exist to exploit, steal, and they do not understand nor value the meaning of friendship. Leading us through this abridged children’s version of Raiders of the Lost Ark is the glowing presence of Dora (Isabel Moner, Sicario: Day of the Soldado).
Dora always has a wide smile on her face. She tries to personally greet every stranger in the airport. She congratulates her peers for accomplishing a whole day of high school. Dora lacks social skills. She does not understand sarcasm, she cannot fit into a crowd, and even if she recognizes public humiliation, it does not affect her. Dora grew up in a jungle McMansion with her archaeologist parents (Michael Peña and Eva Longoria, Ant-Man and the Wasp and In a World…), her monkey pal Boots (Danny Trejo, Storks), and pauses during her adventures dodging elephants and hopping over crocodiles to ask the audience, “Can you say neurotoxicity?!” Dora loves Peru and the pursuit of a lost Incan city called Par Apata. Her parents, on the other hand, believe Dora needs seasoning, and the best place to get it is with her cousin, Diego (Jeff Wahlberg), in Los Angeles.
Diego knows public humiliation and even better, he knows how to dodge it. Dora is going to cramp his style and expose him to unwanted attention. The first threat emerges from Sammy (Madeleine Madden), the school goody-two-shoes who tolerates zero threat to her intellectual pedestal – it’s odd the school brain is popular and in a position to socially threaten anybody. The other person Dora attracts is an oddball who digs astronomy and holding his breath underwater, Randy (Nicholas Coombe). I wonder if that line about holding his breath, which has no business being uttered in the first place, will come back later at an integral moment. The four are kidnapped back to Peru and so begins the never too dangerous, never too demanding, but always chipper jungle adventure.
Dora may be a low-key introduction to the adventure genre for the young ones who are not yet ready for The Goonies or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, both films Dora liberally helps itself to for inspiration. Is Lara Croft and her Tomb Raider series too edgy for your Kindergartner? Dora is Croft’s Girl Scout equivalent. However, for the non-pee wee audience, Dora is far too saccharine to dive into. It lacks any action sequences which will quicken your pulse, it offers no mysteries or puzzles harder than a beginner’s Sudoku, and the one-liners, while mainly bodily function focused, are more chore than chuckle. I recognize Dora is not for folks whose ages have two digits in them. It doesn’t have to be. But have you noticed there are films out there which appeal to both brackets? Some have jokes for ages of all kinds – like the Muppets. Dora is singularly-focused. She’s Level 1, she’s practice, she’s Junior Varsity. Moner delivers an admirable performance and takes her role seriously; she’s a delight, but that’s as much as Dora can offer.
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