Delayed Reaction: Dora and the Lost City of Gold

Premise: Dora is a teen now and moves from the actual jungle to the concrete jungle before getting caught up in a new adventure.

 

(Club 50) I didn't expect to say this but, this movie's kind of great. On paper, it shouldn't be. It's a clumsy adaptation of a Nick Jr. show that I never watched. It's a very family-focused movie. Having just watched several other mediocre family movies this weekend, I sure wasn't expecting much. Look a little closer though. This is from the director of the recent Muppet movies. It's also co-written by Nicholas Stoller, who worked on those Muppet movies and has ties to the Apatow camp, directing and cowriting films like Neighbors, Get Him to the Greek, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall). The Muppets ties are very important to this movie, because it shows that these are people with experience loving a piece of family IP while also being able to poke fun at its absurdities.

 

This movie genuinely likes Dora (Isabele Merced). Wisely, they age the character up from 6 to 16, but they take a Brady Bunch Movie approach of making her someone who never left the TV show she began in. Dora fundamentally doesn't fit in a real-world setting, but instead of using it solely as a way to laugh at Dora, the movie also uses her for a message about being yourself. It's not subtle, but it's effective. Merced really is excellent as Dora. She uses the character's unrelenting exuberance like a Leslie Knope or Ted Lasso and it's impossible to resist.

The movie does eventually turn into a wannabe Indiana Jones movie which it is moderately effective at. The classmates that are stuck on the journey with her are a welcome counter-point to Dora. They react how real teenagers would to all this while Dora treats it like just another day. The film is helped by a solid adult cast. Eugenio Derbez plays the goofy-tagalong part better than the heel turn. He's ultimately not meant to be a threat, so it's fine that he's a bad villain. Michael Pena is unsurprisingly a scene-stealer as Dora's father. That man really is never bad. I can't figure out if I want him in 10 supporting roles a year or 2 lead roles. He's always great and I want him in everything I watch. As Dora's mom, Eva Longoria doesn't stand out as much. She's not as skilled at scene-stealing as Pena and there's not much on the page for either parent.

 

My pleasure watching Dora and the Lost City of Gold absolutely comes from my lowered expectations. I had a blast watching it though. I wish all films aimed at families were this good. It's funny and reasonably exciting. There's a star performance at the center. The filmmakers respect the source material while finding what's silly about it.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend