Roger Ebert will forever be the greatest film critic that ever thought about a movie. One of the things I admired about him most was his open mindedness. Ebert went into every movie he saw with wide eyed optimism, hoping he would watch something great, regardless of how stupid or pointless the pitch was. All of my movie experiences told me a live action reboot of Dora the Explorer, but as a teenager, was going to be a pointless cash grab geared toward children. Thankfully, I channeled my inner Ebert and ignored my gut on this one. I’m SO happy to tell you that someone took Dora And The Lost City of Gold seriously, and made a rollicking super fun time at the movies. YOU DID IT! CLAP YOUR HANDS, NICKELODEON MOVIES! THINK ABOUT ALL THE MONEY YOU’LL BE MAKING! BUENO!
At age 6, Dora’s cousin Diego (Jeff Wahlberg) moves to Los Angeles from the jungle. This leaves Dora (Isabela Moner) in the jungle, learning and having adventures with her mom (Eva Longoria) and dad (Michael Pena), and her pet monkey Boots. At age 15 or so, Dora’s parents go on an expedition to find the lost Incan city of Parapata. They elect not to take Dora, and reunite her with Diego, hoping she’ll learn about connecting with other people her age. Suddenly, her parents disappear, and Dora is taken by mercenaries along with Diego and high school “friends” Sammy (Madeleine Madden) and Randy (Nicholas Coombe) to Peru to find them during their search for Parapata. The group is rescued by Alejandro (Eugenio Derbez), a friend of Dora’s parents, and the five of them go on in search of mom and dad, hopefully evading capture along the way.
Props to Matthew Robinson, Nicholas Stoller, and James Bobin. These are the guys behind the 2011 Muppets reboot, so they know a thing or two about how to smartly tell a kids story. They took stock of what really makes Dora so engaging: her relentless energy and optimism, her thrill of adventure, and her true depth of knowledge about ancient cultures (from her parents). Everything else can be mined for comedy. So when Dora breaks the 4th wall and talks to the audience, she’s got a go pro camera or taking a selfie. Clever! There’s little amusing Easter eggs like that for Dora fans sporadically placed throughout the film, winking just enough to make everyone laugh but not condescendingly so. Some of those callbacks are so unexpected and brilliantly executed you’ll exclaim “Holy….shoot!” There are kids around, right? No matter where the movie takes Dora and her friends, it never loses that joyful enthusiasm, which sneaks up on you to the point you realize you’ve been smiling the whole time.
This leaves the rest of Dora’s personality to form the meat of the story, which is basically two movies crammed into one. The first is a fish out of water story, where the Cadie Haren like Dora has to learn to navigate the complicated social web of high school. Of course it’s funny watching Dora thank each cook at lunch for her tasty meal or dress down the smartest kid in school, but at the core of the first is Dora’s broken relationship with Diego, how they’ve drifted apart after he left for the city. Dora handles this hard as you’d expect, but also smartly. Her parents helped make her very assured of who she is, so the movie smartly positions her as the wisest person in the room, despite being the smallest and supposedly most naïve. When she’s unsure, she seeks advice from someone who can give her an answer. The other half (that lost city of gold in the title) of the movie is a Raiders of the Lost Ark/Goonies like adventure story. The second story relies on Dora’s brains and ingenuity. It’s completely refreshing to see a kid use their smarts to solve a problem, and teach little kids something along the way, like the cartoon Dora did for toddlers. The joke is always on the bad guy, or one of Dora’s friends, but never Dora herself, as she enthusiastically examines and solves problem after plot twist after problem. Casting goes a long way here. Isabela Moner has been the best part of a couple of not so great films. Without her, Dora would have sucked something awful, but Moner’s got “it,” and this should be proof that she’s got as bright a future as any young actress working today.
Dora and the Lost City of Gold is one of the biggest surprises of 2019 so far. It should serve as a reminder to go into anything: a movie, a date, a restaurant – with an open mind. Like, Dora, I feel like singing about this!… Wait, nope, let’s leave that to Isabela Moner and the other professionals in Dora and the Lost City of Gold…