For eight seasons since year 2000, Dora the Explorer was one of the most popular and long-running Nickelodeon TV shows for young kids. It featured a seven year-old Latina girl who loved going on fun adventures with her little monkey Boots, her trusty purple Backpack and her Map.
During the show she would break the fourth wall to teach her audience to speak simple Spanish words or ask their help in solving simple problems or riddles she faced in her quest. Her frequent nemesis was the wily masked fox Swiper who always tried to steal her map away. Three years into the series, her 8 year-old cousin Diego joined in her adventures.
This live action version of Dora the Explorer began with how we knew her and Diego from the cartoon, as children living in the jungles of Peru. However, the two best friends were separated when Diego was brought by his mom to live in Los Angeles in the US. Then fast forward 10 years, Dora was now a teenager, but still perky and spirited as ever.
Because her parents had to leave to search for the lost city of gold Parapata, Dora was sent to live with Diego's family in the meantime. She found it hard to fit into an American high school as her classmates found her behavior borne out of her homeschooling in the jungle to be very odd. One day, while her class was on a field trip to the museum, Dora and her group mates Diego, Sammy and Randy were suddenly abducted, setting them off on a big adventure back in the Peruvian jungle to search for her parents.
I thought this film was fun to watch, especially when it revived moments from the TV series. Yes, being ever chirpy and happy, Dora had some pretty cringey scenes for which you feel embarrassed for the 18-year old actress playing her Isabela Moner. But hey, she was right in character and she was delightful. This was how positive and excited Dora was supposed to be! Moner had been in films like "Transformers: The Last Knight" (2017) and "Sicario: Night of the Soldado" (2018). Now, she is headlining a film herself, and she gamely went all-out for it.
Her gang of high school friends were all played by new young actors. Thin and lanky Jeff Wahlberg (his mother was of Dominican descent) awkwardly played teenage Diego. His dance moves at the end would put his uncle Mark to shame (literally). Madeleine Madden is a former Australian child actress with aboriginal lineage, making her Hollywood debut as the smart and sassy Sammy. Nicholas Coombe, who also hailed from Australia, played the introverted astronomy nerd Randy.
Acclaimed Mexican actor and comedian Eugenio Derbez played Alejandro Gutierrez, a wacky Peruvian professor who tagged along with Dora on her quest for her parents. Michael Pena and a heftier Eva Longoria played Dora's parents, who emphasized that they were explorers, not treasure hunters. Major Latino actors Benicio del Toro and Danny Trejo lend their voices to animated anthropomorphic animal characters Swiper and Boots respectively. Sasha Toro, Backpack's voice in the original TV series, reprised his role here.
Overall, this is an enjoyable treat for parents who had once spent endless hours watching those Dora cartoons with our babies. The memories begin when you hear that infectious theme song sung over the opening sequence. The best part of the movie for me was that nostalgic animated interlude in the middle of the film when you also get to see the other animals in the Dora franchise make a short cameo appearances. The temple puzzle they had to solve at the climax felt like Indiana Jones meets Scooby Doo. This was entertaining fare for our inner child. 6/10.
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