'Dora', an uplifting jungle adventure

Movie rewards not just intelligence but cultural curiosity

Dora the Explorer was 7 years old when audiences met
her on television, a sing-songy polymath who traveled the map seeking answers
and solving puzzles, accompanied by a big-mouthed backpack and an equally
loquacious monkey, Boots. Nearly 20 years have passed since the adventure show
first aired (enough to cultivate a massive global awareness), but only 10 in
Dora's world, which means her live-action debut, director James Bobin's 'Dora
and the Lost City of Gold', gives audiences of all ages the chance to see the
character – whose unquenchable thirst for education knows no bounds – face the
ultimate test: adjusting to an American high school.

If that sounds like a pretext for
a snappy, self-parodying TV-to-film adaptation – something in the vein of '21
Jump Street' or 'The Dukes of Hazzard', perhaps – think again. Yes, the movie
is postmodern enough to acknowledge that there's something odd about Dora's
penchant for breaking the fourth wall (as when she turns and asks the audience,
'Can you say 'delicioso'?') and composing spontaneous songs for any occasion.
But the most endearing quality of Nicholas Stoller and Matthew Robinson's
script – not counting that they didn't try to whitewash their Latina heroine –
is the way it permits Dora to remain indefatigably upbeat no matter what the
situation, whether navigating treacherous Incan temples or facing an auditorium
of jeering teenage peers.

Even Indiana Jones gets nervous.
But not Dora (played here by Isabela Moner), who quips, 'If you just believe in
yourself, anything is possible,' before plummeting down a dangerous chasm,
effectively demonstrating that positivity will only take one so far. Raised in
the jungle by a pair of archaeology professors (Eva Longoria and Michael Pena),
Dora is sent off to attend high school in Los Angeles with her cousin Diego
(Jeff Wahlberg) just as her parents set out to find the legendary city of
Parapata. She would rather join them on the expedition, but for the film's
purposes, it's far more interesting to see how Dora handles what we might call
the 'real world' – which is to say, public school metal detectors, a modest
teen-friendly makeover and the humiliation of hazing.

By confronting Dora with such
indignities, the movie cleverly illustrates what she's made of, while also
giving her the chance to assemble a small posse of fellow outcasts, including
formerly undisputed class smarty-pants Sammy (Madeleine Madden), who's
instantly threatened by Dora's intelligence, and the ultra-awkward Randy
(Nicholas Coombe), a typically Nickelodeon stereotype with weird hair and a
virtually asexual screen chemistry. Together with Diego, these three wind up
kidnapped and shipped back to South America, where a trustworthy adult named
Alejandro (Eugenio Derbez) helps them escape. Now all the kids need to do is
find Dora's parents before the bad guys get to Parapata.

Generations

So far, so basic. Still, it's
important to keep in mind that the target audience won't have seen the
countless jungle adventure movies that 'Dora and the Lost City of Gold' is actively
recycling – and even then, the genre dates back so many decades, even the
previous generations' reference points (be they Allan Quatermain and Indiana
Jones movies or more recent 'Jumanji' and Tarzan remakes) were effectively
pieced together from earlier examples of the same. More important for them will
be the question of how this live-action adaptation chooses to treat their
favorite elements of the cartoon.

How, for instance, do you handle
a talking backpack? (The answer: Treat it as a bottomless utility sack, but
scrap the ability to speak.) Preschoolers love Swiper, the series' sneaky fox
antagonist (voiced here by Benicio Del Toro), but will older audiences accept a
computer-animated version of this silly character? And what's the best way to
reboot Boots, Dora's simian companion? Unlike Disney's recent 'Aladdin' update,
in which a too-realistic Abu wasn't nearly as cute as his cartoon counterpart,
the new-and-improved Boots maintains the original's blue fur and exaggerated
features, but looks right for the hyper-stylized jungle environment.

Though DP Javier Aguirresarobe
('Thor: Ragnarok') makes those fantasy landscapes appear suitably lavish,
director Bobin has wisely decided not to strive for realism here – an artistic
choice that makes the frequently unconvincing visual effects seem more
endearing than disappointing. That pays off particularly well in a field of
enormous pink flowers, which trigger a hallucination many will consider the
film's high point.

Whereas most of the cast (and
especially Derbez) play broad, borderline-slapstick versions of their
characters, Moner has the wide eyes and ever-chipper attitude we associate with
Dora, but adds a level of charisma the animated character couldn't convey.
Previously featured in 'Instant Family' and 'Transformers: The Last Knight',
the young actress shows obvious star potential, to the extent one hopes this
film will be enough of a hit that we can watch her grow up to be a more
naturally proportioned – but no less exciting – role model than Lara Croft.

'Dora and the Lost City of Gold'
goes out of its way to establish that the character isn't a tomb raider or
treasure hunter, but rather an explorer, risking her life for the love of
knowledge. As Dora and her friends sing over the end credits, 'We came
together, that's the real treasure.' Sure, it's nice to see Dora make some
friends (she always got along fine by herself in the jungle, but discovers
loneliness when she moves to Los Angeles), but that corny lyric all but
dismisses their entire adventure. Even so, there's something to be said for the
way the movie rewards not just intelligence but cultural curiosity, while never
making a big deal of race.

Dora just so happens to know a
lot of things, including three languages: English, Spanish and whatever Inca
dialect the guardians of Parapata speak. (It's a nice surprise to see Native
actress Q'orianka Kilcher, who played Pocahontas in Terrence Malick's 'The New
World', pop up as one of these Incan stewards.) The 'Dora the Explorer' TV show
is famous for its puzzles, during which Dora demands the audience's
participation. The movie is relatively weak in this department, serving up
'National Treasure'-esque riddles and 'Goonies'-like waterslides for kids too
young to have seen those movies. But when it comes time for Dora to solve the
climactic test – asked to make a sacrifice 'of that which is most valuable' –
we realize just how solid her values are. (RTRS)

While the film may be rudimentary
in many respects, it would also be fair to say it represents a certain hope for
the future: When interacting with younger generations, it can be encouraging to
discover that they haven't necessarily been indoctrinated with the same biases
as their parents, and in many cases, they seem instinctively more sensitive as
a result. Maybe we could all learn something from Dora after all. (RTRS)

By Peter Debruge

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