Movie Review: Dora and the Lost City of Gold Part 2

Movie Review: Dora and the Lost City of Gold Part 2                                                               8-10-19

In Part 1 of this review, I talked about how Nickelodeon tried taking old characters and putting them in more grown-up stories and situations. Here's the link below.
https://asateriale.blogspot.com/2019/08/movie-review-dora-and-lost-city-of-gold.html
However, both shows talked about, All Grown Up and The Legend of Korra, have divisive fanbases. However, taking something like Dora the Explorer, making it live-action, aging up Dora (and Diego) to their late teens, and putting them in a National Treasure-esque adventure story is more fitting, since double-digit moviegoers wouldn't want to watch a preschool movie that encourages the audience to interact with one another, even though it would definitely ruin the experience for other people in the movie theater. The only good preschool movie, in my opinion, is the 1985 Sesame Street movie Follow That Bird, which I'll review this November.
Enough of that said. Let's get into Dora and the Lost City of Gold!

Dora (Isabela Moner) is an energetic and cheerful Brazilian girl who loves exploring with her wild monkey friend Boots. However, her parents believe that she’s safer in the city, so they send her to a Californian high school with her cousin Diego (Jeff Wahlberg). While on a trip to a museum, Dora accidentally gets shipped back to South America along with Diego, awkward boy Randy (Nicholas Coombe), and popular girl Samantha (Madeleine Madden). Guided by veteran explorer Alejandro (Eugenio Derbez), the unlikely quartet embark on a journey to find the Incan civilization known as Parapata, hidden in the dangerous jungles of South America.

Has it finally happened? Has there finally been a good live-action movie based on a cartoon since 1990’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? I'm surprised to say this, but yes. Dora and the Lost City of Gold is best described as a cross between Disney's Enchanted, Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie, and The Goonies; The film has some of the charm and self-effectionet parody of Enchanted, the adventure of The Goonies, and the twists and perils of The Jungle Movie. Dora, herself, is like Giselle from Enchanted: She likes to sing, has an animal sidekick that other people find revolting, can be oblivious about her new surroundings, and always focuses on the positive side.

Also, with many live-action movies that I've seen, the sets and backgrounds make me feel that I'm really in California/South America.

For those parents out there who are concerned about having overly cute animals and objects talk and sing, no need to worry! None of the animal characters talk except for Swiper, the fox antagonist from the original cartoon. In this film, he works for the antagonist, helping to steal his share of the treasure of Parapata.

In conclusion, Dora and the Lost City of Gold may not be as good as 'Dragons 3' or Toy Story 4, but's it's definitely much better than 2010's The Last Airbender. Think of this film as a Plan B for Toy Story 4. I would also choose it over most of the live-action Disney remakes any day!

Rating: 3.46 stars out of 5.

Speaking of Disney remakes, I'm going to give an updated synopsis and opinion of every live-action Disney remake leading up to Aladdin in October.