Ever since 1981's "Raiders of the Lost Ark", Hollywood has jumped on the band wagon and had produced many films that are similar to Raiders due to the massive profits of the Raiders franchise. Films such as "Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold" '86, "The Mummy" '99, "Sahara" '05 and the like have certainly received their popularity due to Raiders. So with "Dora and the Lost City of Gold", I'm sure the producers are counting on a success since there seems to be a pattern here.
Having spent most of her life exploring the jungle with her parents, nothing could prepare Dora (Isabela Moner) for her most dangerous adventure ever--High School. Always the explorer, Dora quickly finds herself leading Boots (her best friend, a monkey), her cousin Diego (Jeffrey Wahlberg), a mysterious jungle inhabitant, Alejandro (Eugenio Derbez), and a rag tag group of teens including Sammy (Madeleine Madden) and Randy (Nicholas Coombe) on a live-action adventure to save her parents, Cole (Michael Pena) and Elena (Eva Longoria) and solve the impossible mystery of an Incan lost city of gold.
Others to round out the cast are Adriana Barraza as Abuelita Valerie, Danny Trejo as the voice of Boots, Benicio Del Toro as the voice of Swiper, Christopher Kirby as Viper, Temuera Morrison as Powell and Joey Vieira as Nico.
This was whimsically directed by James Bobin ("Thumb Candy: The History of Computer Games" (documentary) 2000, "The Muppets" '11, "Muppets Most Wanted" '14, "Lupin the 3rd" '14, "Alice Through the Looking Glass" '16) plus TV, videos and a short. This being a family film, this filmmaker certainly was gifted with the ability of impressing on his actors to emit characterizations of an almost animated presence even though this was live-action. At times, the characters, especially Dora, came across as a bit over-the-top with a sappy, too optimistic presence, but I had to keep telling myself that this is geared toward families with kids. Certainly this fare is familiar to Bobin which makes him credible. It was written far better than I thought it was by Matthew Robinson ("Jerked" '14, "Monster Trucks" (story) '16) plus TV, and Nicholas Stoller ("Fun with Dick and Jane" '05, "Yes Man" '08, "Get Him to the Greek" '10, "Gulliver's Travels" '10, "The Muppets" '11, "The Five-Year Engagement" '12, "Sex Tape" '14, "Zoolander 2" '16, "Storks" '16, "Night School" '18) plus others, TV and a video short, based on a story by Tom Wheeler, which was then based on the series created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh and Eric Weiner. I'm not sure why Robinson received top writing credit to this since Stoller is clearly a veteran writer. Maybe Stoller was attempting to give a leg up to a writer that's not as experienced. Not sure. I'm sure Robinson had a certain amount of pivotal ideas in this, and he does display talent hence his "Monster Problems" is in post production at this point, but he's still learning. Stoller is a veteran and has proven himself time and again hence his vast resume. Other than a few things in this that just couldn't happen and a couple of places that were a bit confusing, this script was surely meatier than I ever thought it would be. It was tight, well thought out and slickly edited by Mark Everson. This does borrow some things from Raiders, with the swashbuckling, humor and over-the-top situations, but this is what makes this fun.
If you like these types of films and have a family of young children, this is the film for you. Young single adults might find this a bit sappy and corny, but it all depends on ones' perspective. It is a nice escape and I'm always glad to see films that are made to cater to families out there since there doesn't seem to be enough of them.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: PG 102mins.
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