Critical Movie Rating: B-
Dora and the Lost City of Gold follows the bright eyed wonder of an explorer raised in the Amazon. When Dora is a teenager her parents decide to search for the famed city of gold, and deciding Dora isn't ready for such an adventure they send her to High School, a jungle of its own. Dora didn't grow up around other kids, so her optimism mixed with underdeveloped social skills makes her an outcast. This doesn't bother her, as Dora is unafraid to be true to herself. Suddenly Dora, her cousin, and a couple mismatched classmates find themselves in the Amazon trying to find Dora's parents and the city of gold.
Dora and the Explorer, the show in which this movie is based, is a generation younger than I. As a kid I watched Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, and Captain Kangaroo on PBS. Dora the TV show launched in 2000, and even though I never watched it, I would see jokes pop up about the show in memes.
Crazy as it sounds, I love how Dora and the Lost City of Gold knows what it is, and makes fun of itself while breaking the 4th wall on occasion and having fun. This movie is a family film, a jumanji for youngsters mixed in with goof ball antics and even a song about poo. Not joking, there's a poo song, and fart jokes. Dora was on Nickelodeon, a channel known for green goo.
Is the plot predictable? Yes. The characters two dimensional? In a non-animated sense, for the most part, sure. But the movie is lighthearted. This is not a film to take seriously. There's jokes, but also a good story about family and friendship.
What really makes this movie sing, and I'm not talking about poo, is Dora as a character. Isabela Moner plays her perfectly. She's just a really good person with admirable strength.
If you want to see a fun family film Dora and the Lost City of Gold is a good movie, just know it gets really silly at times. Oh my goodness, that drugged field of flowers. What the crap was that?
MPAA: Rated PG for action and some impolite humor.
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