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Join UsStar Cast: Isabela Moner, Eugenio Derbez, Michael Peña, Eva Longoria, Jeff Wahlberg, Madeleine Madden, Nicholas Coombe
Director: James Bobin
What’s Good: Couldn’t have got a better Dora than Isabela, Boots (the monkey) steals the show!
What’s Bad: A very predictable, run-of-the-mill, done-to-death script backed with nothing to talk about
Loo Break:Â Depends on the kids those will accompany you!
Watch or Not?:Â Watch if you’re a kid, or have a kid or planning to have a kid!
User Rating:
Starting the story in a very ‘Captain Fantastic’ zone we get to learn young Dora (Madelyn Miranda) is homeschooled by her professor parents, who also are explorers. She gets separated from her cousin Diego (Malachi Barton) because he moves to the city. Ten years later, we see Dora (Isabela Moner) exploring the jungle in order to reach a mysterious place named Parapata.
Her parents Cole (Michael Peña) and Elena (Eva Longoria) go to the adventure of finding Parapata (also known as the lost city of Gold) minus Dora. The kid has been sent to the city to her cousin Diego where she finds explores the ‘city life’. But, being an explorer, her roots get her back to the jungle in order to finish the biggest adventure of her life.
Dora And The Lost City Of Gold Movie Review: Script Analysis
Without following a single episode of Dora: The Explorer, I knew the movie is somewhere in the Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle and yes it was. The movie starts with introducing interesting things like a talking backpack and map with a mouth, but it doesn’t take much time to know those were just temporary props. This kind of movies requires the narrative to be very strong at two points – comedy & adventure.
But unfortunately, this film doesn’t live up to the expectations in any of those fields. The thrills are limited and the jokes are rare, and hence apart from Moner’s earnest performance, there’s nothing to remember this film for. I literally counted the moments (6 to be precise), when the story had the scope to include some hilarious one-liners. It gets very predictable with the thrills and that’s why whatever it says, nothing really matters by the end.
Dora And The Lost City Of Gold Movie Review: Star Performance
Isabela Moner is the only reason why I was glued to the screen till the end. Her animated presence helped to ignore many loopholes in the script. She’s not just your cute teenager wandering in a jungle, she has the moves and expressions to be a great actress in the coming days.
Eugenio Derbez plays the ‘shady guy’ very well. His character is interesting given the mystery around it. Michael Peña and Eva Longoria are purely wasted. Apart from a scene, in which he’s imitating Electronic Music, Michael has nothing to do in the film. Eva doesn’t even get to do that, not a single memorable scene.
Jeff Wahlberg is decent and a victim of a lazy character sketching. Madeleine Madden and Nicholas Coombe prove to be unworthy additions to the team. Both should’ve brought something different, but are stuck to yawny stereotypes.
Dora And The Lost City Of Gold Movie Review: Direction, Music
James Bobin messes up big time with this jungle-adventure. Not being able to mould a story is a different thing, but muddling with the already available props is different. There were elements, he could’ve used to entertain, right in front of the eyes but he chose to go the wrong way. Apart from Boots, there’s not a single character that brings in a decent amount of laughs.
I would lie if I say any of the set-pieces impressed me in the BGM department. There’s really nothing to talk about. Given the amount of talent John Debney should’ve brought on-board, melodically there’s nothing to take away from the film.
Dora And The Lost City Of Gold Movie Review: The Last Word
All said and done, this movie could be a fun watch on a lazy Sunday with your kids around, it’s nothing more than that. From what I can gauge, it would be better to watch its cartoon version instead.
Two stars!
Dora And The Lost City Of Gold Trailer
Dora And The Lost City Of Gold releases on 09 August, 2019.
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