For years people have been clamoring for a live-action Dora The Explorer film. Considering Nickelodeon’s had a willingness in the past to transition popular properties to the big screen, this seemed like a foregone conclusion. Now in 2019, not only are we getting Dora and the Lost City of Gold, but we now have an idea of what it’ll looks like, in action. Take a gander at this first trailer, which dropped on Sunday.
That honestly look kinda of fun. Everything here appears as you’d expect. Dora (Isabela Moner) dons her trademark hair-do and outfit. Diego pops up. The sense of adventure exists somewhere between Tomb Raider, the Journey To… films and the most recent Jumanji entry. What stands out the most, is the rather goofy tone. That’s not a detractor mind you, when you consider the talent behind the screen. Matthew Robinson (Monster Trucks) and Nicholas Stoller (The Muppets, Get Him To The Greek) are handling script duties, while James Bobin (The Muppet, Flight of the Conchords) directs. The fact that the trio has had hands in both children and adult fare, tells you they know a thing or two about making the outlandish and stupid very funny. And it likely accounts for the backpack and knife gags seen above. For that reason alone, we here remain cautiously optimistic when it comes
For those of you more in-tune with Dora’s educational side, we’ve got the always handy official synopsis, to clue you in on the plot:
“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), Diego (Jeffrey Wahlberg), a mysterious jungle inhabitant (Eugenio Derbez), and a rag tag group of teens on a live-action adventure to save her parents (Eva Longoria, Michael Peña) and solve the impossible mystery behind a lost city of gold.”
What’s interesting in all this, is that while Dora’s trusty sidekick Boots the monkey is seen, his voice isn’t heard. I bring this up, as it was highly publicized that Danny Trejo would be bringing his talents to the part. Not only that, but Moner’s Sicario: Day of the Soldado co-star Benicio Del Toro is slated to voice the dastardly Swiper. Hard to tell if that’s something they’re saving specifically for the movie. Or the more realistic possibility is that the voices are part of some hallucination Dora suffers from, at some point in the film. The footage here does play up the involvement of the adult actors (Michael Pena, Eva Longoria, Eugenio Derbez), so maybe talking animals would be a bit much.
What say you all, though? Does this trailer tickle your nostalgia bone? Do you have kids who will eat up a Dora feature film? Is this enough to satiate your family-adventure hunger, till the new Jumanji sequel hits? Share your thoughts down in the comments. As the film is still a couple months from coming out, expect a bit more footage coming our way. Dora and the Lost City of Gold swings into theaters this fall, on August 2nd. In the meantime, here’s the first poster, which again hints at the movie’s cheeky tone.
