Dora and the Lost City of Gold

A decent family adventure film - 6/10

by The Movie Inspector

A decent family adventure, Dora And The Lost City Of Gold doesn’t attempt to be something it’s not and thus knows how to keep its target audience entertained. It’s not the most original when it comes to its storytelling approach but gets the job done.

I didn’t really know what to expect from such a movie, I mean I’m clearly not the target audience and didn’t expect to be watching a live-action Dora film, but surprisingly enough it manages to deliver a decent adventure that even an adult audience may enjoy. It’s no lie that this is a kid-targeted movie with all its quirkinesses and over-exaggerated scenarios but once taken in its own context, it simply works. ‘Dora And The Lost City Of Gold’ follows A teenage explorer, Dora, and her friends as they embark on an adventure to save her missing parents and find the lost city of gold.

This movie maintains a fast-paced narrative for the most part and works with quite a few cliches along the way. A third of the movie’s main focus is something we’ve all seen before, the “outcast mixing in a new environment” and though that wasn’t horrible, it wasn’t handled too well. However, soon after that when the real adventure begins, things take a turn for the better and the storyline suddenly becomes more intriguing. Isabella Moner, who previously starred in ‘Sicario: Day Of The Soldado’ and ‘Tranformers: The Last Knight’, delivered a great performance as Dora, and is proving herself to be one of the greatest rising talents of today. 

The climax wasn’t all too convincing for me yet things do come together and I felt rather satisfied by the end of the film. Additionally, it does have a ‘Jumanji’ and ‘Indiana Jones’ sort of vibe but way more toned down and typically aimed for a young audience. There are a few things that were really awful though, like that CGI which really shouldn’t be that terrible in 2019, and the cringe-worthy performances of Eva Longoria and Michael Peña, which was the definition of overacting. Nonetheless, I’m certain that kids will enjoy this adventure with Dora and even parents won’t have a difficult time sitting through this.

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