2019 film by James Bobin
Dora and the Lost City of Gold is a 2019 American adventure comedy film directed by James Bobin from a screenplay written by Nicholas Stoller and Matthew Robinson and a story by Tom Wheeler and Stoller. It is loosely a live-action adaptation of the animated television series Dora the Explorer created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes, and Eric Weiner. The film stars Isabela Moner, Eugenio Derbez, Michael Peña, Eva Longoria, with Danny Trejo as the voice of Boots. The titular Lost City of Gold is based on the legendary Inca city, Paititi. Dora and the Lost City of Gold was produced by Paramount Players and Nickelodeon Movies in association with Walden Media, MRC and Burr! Productions, and distributed by Paramount Pictures.
A live-action Dora film was announced in 2017,[2] and Moner was cast in the title role in May 2018. Most of the other lead cast members were hired throughout the rest of the year, and filming took place from August to December 2018 in Australia and Peru. This film is set after the events of the animated original television series and was also the first film based on a Nick Jr. Channel series.
As a lead–up to the movie, five out of the six unaired episodes of the original series aired on Nick Jr from July 7 to August 4, 2019. Dora and the Lost City of Gold was theatrically released in the United States on August 9, 2019, the same day in which the final unaired episode of the original series aired on Nick Jr. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Moner's performance and the self-aware humor and grossed $120 million worldwide against a budget of $49 million.
Plot
In the Peruvian jungle, 6-year-old Dora Márquez, daughter of jungle explorers Cole and Elena, goes on adventures with her monkey friend Boots, her 7-year-old cousin Diego, and imaginary friends Backpack and Map while thwarting Swiper the thieving fox. One day, Diego and his family leave for Los Angeles while Dora and her parents remain searching for the hidden Inca city of gold, Parapata.
Ten years later, Cole and Elena decipher the location of Parapata. They send a now 16-year-old Dora to stay with Diego's family in Los Angeles while they travel to the lost city. At Diego's high school, Dora meets fellow students Sammy and Randy. Sammy sees Dora as a rival due to her intelligence, while Randy develops a crush on her. Dora's eccentric behavior culminates in mocking and name-calling by some of her new classmates when she publicly dances to a conga song at the school dance. Embarrassed, Diego tells Dora that she is no longer in the jungle, which leads to a fallout between them.
On a class field trip to a museum, Dora, Diego, Sammy, and Randy are lured to its off-exhibit archives, where mercenaries led by a man named Powell capture them and fly them to Peru. When they land, a man named Alejandro, who claims to be a friend of Dora's parents, helps them escape. The mercenaries, aided by Swiper, steal Dora's map. Alejandro reports that Dora's parents have gone missing and the mercenaries are searching for them in hopes of getting into Parapata to steal its treasures. Dora resolves to find her parents first with Alejandro's help, and the other teens agree.
The group travels through quicksand, Inca ruin puzzles, hallucination-inducing spores that turn them into animated characters in the style of the original cartoon, and attacks from forest guards of Parapata. During the journey, Sammy warms up to Dora, who reconciles with Diego and notices her cousin has a crush on Sammy. Dora reaches her parents outside the borders of Parapata, but Alejandro, the true leader of the mercenaries, captures them. Boots helps the teens escape and restores Dora's confidence; she resolves to find the way inside Parapata so they can use its treasure to bargain for Elena and Cole's release.
Inside the hidden city, Dora and the others solve its temple's puzzles and dodge its traps, bringing them to the central shrine. Alejandro, having secretly followed them, arrives as the group reaches its final test. He thinks that the gold is the right answer against Dora's warnings and falls into a trap. The soldiers guarding Parapata, having apprehended Dora's parents and the mercenaries, confront the teens. Dora speaks to their queen in Quechua, assuring that the group only came to learn about the ancient civilization. Dora figures out the answer to the test, and the Incas allow her and everyone to have a single glimpse of their greatest treasure until Swiper appears and steals the smaller idol, thus angering the gods. As Alejandro and the mercenaries are taken away, Dora regains the idol and puts it back into place. After the group leaves, Diego and Sammy become a couple. Dora's parents and the teens arrive at her jungle home. Cole and Elena discuss going on another expedition as a family, but Dora decides to return to school in Los Angeles.
During the credits, Dora and her friends sing "We Did It" at the high school dance to celebrate their victory, Alejandro remains a prisoner in Parapata for another 1,000 years, and Cole and Elena stop Swiper from running away with their Incan artifact.
Production
On October 24, 2017, a deal was struck for a live-action version of the television series to be made, with James Bobin directing. Nicholas Stoller and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel were hired to pen a script. Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes was announced as producer, though Bay and the company were ultimately not involved.[3]
The film depicts a teenage version of Dora.[4] It was issued an initial release date of August 2, 2019.[5] In May 2018, Isabela Moner was cast to play Dora.[6] Eugenio Derbez began negotiations to join in June,[7] and was confirmed to appear in July. Micke Moreno was originally cast to play Diego, but withdrew and was replaced by Jeff Wahlberg.[8][9] Eva Longoria and Michael Peña were cast as Dora's parents that August.[10][11] Madeleine Madden also joined the cast of the film.[12] In October, Q'orianka Kilcher was added to the cast,[13] and in November, Pia Miller was set to play Dora's aunt Sabrina.[14] In December 2018, Benicio del Toro joined as the voice of Swiper,[15] and in March 2019, Danny Trejo announced that he had been cast as the voice of Boots the Monkey.[16]
In an interview with Forbes, Moner stated that she learned Quechua language for the character. She said that the film would "take audiences to Machu Picchu" to "explore the Incan culture," and commented that "Dora is very cultured and she knows everything about everything," and that she "doesn't have a defined ethnicity."[17]
Filming began on August 6, 2018, on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia,[18][19] and concluded on December 7, 2018.[15] On May 3, 2019, it was revealed that Marc Weiner would be reprising his role as the voice of Map from the animated series.[20]
The visual effects are provided by Mill Film, Moving Picture Company and Cheap Shot VFX, supervised by Lindy De Quattro, Andy Brown and Richard Little with visualization services provided by Proof and 2D animation provided by Blink Industries.
Release
The film was released on August 9, 2019, the same day that the 2000 television animated series ends.[21] It was previously slated for August 2, 2019.[18]
Home media
Dora and the Lost City of Gold was released on Digital HD on November 5, 2019, and later on DVD and Blu-ray on November 19, 2019.[22] The film is also available on Amazon Prime[23] and Paramount+.
Reception
Box office
Dora and the Lost City of Gold grossed $60.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $60.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $120.6 million against a production budget of $49 million.[1]
In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside The Kitchen, The Art of Racing in the Rain, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Brian Banks, and was projected to gross $15–20 million from 3,500 theaters in its opening weekend.[24][25] The film made $6.7 million on its first day, including $1.25 million from Thursday night previews. It went into debut to $17 million, finishing fourth at the box office; 46% of its audience was Latino, while 32% were Caucasian, 11% African-American and 10% Asian.[26] It dropped 51% in its second weekend to $8.5 million, finishing sixth.[27] It then made $5.3 million in its third weekend and $4.1 million in its fourth, and $2.7 million in its fifth.[28][29][30]
Critical response
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 85% based on 155 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Led by a winning performance from Isabela Moner, Dora and the Lost City of Gold is a family-friendly adventure that retains its source material's youthful spirit."[31] Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[32] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported that adult and children filmgoers gave it an average of 4.5 and 3.5 stars out of 5, respectively.[26]
Peter Debruge of Variety wrote, "Whereas most of the cast (and especially Derbez) play broad, borderline-slapstick versions of their characters, Moner has the wide eyes and ever-chipper attitude we associate with Dora, but adds a level of charisma the animated character couldn't convey."[33]
Future
On February 15, 2022, Paramount+ announced development of a live action series, said to be "in the same spirit as the recent live action film for older audiences".[34]
