Dora and the Lost City of Gold

Dora and the Lost City of Gold
File:Dora and the Lost City of Gold poster.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	James Bobin
Produced by	Kristin Burr
Screenplay by	Nicholas Stoller Matthew Robinson
Story by	Tom Wheeler Nicholas Stoller
Based on	Dora the Explorer by Chris Gifford Valerie Walsh Valdes Eric Weiner
Starring	Isabela Moner Eugenio Derbez Michael Peña Eva Longoria Danny Trejo
Music by	John Debney Germaine Franco
Cinematography	Javier Aguirresarobe
Edited by	Mark Everson
Production company	Paramount Players Nickelodeon Movies Walden Media Media Rights Capital Burr! Productions
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	August 9, 2019 (2019-08-09) (United States)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$49 million
Box office	$119.7 million

Dora and the Lost City of Gold is a 2019 American adventure comedy film that is a live action adaptation of Nickelodeon's television series Dora the Explorer and directed by James Bobin. The film stars Isabela Moner as Dora, Eugenio Derbez, Michael Peña, Eva Longoria, Jeff Wahlberg, Nicholas Coombe, Madeleine Madden, with the voices of Danny Trejo and Benicio del Toro. A live action Dora film was announced in 2017, 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.

The film was theatrically released in the United States on August 9, 2019, by Paramount Pictures. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Moner's performance and the self-aware humor, and has grossed $119 million worldwide.

Plot

Deep in the Peruvian jungle, Dora, daughter of explorers Cole and Elena, spends her days going on adventures with her monkey friend Boots, her cousin Diego, and imaginary friends Backpack and Map while thwarting the fox thief Swiper. When Dora is 6 years old and Diego is 7, Diego and his family leaves to Los Angeles, while Dora's remains searching for the hidden Inca city Parapata.

10 years later, Dora's parents decipher the location of Parapata, but choose to send her to Diego's school in Los Angeles while they travel to the lost city. Staying with Diego's family, Dora meets fellow students Sammy and Randy, but Diego considers her an embarrassment. On a class field trip to a museum, Dora and the others are lured to its off-exhibit archives, where they are captured by mercenaries who fly them to Peru. When they land, a man named Alejandro, who claims to be a friend of Dora's parents, helps them escape. In the process the mercenaries, aided by Swiper, steal Dora's map. Alejandro reports that Dora's parents have gone missing, and that the mercenaries are searching for them in hopes of getting into Parapata and stealing its treasures. Dora resolves to find her parents first with Alejandro's help, while the other teens come along in hopes of being rescued.

The group travels through numerous obstacles, including quicksand, Inca ruin puzzles, and attacks from forest guards of Parapata. After numerous hazards, Dora reaches her parents just outside the borders of Parapata, but Alejandro reveals he was working for the mercenaries all along and captures them. The other teens are caught as well, but Boots the monkey helps them escape. With Dora's parents still prisoners, the teens decide to find the way inside Parapata in hopes of acquiring treasure that they can use 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 center shrine. It is revealed that Alejandro is following them; he attempts to steal its central idol himself, but instead falls into a trap. The soldiers guarding Parapata, led by their queen, defeat the mercenaries and confront the teens. Dora speaks to them in Quechua, assuring that the teens only came for her parents and to learn. The Inca permit the teens and Dora's family to leave, allowing them a glimpse of their greatest treasure.

The teens and Dora's parents arrive at Dora's jungle home. Her parents discuss going on another expedition as a whole family, but Dora decides to return to school in Los Angeles. She and the other teens celebrate at a party while Alejandro and the mercenaries remain prisoners in Parapata.

Cast

• Isabela Moner as Dora Márquez: a jungle explorer
  • Madelyn Miranda as Young Dora
• Eugenio Derbez as Alejandro Gutierrez
• Michael Peña as Cole Márquez: Dora's father and Diego's uncle
• Eva Longoria as Elena Márquez: Dora's mother and Diego's aunt
• Jeff Wahlberg as Diego Márquez: Dora's cousin and Sammy's love interest
  • Malachi Barton as Young Diego
• Nicholas Coombe as Randy Warren: Dora, Diego and Sammy's friend
• Madeleine Madden as Sammy Moore: Dora, Diego and Randy's friend, and Diego's love interest
• Temuera Morrison as Powell
• Christopher Kirby as Viper
• Natasa Ristic as Christina X
• Adriana Barraza as Abuelita Valerie: Dora and Diego's grandmother
• Pia Miller as Sabrina: Dora's aunt and Diego's mother
• Q'orianka Kilcher as Inca Princess Kawillaka
• Isela Vega as Old Woman

Voices

• Danny Trejo as Boots the Monkey: Dora and Diego's best friend
• Benicio del Toro as Swiper the Fox
• Marc Weiner as Map
• Sasha Toro as Backpack
• Dee Bradley Baker as Animal Vocal Effects

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.

The film depicts a teenage version of Dora. It was issued an initial release date of August 2, 2019. In May 2018, Isabela Moner was cast to play Dora. Eugenio Derbez began negotiations to join in June, and was confirmed to appear in July. Micke Moreno was cast to play Diego, though had to withdraw and was replaced by Jeff Wahlberg. Eva Longoria and Michael Peña were cast as Dora's parents that August. Madeleine Madden also joined the cast of the film. In October, Q'orianka Kilcher was added to the cast, and in November, Pia Miller was set to play Dora's aunt Mami. In December 2018, Benicio del Toro joined as the voice of Swiper, and in March 2019, Danny Trejo announced that he had been cast as the voice of Boots the Monkey.

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."

Filming

Filming began on August 6, 2018, on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, and concluded in early December 2018.

Visual effects

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.

Marketing

The trailer for the film was released during the 2019 Kids' Choice Awards on March 23, 2019. The trailer also revealed that Monster Trucks co-writer Matthew Robinson and Nicholas Stoller received screenplay credit.

Release

The film was released on August 9, 2019. It was previously slated for August 2, 2019.

Home media

Dora and the Lost City of Gold was released on Digital HD on November 5, 2019, and was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 19, 2019.

Reception

Box office

Dora and the Lost City of Gold has grossed $60.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $59.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $119.7 million, against a production budget of $49 million.

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. 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. It dropped 51% in its second weekend to $8.5 million, finishing sixth. It then made $5.3 million in its third weekend and $4.1 million in its fourth, and $2.7 million in its fifth.

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 84% based on 145 reviews, with an average rating of 6.48/10. 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." Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews." 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.

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."

External links

• Dora and the Lost City of Gold at IMDb