A new trailer has arrived for the live-action Dora the Explorer movie, Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Nickelodeon's Dora the Explorer cartoon series ran for eight seasons overall (stretched out from 2000 to 2014) and followed Dora, a young Latina girl, and her monkey Boots as they tackled various puzzles and riddles on their travels (with some "help" from their audience). In the live-action iteration, Dora is now a teenager who's headed off to high school after having spent her entire childhood exploring jungles with her parents. However, when her mom and dad go missing, it's up to Dora and a handful of her schoolmates to set out and find them.
Director James Bobin reunites with his The Muppets writer Nicholas Stoller (who cowrote the script with Monster Trucks' Matthew Robinson) on Dora and the Lost City of Gold. The first trailer dropped in March and painted the film as being a kid-friendly spin on action-adventure franchises like Indiana Jones and The Mummy, with Isabela Moner (Sicario: Day of the Soldado) leading the way as teen Dora. That's more or less the same impression that the latest trailer leaves, too.
The second trailer for Dora and the Lost City of Gold is now online, providing another look at the live-action adaptation. You can check it out in the space below.
Judging by the slapstick and lowbrow comedy in the latest preview, Dora and the Lost City of Gold is pretty squarely targeted at both families and younger audiences. Not that there's anything wrong with that; whereas franchises like Indiana Jones are a bit too intense for the juice box crowd, Dora's big screen debut offers a globe-trotting adventure full of ancient temples and dangerous jungles that's far more accessible to children. There's some irreverent comedy for adults in there too (see also: the gag where young Dora breaks the fourth wall), but for the most part the film seems to know who it's meant for and isn't trying to appeal to older viewers. Of course, those who grew up watching the Dora cartoon series may still get a kick out of seeing characters like Boots and Swiper in live-action here... though, for now, they'll have wait and see what they're like with Danny Trejo and Benicio del Toro's voices coming out of them.
With a cast that includes Michael Peña, Eva Longoria, and Eugenio Derbez in supporting roles, Dora and the Lost City of Gold is the rare tentpole that features latino characters front and center, and provides some still sorely-needed representation in that regard. It will also have the family crowd largely to itself this August, seeing as its direct competition will either be too spooky (Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark) or too dramatically heavy (The Art of Racing in the Rain) for those who just want to take their kids to see something playful, silly, and otherwise positive that month. If all goes according to plan, this may only be the first of many adventures with Dora on the big screen.
Source: Paramount Pictures
