Cast: Samantha Lorraine as Dora, Jacob Rodriguez as Diego, Mariana Garzon Toro as Naiya, Gabriel Iglesias as the voice of Boots , Daniella Pineada as Carmen

Written By: JT Billings, Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh-Valdez, Eric Weiner

Directed By: Alberto Belli ((The Naughty Nine)

Original Score: Kenny Wood

Studio: paramount/ Nickelodeon

Release Year: 2025

96 minutes

Audio Description Produced By:

Written By:

Narrated By:

What is it? The second attempt to make a live action Dora The Explorer film has our intrepid young adventurer team up with Diego in search of the fabled lost city of Sol Dorado. Along the way, she’ll need help from Boots, her trusty monkey, her backpack, her map, and maybe even the audience! Can you say franchise?

What Works: You came here to see what a grown man thought about the new Dora The Explorer movie? Thanks. I’m certainly not the target demo for this, unless I am because Dora The Explorer has been around for 25 years. when she first premiered, i was in high school, and that time in my life was before streaming services put everything at our fingertips. When I stayed home, I liked to sit in bed and watch cartoons, which meant I usually just left my TV on Nickelodeon all day, when i wasn’t napping, or vomiting, or whatever my illness was. That means I have actually watched more than one full episode of Dora. i know what she looks like, as she predates my blindness. Diego, on the other hand, didn’t launch until 2005. by that time, I was moving away from my cartoon phase. I have no idea what his show is formatted like.

That being said, let your kids decide. This movie might be a nostalgic trip for a handful of adults, but Paramount Pus has done the easy work for you by letting this debut on their streaming service, so you don’t have to consider whether Dora is worth the ticket price. Certainly, one month of Paramount Plus is less than going to the theatres for this, and it has audio description, so your blind children can partake.

but, this film leans in on every Dora trope. She talks to the audience, and to Boots, and she has a backpack song. It may be live action, but it was written like a long form version of the cartoon. it is more faithful to the actual series than the last live action attempt.

Dora and Diego search for Sol Dorado, try to avoid Swiper, and a mysterious villain that I think was inspired by carmen Sandiego. Your kids will like this if they like Dora. In trying to grade this, I thought about myself, my childhood, and when my cartoons got live action adaptations. I loved the live action Ninja Turtles, and even the Power Rangers film. I went crazy for Ducktales: Treasure Of The Lost Lamp. So, if your child already likes this property, I have no notes. It is like when grown adults without kids try and have profound thoughts on Paw Patrol. It isn’t for us, not in the least. At least, with something like the upcoming Smurfs film, the argument is the series has been around so long, that everyone grew up with The Smurfs. But, less people grew up with Dora.

What Doesn’t Work: This is tough, because all of the critics out there are adults. Some have kids, and their kids reaction to this might color their reviews, but this is so aimed at children it is almost unfair to grade as if adults are the target demo. it’s like, in reverse. if you started showing your preschool aged kids critically acclaimed films for adults, I feel like their reviews for films like Nomadland, Power of The Dog, The Brutalist, and Oppenheimer is not going to be great. Find me a five year old who loved any of those movies.

Why You Might Like it: You are a child. or, you are a parent looking to distract a child. And honestly, for younger parents who grew up around Dora, and have any nostalgic attachment at all, the attempt at staying faithful to the source material is commendable.

Why You might Not Like it: You’re an adult with no kids, and your watchlist consists of things that have A24 vibes.

The Audio Description: The audio description was International Digital Center, and I only had one little note. there’s a moment where Dora is in peril, and Diego rescues her using “something”. Is it really so indistinguishable that something was the best you could do? Case in point, since something is open to a broad interpretation, did Diego rescue her using a dildo? Possible. I wasn’t given any reason to believe he didn’t. A dildo certainly is something. Maybe try and think of what it looks like at least, so if you aren’t sure if it is actually a rope, you can say “rope-like”. Something just felt unusually lazy, especially coming out of one of the top AD companies.

Final Thoughts: My grade shouldn’t matter. But because I’m a critic, I’m just gonna throw Dora and Diego a bone, because this is probably a crowd pleaser for families, I just don’t have kids. I am a giant one, but that isn’t the same thing.

Fresh: Final Grade: 6.7/10