DORA AND THE LOST CITY OF GOLD
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(PG) ISABELA MONER makes for an agreeably cheerful heroine in this breezy live-action adaptation of long-running animated kids TV series Dora the Explorer, a smart, brave and relentlessly optimistic soul who finds herself in the South American jungle looking for her missing parents.
She’s accompanied by an inclusive trio of squabbling students who she meets while in the dog-eat-dog world of a US high school, and is chased by bad guys (15) who are looking for a fabled city of gold.
A cute and mischievous monkey called Boots is rendered in not-so-great CGI, while much better are the hallucinogenic plant spores which allow for a trippy old-school cartoon throwback to Dora’s animated roots.
All the more fun for feeling like a kid-friendly caper version of classic action adventure Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, stuff about teamwork, eco-awareness and education is hidden among the tunnels, traps and poisonous frogs, but it doesn’t slow down the often rollicking fun. they’ve inadvertently stolen.
Plus they have to get back in time for a party at the cool kids’ house, where they anticipate the momentous life events of trying a sip of booze and having their first kiss. With an actual girl.
With the majority of the jokes involving the boys being exposed to sex toys and misunderstanding their purpose, this will undoubtedly appeal to teenagers, but you’d best drop them off rather than watch it with them to spare anyone a dose of cross-generational embarrassment.