MOVIE BUFF-ET: ‘Dora’ surprises as a solid kiddie adventure that won’t bore parents

Paramount Pictures

“Dora and the Lost City of Gold” is a family-friendly movie that defies expectations as a movie made for kids that won’t bore their parents or tween siblings if they are willing to give the movie a half a chance.

The film is not so much an adaption of the Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. educational cartoon, but a continuation of it 10 years later as Dora and her cousin Diego begin the grand adventure of traversing the wilds of high school.

After growing up in the jungle with here explorer parents Cole (Michael Pena) and Elena (Eva Longoria), Dora (Isabela Moner) goes to live with Diego (Jeff Wahlberg) and his family in California to acclimate to society and learn with kids her own age, while her parents go off on a dangerous search for the legendary lost city of gold.

Dora struggles to find her way at school, being way too enthusiastic about everything, but when she, Diego, and classmates Sammy (Madeleine Madden) and Randy (Nicholas Coombe) are abducted from a field trip by a group of baddies and whisked to the jungles of South America, she is in her element. Of course, Dora’s pet monkey Boots finds his way to joining Dora and her friends on their quest to find the lost city of gold and her parents.

The film borrows for decades worth of old adventure movies in a delightfully naive and unironic manner that is actually refreshing. Certainly, nothing unexpected happens, but the cast ,including the always funny Eugenio Derbez, has a winning charisma and chemistry that makes the movie fun despite its familiarity.

Director James Bobin infuses the movie with a light but interesting touch that provides the right dose of humor and adventure to fixate younger attention spans fixed to the screen and keep their parents from nodding off.

Moner is really delightful as Dora and does a fine job carrying the movie with a little help from her friends.

I’m not sure I’d recommend families rush out and see the film in theaters, but if they do, I’d think the pre-teens would have a good time and their parents probably would, too.

(PG) 1 hr. 40 min.
Grade: B-

Classic Corner – Hello, Dolly!

Barbra Streisand, Joyce Ames, and Tommy Tune in Hello, Dolly!

“Hello, Dolly!” hit the big screens in December of 1969 as a relic of days gone bye as the studio system was drying up.

Films like “Easy Rider,” “The Graduate,” and The Wild Bunch” were lighting the way for a decade that would open with independent auteurs crafting highly personal, gritty, and visceral films but that would give way to the high adventure and genre-thrills of blockbusters like “Jaws” and “Star Wars” by the end of the 1970s.

“Hello, Dolly!” stood as sort of a fish out of water, making a last gasp to redefine the spectacle and whimsy of the movie musical for viewers who had already moved on.

Fifty years later the film starring Barbara Streisand, Walter Matthau and Michael Crawford, well before he originated the title role of Broadway’s “The Phantom of the Opera,” is viewed as the last of the great movie musicals. It’s grand and overproduced, and maybe a little bit stuffy, but if you love old-time musicals, it’s a classic that all but closed the door on such lavish productions for years.

Streisand plays the famous widowed matchmaker Dolly Levi who is returning to New York society with aim directed at marrying famous half-millionaire Horace Vandergelder (Matthau), who is determined not marry Dolly after he gets a whiff of her shenanigans.

Yes, the plot is straight out of the 1950s, but Streisand gives a tour de force performance and Matthau is perfect as the tough and gruff businessman who has to lured into the perfect relationship.

The music is excellent and the adaptation of the stage musical remains basically complete with 17 numbers. “Just Leave Everything to Me” and “Love is Only Love” are additions written by Jerry Herman to accentuate Streisand’s considerable talents.

Louis Armstrong plays an orchestra leader and sings the title song in a way only he could. He actually had a hit recording of the theme on the radio.

Like most musicals, the production is much bigger than the plot. Directed by the legendary Gene Kelly, the musical was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, but took home Oscars for Best Score, Best Art Direction, and Best Sound.

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, the Malco Razorback Cinema will play host to two special screenings at 1 p.m Sunday and 7 p.m. Wednesday.