There are just some movies that when you first hear about them you know right away that there going to be bad movies. Be it due to who's involved with making them be it from an acting standpoint , a writing standpoint or even a producer or directing standpoint or in the case of the film that i'm going to be talking to you about today it's because it's a made for Nickelodeon movie and those typically aren't good or even watchable for that matter and so then join me as I review the film that is a more kid friendly version of both Raiders Of The Lost Ark and The Mummy Returns only without the wit and charm of either film with the film in question being called simply just "Dora And The Search For Sol Dorado" enjoy.
The plot of this film is when a teenaged Dora and Diego suddenly find out that some evil people are trying to find this mythical hidden place it's up to the exploring duo and there two new friends to find it before the mercenaries do. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad but at the same time it's also not all that good either with the best word to describe the plot being predictable as that's truly what the plot of this film is it's predictable as you can tell right away where the plot of this film is going to go and sure enough it goes to those exact same places granted it might not be in the order that you think it might be but the point still remains that the film goes to those same places with it's plot with it feeling like that the makers of this film where just making the safest possible film that they could have done for this franchise which is something that does make sense as this franchise is made for little kids afterall but if that was the case then why did they do what the previous live action Dora film did and age the characters up when they could have just kept them as kids and why did they include elements that would be considered to scary for kids but to give this film some credit it's plot can be pretty fun at times despite how predictable that it is with the plot of this film not really being really rather entertaining and nor is it really rather engaging either in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Starring in this film is Samantha Lorraine as Dora Márquez , Jacob Rodriguez as Diego Márquez and Mariana Garzón Toro as Naiya. Also starring in this film is Acston Luca Porto as Sonny , María Cecilia Botero as Dora's Grandmother , J. Santiago Suarez as Dora's Grandfather , Jacqueline Obradors as The Voice Of Mango , Christian Gnecco Quintero as Beetle , Valentina Latyna as Sabrina Márquez , Valentina Acosta as Elena Márquez , Daniella Pineda as Camila The Crusader and Gabriel Iglesias as The Voice Of Boots.
Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually feature / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not all that bad. Which is kind of expected for this film as it's acting isn't all that good either as you can tell that both Samantha Lorraine and Jacob Rodriguez really are trying to make this films poor excuse of a script work well enough for them but the issue is is that none of the films other actors are trying with all of them just phoning in their performances like they know that there in a bad movie and so there just not going to try and even Daniella Pineda who phoned in her performance in Netflix's live action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop is doing the exact same thing here but where as on that show she came across as being unlikeable due to how she talked and acted when promoting the show in this film her being unlikable actually makes sense as she's meant to be the films main villain with her being one of the only three actors being perfectly cast in this film with the other other two being Samantha and Jacob and even Gabriel Iglesias who can be decently funny here is given nothing funny to say or do and so his casting feels alot more like stunt casting where as the in the last live action Dora film they cast both Danny Trejo and Dee Bradley Baker both of whom turn in better performances in that film that what Gabriel Iglesias really does in this film with the acting that's in this very film not really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does hep to lower the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.
For once I can't tell you who did the CGI for this film as there are no effects companies listed anywhere on the films IMDB page. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as while this films CGI is quite clearly a huge step down interms of quality from that of the first film that's more due to the fact that these made for streaming and made for TV movies don't typically have that large of a budget and so of course there effects budget won't that big either with this being something that does sadly come through in the effects as both of the films CGI characters look really off putting as they just look like that there not quite there with both of them having this weird uncanny valley type of look to them that does make them more disturbing that cute and friendly which is find for a character like Swiper as he's meant to be a villain anyway but it's not something that works well enough for Boots and while this film does have quite alot of bad CGI in it there some decent looking water and fire effects that do look good irregardless of what the films effects budget was however with this film being as effects heavy as it was then there should have been more of an effort to give the film the higher effects budget that it not only wanted but needed as well as then the makers of this film could actually create some decent looking effects and not create effects that are already starting to show there age.
This film is of course based off of the very successful kids animated TV show Dora The Explorer however unlike the first movie which used the cliches that the show had in charming ways. Here tho this movie just straight up either gets rid of them entirely or over does them so much that they stop being charming and start becoming annoying with the film even spending a good few minuets not only explaining how Dora first got her map in the first place but also how she first met Boots and how he got his name both of which were things that weren't needed explaining to us as even tho the only one of those two things that play apart in the movie is the map we still don't need to see how she got it in the first place it's a kids movie we the audience can just piece it together as the film goes along and heck even the film has Dora break the fourth wall so many times in the show much like how she did in the show but in the show it was done to advance the plot of the episode where as here it's done just so tho that the makers of the film can have a reference to the show which is granted is cute at first but then they keep on doing it and it gets to the point where it stops being cute and starts to be annoying as it makes it look like that the makers of this film are just using her breaking the fourth wall this often just so that they can pad the films running time and heck they even have her say "Go Diego Go" at one point which is a reference to the fact that the show had a spin off series called "Go Diego Go" which just felt forced and wasn't as charming as the makers of this film quite clearly thought that it would be this is not to mention the fact Dora in this movie straight up says "Hello I'm Dora" in Spanish like she did in the show quite alot of the time was well which much like all of the other references in this movie started out charming but then became annoying pretty quickly.
This film is listed as being a comedy everywhere online yet it's missing the key thing that all comedies have that being jokes. As there are very few to no decent jokes in this film which fair enough this is a kids movie so maybe the films target audience will find alot of this films jokes to be really funny but at the same time tho there still needs to be some decent jokes in the film even if your poking fun at the show that your adapting but doing so in a funny and respectful manor here tho the film is devoid of jokes as it's far more interested in it's adventure aspect which is fair enough as this is an action adventure comedy film but when you skew far to much one way and don't give anything to any other aspect of your film then at that point you might as well just drop that aspect all together with the only kinds of jokes that you can expect to find in this film being jokes that are cute but not laugh out loud funny like the fact that Dora is the only one that can understand which is a cute joke and it's one that would be really funny if the film did something with it but they don't and the film is filled to brim with jokes like that like how Boots likes all but one of the characters in this film just because she called him a monkey which again is a cute joke but the film doesn't do anything with it and infact they never bring that joke back something that they could have done at the end of the film but they don't which makes it a waste of a solid joke and it's something that makes you wonder why the makers of this film bothered to make this film a comedy in the first place as they don't give the only funny actors in this film Gabriel Iglesias alot of funny things to say in this film with the only funny things that they have his character saying be cute one off jokes that would have been laugh loud funny if they made them into a recurring joke.
As a villain Camila The Crusader isn't that bad of a character as she's basically a kids TV show presenter that got disgruntled when she was embarrassed on live TV when something that she was trying to find wasn't found. Thus she spent about ten years of her life looking for the mythical Sol Dorado much like how both Dora and Diego however where as they were looking for it for the joy of exploring and finding new things she was looking for it to get back at those that mocked her and caused her show to be cancelled which to be fair to this film is a pretty motive for a villain to have and the film does go as far as they can possibly go with it but at the same time tho they do commit a big sin by having her be redeemed at the end of the movie which is something that just doesn't work in this movie as every thing that we'd seen with this character up until this point in time points to her not being a redeemable a character and since this film was borrowing things from both The Mummy Returns and Raiders Of The Lost Ark anyway why not go the whole hog here and have her be killed off as the makers pf this film show that there perfectly willing to kill of bad people as they have her sidekick get killed near the end of the movie so why not have the villain get into a fight with Dora only for the villains own ego to get the better of her and that's what kills off as that is something that will teach kids that not all people are redeemable something which there going to learn at somepoint anyway so it might as well be done in this film plus it would be something that would be a fitting end for this character as well as she would ultimately get consumed by her own need to get revenge on those that wronged her in the past.
Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty six minuets and eight seconds. Which to be fair is pretty much the exact grand total running time that you'd expect a film like this one to have with the fil having the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time in this very first place but at the same time tho this film really doesn't use it's plot all that wisely as it doesn't develop any of the themes and ideas that the film has like for example the film straight up tells us that Diego and Naiya were once in a relationship and broke up but it never tells why which wouldn't be a big thing where it not for the fact that the film keeps on coming back to it with even the fact that the film has a plot line between Diego and Dora where he struggles to tell her that he's moving away from the jungle for year to do an internship in New York with that plot line not only being not that well thought out but also really predictable as you know where it's going to go the second that the film starts it with this lack of development even going to the films main characters as all of the films main characters get no development whatsoever with Dora going through a plot where she losses her map near the start of the film and has to try and work out who she is over the course of the film only the film then undoes all of that by having Diego gift her a new map at the end of the film but that's the gold star treatment when compared Sonny who gets nothing interms of both character development and personality and is only there so that the films target kid audience can have someone like them in the movie and that's really it but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.
So now then as this is an action fil that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. Given that this is a made for streaming movie and is based off of a kids animated Tv show it would be foolish to expect this film to be very action packed and it's rightfully not with the film being more of adventure comedy then it is an action adventure comedy film but with all that being said the film does have one semi decent fight scene near the end of the movie where Camila The Crusader who has now turned good again fights of her sidekick in order to buy Dora and the crew sometime to fill up these ancient weights with gold unless they'll all be left in this tomb forever which is something that does make the action scene alot more tense then what it really had any right to be and while there are some chase scenes through out the movie it's that fight scene that is the best action scene in the whole movie just due to that ticking time bomb element which is something that does make it standout from all of the other action scenes that are in this film as to be frank alot of this films other action scenes are just bland action scenes that aren't really all that fun to watch and while it's and while it's understandable why this films action isn't as good as it perhaps could have been as this is afterall still a kids movie it's also a lot more better then what it could have been as well with that really also being true for all of the action scenes that are in this very film as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.
Overall out of the two live action Dora The Explorer films this one is quite easily the worst one which granted isn't saying much considering that this film wasn't made with a theatrical release in mind and therefor it will of course be a step down interms of quality from the previous film with this film not even being worth watching as it's a film that's just that bad as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 3.5 out of 10 from me.
Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Dora The Explorer fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very film that I used in this very review being the really great Google Images really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very film with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on Google Images are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.