Parents everywhere rolled their eyes and let out a huge sigh of resignation when it was first announced that a live-action movie based on children’s animated favorite Dora the Explorer was in development, but many of them were left stunned by the fact Dora and the Lost City of Gold actually turned out to be pretty good.
There was plenty of eclectic talent on board to hint that we’d be getting more than a simple cash grab, but even then, an 85% Rotten Tomatoes score and an 88% user rating was hardly the sort of numbers people were expecting from the family-friendly adventure, even if a box office haul of $119 million was viewed as a minor disappointment.
The Muppets‘ James Bobin directed from a script co-written by comedy veterans Nicholas Stoller and Matthew Robinson, while lead Isabela Merced was lent support by a cavalcade of famous faces including Michael Peña, Eva Longoria, and Temuera Morrison, with Benicio del Toro voicing a nefarious red fox, and Danny Trejo as Boots the monkey, because why the hell not?
An all-round charming effort, Dora and the Lost City of Gold has mounted a comeback on streaming this weekend, with FlixPatrol revealing that it’s one of the ten most popular titles available on iTunes in five countries, and it might not just be the little ones checking it out.
