When it was first announced that Dora the Explorer was getting the live-action blockbuster treatment, you could hear a pin drop as a chill was simultaneously sent down the spines of parents across the world, who had no choice but to brace themselves for the inevitability of dragging the kids along to a monotonous spin on the animated series that haunted their nightmares. As it turned out, though, Dora and the Lost City of Gold was pretty damned good.
Turning expectations upside down and then shaking every cent of loose change from the pockets, The Muppets director James Bobin continued his penchant for reinventing family-friendly properties with aplomb after steering the all-ages adventure to a completely unexpected – and Certified Fresh – approval rating of 85 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
An audience average of 88 percent is even better, quite a remarkable feat for a movie nobody over a certain age was expecting to be anything other than absolutely abhorrent. Whether they’ve got youngsters at home or not, Netflix subscribers have now opted to dive headfirst into the search for an ancient civilization in huge numbers.
Per FlixPatrol, Dora and the Lost City of Gold can currently be found residing as the sixth most-watched feature on the platform’s global charts, having excavated a Top 10 spot in 49 countries worldwide. Inoffensive, charming, and significantly better than it realistically had any right to be, the star-studded and wholesome update of the Nickelodeon favorite’s resurgence on streaming makes it clear that it’s still got a surprise or two up its sleeve.