Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

Lenard (726 KP) rated Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019) in Movies

Sep 2, 2019 (Updated Sep 2, 2019)  
Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019)
Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019)
2019 | Adventure, Family
Eugenio Derbez (0 more)
Backpack, backpack, backpack, backpack
In the era of reboots, legacyquels, and reimaginings, films require a balance between innovation and "the original" product. Dora and the Lost City of Gold is such an undertaking as a adaptation of a popular children's show. The filmmakers had an objective to make a feature film while not alienating fans of the original Dora the Explorer. I believe that the team (who also worked on the previous two Muppets movies) did a good job. They found ways to have Dora speak to the audience (like on her show), have Backpack and Map speak, introduce Spanish words and phrases (the point of the show), and Boots and Swiper ("Swiper, no swiping.") were integral characters, all of which would have detracted from the film if done improperly. At the same time, the writers and director had to have a story that would sustain a 90-minute movie and leave little left to, pardon the pun, explore. The search for a lost city of gold and a race between archaelogists and treasure hunters satisfied that objective, a little Young Indiana Jones adventure mixed with National Treasure. The biggest liability in the whole film was Eugenio Derbez and his slapstick comedic style never fit the tone of the film. Luckily, Michael Pena can debilitate him with a styling monologue. Now that Dora has ended her adventure in the jungle, she can study the harshest environment known to man: high school in an anthropological dissertation.
  
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (2018)
2018 | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
This is one of the most visually striking films of 2018 in its luscious CGI, stunning costumes/makeup, and seamlessly staged practicals but holy shit is it ever insufferable to get through. 99 minutes has seldom ever felt so long, harkens back to that era of intolerable slimehouse kids films with the most bland scripts imaginable as if that genre was somehow worthy of an early nostalgic lookback (though according to millennial social media, it is...) Knightley is aces and single-handedly saves it from dogshit status with that squeaky-dog-toy voice and cotton candy wig paired with an unreserved commitment to chewing the scenery. Freeman is as boring as he has been for seemingly the past 9 years and it also suffers from a severe lack of Eugenio Derbez.