What if the SpongeBob films are written as Dora the Explorer films? (2024)

Changes

• The first film would be named The Dora the Explorer Movie, the second film would be named Dora's Magical Adventure, the third film would be named Dora and Diego: The Search for Baby Jaguar and the spin-off films would be named Diego Saves the Forest: A Dora Movie and Swiper: A Dora Movie.
• Dora and the Lost City of Gold wouldn't exist at all.
  • This means that SpongeBob SquarePants and the Lost City of Gold would be made.
• SpongeBob and Patrick would be replaced with Dora and Boots. (With Backpack and Map being extras.)
• King Neptune would be replaced with King Juan El Bobo.
• Mindy would be a human and adoptive daughter to King Juan El Bobo.
• Dennis would be a fox instead of a fish.
• The Frogfish would be replaced with the dragon.
• The Thug Tug Thugs would appear as foxes instead of fishes.
• Captain Bart, his parrot, Burger Beard and the Seagull Crew wouldn't exist and would be replaced with Pirate Pig, Pirate Parrot, and Pirate Piggies.
  • The Pirate Pig would steal the chest instead of the formula.
• The Patty Wagon would be replaced with the red car who looks like Tico's. (Think of Tico's car in "Dora's Jack-in-the-Box")
• The rest of the SpongeBob characters would be replaced with the Dora ones, like Tico, Isa, Benny, Big Red Chicken, and the Grumpy Old Troll.
• Swiper would be a main antagonist of the first film.
• David Hasselhoff would be replaced with a live-action human version of Val the Octopus in the first film, played by Mary Ellen Trainor.
• The mind control helmets would look like Swiper's masks instead of buckets.
• Bubbles would be a 2D animated pink river dolphin instead of the grey bottlenose dolphin puppet.
• The Krusty Krab 2 would be replaced with The Chocolate Tree 2.
• Invincibubble would be named The Invincible Explorer and would be a female human instead of the male yellow sponge.
  • She would be Dora's superhero ego instead.
• Mr. Superawesomeness would be named Mr. SuperMonkey and would be a monkey instead of the pink starfish.
  • He would be Boots' superhero ego instead.
  • He would use bananas as his superpower instead of ice cream.
• Sour Note would be named Bullseye and would be a blue bull instead of the turquoise octopus.
  • He would be Benny's superhero ego instead.
  • He would use a cowbell as a weapon instead of a clarinet.
• Sir Pinch a Lot would be named Miss Flowers and would be a female green robot iguana instead of the male red robot crab.
  • She would be Isa's superhero ego instead.
• The Rodent would be named El Roedor, would be male instead of female and would have purple fur instead of the usual brown one.
  • He would be Tico's superhero ego instead.
• Plank-Ton would be named Fox Man and would be an orange fox instead of the green plankton.
  • He would be Swiper's superhero ego instead.
• Goofy Goober's, Taco Haus, and Atlantic City would remain.
• Dora and Boots wouldn't get drunk from ice cream or die under the heat lamp.
• Shell City would be replaced with The Lost City.
• The Burger Mobile wouldn't exist at all.
• The "Thank Gosh It's Monday" scene would be kept.
• The Magic Book would involve Dora instead of SpongeBob and would locate on a different island instead of Bikini Atoll Island.
• The character find in the films would be King Juan El Bobo, Backpack, and Diego (with Baby Jaguar).
• The Great Krabby Patty Famine wouldn't exist.
• The teaser poster for the second film wouldn't parody the 1944 Coppertone poster.

Information for The Dora the Explorer Movie

The Dora the Explorer Movie is a 2004 American live-action/animated adventure comedy film based on the Nick Jr. animated television series Dora the Explorer. The film was directed, co-written, and produced by series creator Chris Gifford. It features the series' regular voice cast with Alec Baldwin and Scarlett Johansson voicing new characters. It is the first Dora film. In this film, Swiper enacts a plan to discredit Senor Tucan, swipe the recipe and take over the world by swiping King Juan El Bobo's crown and framing Senor Tucan for the crime. Dora and Boots team up to retrieve the crown from The Lost City to save Senor Tucan from King Juan El Bobo's wrath and their world from Swiper's rule.

Gifford accepted an offer for a film adaptation of Dora the Explorer from Paramount Pictures in 2002, after having turned it down multiple times the previous year. He assembled a team from the show's writing staff, including himself, Valerie Walsh Valdes, and Eric Weiner, and they structured the film as a mythical hero's journey that would bring Dora and Boots to the lost city.

The Dora the Explorer Movie premiered in Los Angeles on November 14, 2004, and was released in the United States on November 19. It grossed $141 million worldwide, becoming the sixth highest-grossing animated film of 2004. Two standalone sequels have been released: Dora's Magical Adventure (2015) and Dora and Diego: The Search for Baby Jaguar (2020), with a fourth film currently in development.

Plot

The movie begins with a sequence of the Pirate Piggies, Pirate Parrot, and a pirate crew finding tickets to The Dora the Explorer Movie and sailing to the movie theater to watch the film.

In the movie proper, Dora prepares for the ceremony of the Chocolate Tree 2, that is located next to the original Chocolate Tree, believing that Senor Tucan will promote her as chocolate maker. At the ceremony, the title is instead given to the Grumpy Old Troll. Tucan says that Troll is more mature, and that Dora is "just a kid" who is unable to handle the task, upsetting her.

Meanwhile, Swiper laments over his futile attempts to swipe things, like Dora and Boots' stuff, until his grandmother reminds him of "Plan Z". At night, Swiper carries out the plan by swiping King Juan El Bobo's crown and sending it to The Lost City, leaving false evidence behind to frame Tucan for the crime. That same night, Dora heads to Goofy Goober's, where she eats ice cream with her best friend Boots. King Juan El Bobo goes to Abuela's house to confront Senor Tucan about his "swiped" crown. The Dora also arrives and tells Tucan about becoming a Chocolate maker, but upon seeing that her toucan friend's life is at risk, promises Juan that he will retrieve the crown from The Lost City. Juan is convinced by his daughter Mindy to give Dora a chance; he freezes Tucan and orders Dora to return with the crown within six days in order to spare Tucan's life. Mindy warns Dora and Boots of the dangers of The Lost City, including "the Cyclops", who captures innocent animals who are never to be seen again. Dora and Boots head off for the Lost City in the red car that looks like Tico's.

Back in Abuela's House, Swiper swipes the chocolate as well as the recipe and uses it to sell cakes at Blueberry Hill, claiming Tucan willed the recipe to him. When his grandma informs him that Dora and Boots are attempting to reclaim Juan's crown, Swiper reveals he has hired a hitman named Dennis to eliminate the duo. The Grumpy Old Troll discovers the truth about Swiper swiping Juan's crown and goes to the Blueberry Hill to confront him. Before the Troll can leave and alert Juan, Swiper activates his mind-controlling masks to enslave the residents, seizing the Troll as well. Meanwhile, Dora and Boots come across a trench and lose their car. About to give up, Mindy appears and gives them encouragement by using her princess magic to bestow a dress and a tuxedo on them, convincing them that they have matured, and they successfully pass the trench.

Dora and Boots meet Dennis who tries to step on them with his giant boot, but he gets stomped on by a larger boot - which belongs to the previously mentioned Cyclops. The Cyclops captures Dora and Boots and takes them to the Lost City, where all the creatures are turned into stone. Dora and Boots find the crown. However, a fairy unfreezes the animals. While the vengeful animals attack the Cyclops, Dora and Boots take the crown and head out. After accidentally losing their way home, Val the Octopus appears and offers them a ride. On the way, Dennis catches up to them, but gets knocked off of Val's car by a tree branch.

Back at Abuela's house, Juan arrives to execute Tucan when Dora and Boots return with the crown with Val's help and save Tucan. However, Swiper drops a mind-control mask on Juan and surrounds Dora, Boots and Mindy with his army of slaves. Dora, embracing the fact that he's accomplished so much despite being a kid, uses the magic powers to play "Hechizos Mágicos," and frees Juan and the citizens from the helmets with her magic wand. Swiper escapes but is arrested by the police and King Juan El Bobo thanks Dora for her bravery and unfreezes Tucan, only to accidentally turn him into a real human boy before actually reverting him to his normal self, who graciously gives the title of general chocolate maker of The Chocolate Tree to her. After this, Dora and Boots tell the viewer about their favorite parts of their adventure.

In the post-credit scene, the usher tells The Pirate Pigs, Pirate Parrot, and the pirates to leave the theater, which they do.

Cast

Live-action

• Mary Ellen Trainor as Val the Octopus, she helps Dora and Boots get back to the forest.
• Kristopher Logan as Squinty the Pirate
• D.P. FitzGerald as Bonesy the Pirate
• Cole S. McKay as Scruffy the Pirate
• Dylan Haggerty as Stitches the Pirate
• Barty McCarthy as Captain Barty, a pirate captain whose crew goes to see the film on theaters upon seeing tickets inside a treasure chest.
• Henry Kingi as Inky the Pirate
• Randolph Jones as Tiny the Pirate
• Paul Zies as Upper Deck the Pirate
• Gerard Griesbaum as Fingers the Pirate
• Aaron Hendry as:
  • Tangles the Pirate
  • Cyclops (in-suit performer), this was just a guy in an atmospheric diving suit who was called this by the forest creatures.

• Maxie Santillan Jr. as Gummy the Pirate
• Peter DeYoung as Leatherbeard the Pirate
• Gino Montesinos as Tango the Pirate
• John Sicillano as Pokey the Pirate
• David Stifel as Cookie the Pirate
• Alex Baker as Martin the Pirate
• Robin Russell as Sniffy the Pirate
• Tommy Schooler as Salty the Pirate
• Ben Wilson as Stovepipe the Pirate
• José Zelaya as Dooby the Pirate
• Derek Drymon as Fisherman
• Michael Patrick Bell as Fisherman

Mageina Tovah portrays a theater usher during the mid-credits scene where she tells the pirates that they need to leave as the movie is over.

Voices

• Kathleen Herles as Dora
• Harrison Chad as Boots
• Sasha Toro as Backpack
• Ashley Fleming as Isa the Iguana
• Jose Zelaya as Tico the Squirrel
• Jake Burbage as Benny the Bull
• Andre Dieppa as Diego Marquez
• Eileen Galindo as Mrs. Marquez
• Chris Gifford as Big Red Chicken and Grumpy Old Troll
• Adam Sietz as Boots' Father
• Marc Weiner as Map, Pirate Parrot and Swiper the Fox
• John Leguizamo as the Pirate Pig
• Esai Morales as Mr. Marquez
• Leslie Valdes as Senor Tucan
• Alec Baldwin as Dennis
• Scarlett Johansson as Princess Mindy
• Jeffrey Tambor as King Juan El Bobo

Production

Development

The Dora the Explorer Movie was long planned; Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures had approached series creator Chris Gifford for a film based on the show, but he refused for more than a year. Gifford was concerned, after watching The Iron Giant (1999) and Toy Story (1995), about the challenge of Dora and Boots doing something more cinematically consequential and inspiring without losing what he called the Dora "cadence". While on a break from season four post-production, "To do a 75-minute movie about Dora wanting to explore would be a mistake, I think this had to be Dora in a great adventure. That's where the comedy's coming from, having these two naïve characters, Dora and Boots, an explorer and a monkey, on this incredibly heroic odyssey with all the odds against them."

The film's plot originally had Dora rescue Boots from a witch, this was later said by Kathleen Herles to be a "joke" plot to keep fans busy. Gifford served at the director of the film, and also wrote it with other writer-animators from the show (Valerie Walsh Valdes and Eric Weiner) over a three-month period in a room of a former Glendale, California bank. Walsh said, "It was hugely fun although it did get kind of gamy in there." For the film, the writers created a mythical hero's quest: the search for a stolen crown, which brings Dora and Boots to the Lost City. Harrison Chad said about the plot, "It's just nuts. I'm continually dazzled and delighted with what these guys came up with."

Casting

The film stars the series' main cast members: Kathleen Herles as Dora, Harrison Chad as Boots, Sasha Toro as Backpack, Ashley Fleming as Isa the Iguana, Jose Zelaya as Tico the Squirrel, Jake Burbage as Benny the Bull, Andre Dieppa as Diego Marquez, Elaine Del Valle as Val the Octopus, Eileen Galindo as Mrs. Marquez, Chris Gifford as Big Red Chicken and Grumpy Old Troll, Adam Sietz as Boots' Father, Marc Weiner as Map, Pirate Parrot and Swiper the Fox, John Leguizamo as the Pirate Pig, Esai Morales as Mr. Marquez, and Leslie Valdes as Senor Tucan. It also features Dee Bradley Baker as a news reporter, Carlos Alazraqui as the squire, and Neil Ross as the voice of the Cyclops. In addition to the series' cast, it was reported on March 23, 2004, that Scarlett Johansson and Alec Baldwin would play new characters Princess Mindy and Dennis, respectively, while Jeffrey Tambor voices King Juan El Bobo.

Johansson accepted the role because she liked cartoons and was a fan of The Ren & Stimpy Show. When Jeffrey Tambor signed for his voice cameo, he saw Juan and joked, "This is me." He remembered the first cartoon he saw, Bambi (1942): "My first cartoon, I had to be carried out crying It was Bambi. It's like the great American wound: the death of Bambi's mother. 'Run, Bambi, run!'" Another guest voice was Alec Baldwin; Chris Gifford said that the actor recorded his character Dennis on a "phone": "I wouldn't say that about his performance. He might be mad if we said that. Technically, it was like he was in another booth in the studio."

Mary Ellen Trainor accepted the role when her daughters, urged her: "I got an offer to do a cameo in the Dora Movie and I turned to my girls, who were like 16 and 14, and I said, 'Who's Dora?' and they said, 'Oh my God, Dad, it's the number one Nick Jr. cartoon in the world, you gotta do it.'" Trainor enjoyed her cameo: "It was great fun and to this day around the world kids stop me and say, 'Are you Mary Ellen Trainor?' because I was the only human in the picture." Trainor said that the film gained her new fans: "It's amazing - so many of the kids were so young and didn't see Baywatch and Knight Rider so I got a whole new legion of fans."

Animation

There were a number of stages involved in the making of the film, beginning with a rough animation process of ideas drawn on Post-It notes. The writers drew, working from rough outlines rather than scripts (which made the humor more visual than verbal). The storyboard artists, including Carol Datuin, then illustrated ideas conceived by the writers. In the series George Chialtas and Sherie Pollack do the animatics, but Gifford and Walsh Valdes did the animatics for the film. Chialtas and Pollack were the film's animation-timing directors, concentrating on the sheets. The Dora the Explorer Movie, like the series, was animated at Saerom Animation in South Korea. The animators worked semi-digitally with pencil-drawn poses that would be composited into layouts in Photoshop.

Gifford enjoyed the process of making the film: "The TV schedule is tight, and you don't always have a lot of time to work on your drawings." He appreciated the film's hand-drawn animation: "I think the movie's drawings are much superior to the TV show", although CGI animation was flourishing at the time of the film's release. "There's a lot of talk about 2-D being dead, and I hope people don't think that. Even Brad Bird is a proponent of 2-D. He would agree with me that it's all about what you're trying to say. There are many ways to tell a story, and what's unique about animation is that there are many styles with which to tell a story." The clay animation scenes were shot by Mark Caballero, Seamus Walsh and Chris Finnegan at Screen Novelties in Los Angeles.

Filming

The film features live-action scenes directed by Mark Osborne in Santa Monica, California. The ship used during the 30-second opening featuring the pirates singing the theme song was the Bounty, a 180-foot (55 m)-long, enlarged reconstruction of the 1787 Royal Navy sailing ship HMS Bounty built for Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). The ship appeared in a number of other films, including Treasure Island (1999), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007). In film trailers, live-action scenes were taken from Das Boot (1981), The Hunt for Red October (1990), and U-571 (2000).

Mary Ellen Trainor made a cameo in the live-action scenes, offering Dora and Boots a ride to the forest. The scene was originally written before consulting Trainor. Gifford was pleased with the storyboards; Lead storyboard artist Kuni Tomita said, "He had been wrestling with the ending for quite a while, and finally he was ready to pitch his ideas to some of the other board artists." Gifford was counting on casting Trainor, and the first question he asked him was "So, do we have Trainor?" He replied "No", with a grin. Trainor eventually agreed, before seeing the script. Gifford said about the actor, "She's a great girl. ... She was great at making fun of herself."

The crew built a 750-pound (340 kg), 12-foot (3.7 m) replica of Trainor. The $100,000 replica was kept at Trainor's home; she has said, "It freaked me out because it was so lifelike, with teeth, when you touch it it feels like real skin. It's soft, like your skin." At the completion of filming, Trainor said, "That's ridiculously awesome. What are you gonna do with it?" Asked by the crew if she wanted to keep it, she answered, "Uh, yeah. Okay." Trainor filmed in cold water, where he was pulled by a sled nine yards across the sea; she described the experience as "cold but a lot of fun."

In late March 2014, Trainor offered the replica up for auction with other memorabilia collected during her career. Julien's Auctions handled the item's sale, which were expected to bring in between $20,000 and $30,000. Ultimately, Trainor pulled the item, just a few days before the auction.

Deleted scenes

The DVD and Blu-ray releases include animatics of deleted scenes from the film, such as Dora and Boots meeting a realistic squirrel, which is mostly Tico.

In 2013, Valerie Walsh Valdes released a storyboard panel of a deleted scene from the film with Dora awakening from her dream saying "WEEEEE!" and Senor Tucan holding a mixing bowl.

Soundtrack

Gregor Narholz composed the score for the film, conducting the recording sessions (in 5.1 surround sound) with the London Metropolitan Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in London. Narholz was signed when Joshua Sitron recommended him to Gifford. Narholz was honored at the 2005 ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards for his work on the film and received a nomination for Music in an Animated Feature Production at the 32nd Annie Awards.

American rock band The Flaming Lips recorded "Dora and Boots Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy". They shot the song's music video, directed by band member Wayne Coyne and filmmaker Bradley Beesley, in Austin, Texas. Coyne said, "Chris Gifford seems to be a fan of the weirder music of the late '80s and early '90s. He wanted to evoke the music he got turned onto back then." Coyne suggested a duet with Justin Timberlake, but Gifford refused, saying "I don't want any of those sort of commercial weirdos on there. I don't like those commercial people. I like you guys, and Wilco and Ween." American band Wilco wrote and recorded "Just a Kid". One of the film's producers contacted frontman Jeff Tweedy after seeing a Dora air freshener hanging from Tweedy's rearview mirror in I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco (2002). Tweedy said, "I fell in love with Dora when I heard her describe the darkness at the end of the forest as 'advanced darkness'. How could I not write a song for this film? It automatically makes me the coolest dad on the block." Avril Lavigne recorded the series' theme for the soundtrack. Other artists contributing to the soundtrack were Motörhead, singing "You Better Swim" (a derivative of their 1992 song "You Better Run"); Prince Paul ("Prince Paul's Bubble Party"); Ween ("Ocean Man"), and the Shins ("They'll Soon Discover", partially written in 2001).

"Gotta Travel Song", written by Kathleen Herles (Dora's voice actress) and Andy Paley, was featured in the film and on its soundtrack. Herles and Paley were working on what would become the special Dora Saves the Snow Princess in 2008, writing "Gotta Travel Song" and "Under My Rock". The film's production team needed two more tracks for the soundtrack; Gifford heard the songs, and decided to include them. "Gotta Travel Song" ended up being played during the film's closing credits.

Songs (in order)

• The Dora the Explorer theme song
• Goofy Goober Song
• I'm the Map
• Travel Song
• Backpack, Backpack
• Now That We're Mature
• Hechizos Magicos
• We Did It
• Ocean Man
• Dora and Boots Confront the Psychic Wall of Energy
• Just a Kid
• Gotta Travel Song

Marketing

Promotion

Julia Pistor, the film's co-producer, said that although Nickelodeon (which owns the Dora trademark) wanted to sell character-themed backpacks, lunch boxes, and wristwatches it respected Gifford's integrity and gave him control of merchandising. Gifford had no problem with candy and ice cream tie-ins, Pistor said (because of the treats' simplicity), but he had issues with fast food tie-ins; according to him, the latter was "full of hidden additives." Pistor said, "The trouble is that you can't go out with animated films without a fast-food tie-in. People don't take you seriously." Gifford replied, "Yeah, well, my take on that is that we shouldn't do that. We didn't want to suddenly become the people serving up food that's not that good for you especially kids. We work with Burger King, and they make toys and watches. But to actually take the step of pushing the food, that's crossing the line. I don't want to be the Pied Piper of fast food." Variety estimated the media value was $150 million.

The film was promoted across the United States. Nickelodeon joined Burger King for a 12-figure toy line based on the film, and about 4,700 Burger King stores perched 9-foot (2.7 m), inflatable Dora figures on their roofs as part of the promotion (one of the largest in fast food history). Customers could also purchase one of five different Dora-themed watches for $1.99 with the purchase of a value meal.

On November 11, 2004, it was reported that a number of the inflatables had been stolen from Burger King roofs nationwide. Burger King chief marketing officer Russ Klein said, "As to the motives behind these apparent 'doranappings', we can only speculate. We did receive one ransom note related to an inflatable Dora disappearance in Minnesota." The chain offered a year's supply of Whopper sandwiches as a reward for information leading to the return of inflatables stolen in November. One was found attached to a railing at the football-field 50-yard line at an Iowa college, and another under a bed in Virginia. A ransom note was found for a third: "We have Dora. Give us 10 burgers, fries, and milkshakes." Steven Simon and Conrad (C.J.) Mercure Jr. were arrested after stealing an inflatable from a Burger King in St. Mary's County, Maryland. While facing up to 18 months in jail and a $500 fine, Simon and Mercure said they were proud of what they did; Simon said, "Once we got caught by the police, we were like, now we can tell everybody." The following year, Burger King took "extra security precautions" in response to the Dora incident, when Stormtroopers from George Lucas' Star Wars guarded the delivery of Star Wars toys to a Burger King in North Hollywood as part of a promotion for Revenge of the Sith (2005).

The Cayman Islands joined with Nickelodeon to create the first Cayman Islands Sea School with Dora for the film. The partnership was announced by Pilar Bush, Deputy Director of Tourism for Cayman Islands, on March 10, 2004. As part of the agreement the Cayman partnership was seen on Nickelodeon's global multimedia platforms, including on-air, online, and in magazines. Other promotional partners included Mitsubishi, Holiday Inn, Kellogg's, and Perfetti Van Melle.

In 2005, Nickelodeon and Simon Spotlight released a book, Ice-Cream Dreams, as a tie-in to the film. It was written by Nancy E. Krulik and illustrated by Heather Martinez, with Krulik and Derek Drymon as contributors.

Dora the Explorer Movie 300

On October 15, 2004, the film was the first to sponsor a NASCAR race: the 300-mile (480 km), Busch Series Dora the Explorer Movie 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in North Carolina. It was the first race of its kind where children at the track could listen to a special, "kid-friendly" radio broadcast of the event.

Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson debuted a pair of Dora the Explorer-themed Chevrolet race cars in the race. Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet included an image of Dora across the hood, and Busch's No. 5 Chevrolet featured Boots. Johnson said, "This sounds so cool I know there are a lot of families who will be excited that Lowe's is doing this. The great thing is there will be something for every type of race fan. Plus how can we go wrong with Dora helping us out on the car?"

Release

The Dora the Explorer Movie premiered on November 14, 2004, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. It was released in the United States on November 19. Among celebrities who saw the premiere with their children were Ray Romano, Larry King, Ice Cube, Gary Dourdan, and Lisa Kudrow. The carpet was a reminder of home for Kathleen Herles, Dora's voice atress; she said, "I have a 15-month-old daughter, so I'm no stranger to pink and orange carpets."

The film was released on VHS and DVD on March 1, 2005, in wide- and full-screen editions, by Paramount Home Entertainment. The VHS release is known for being the last animated film by Nickelodeon Movies to be released on the platform. The DVD special features include an 18-minute featurette, The Absorbing Tale Behind The Dora the Explorer Movie, featuring interviews with most of the principal cast and crew; a 15-minute featurette, Case of the Explorer "Dora", hosted by Jean-Michel Cousteau; a 20-minute animatic segment featuring scenes from the film with dialogue by the original artists, and the film's trailer. As a tie-in to the film's DVD release, 7-Eleven served a limited-edition Forest Pineapple Slurpee in March 2005. The film was released as a Blu-ray-plus-DVD combination pack on March 29, 2011, alongside Charlotte's Web. It was re-released on DVD and Blu-ray on December 30, 2014.

Reception

Box office

The Dora the Explorer Movie earned $9,559,752 on its opening day in the United States, second behind National Treasure (2004) (which earned $11 million). It grossed a combined total of $32,018,216 during its opening weekend, on 4,300 screens at 3,212 theaters, averaging $9,968 per venue (or $7,446 per screen, again second to National Treasure). The film dropped an unexpected 44 percent over the Thanksgiving weekend, and 57 percent the weekend after that. The opening weekend earned 37.48 percent of the film's final gross. It closed on March 24, 2005, failing to out-gross holiday animated competitors The Incredibles (2004) ($261,441,092) and The Polar Express (2004) ($183,373,735). It was still profitable for distributor Paramount Pictures and producer Nickelodeon Movies, earning $85,417,988 in the United States and $140,161,792 worldwide on a budget of $30 million.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, The Dora the Explorer Movie holds an approval rating of 68% based on 129 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10. Its critical consensus reads, "Surreally goofy and entertaining for both children and their parents." Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned The Dora the Explorer Movie a score of 66 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four, calling it "the 'Good Burger' of animation plopping us down inside a fast-food war being fought by a little girl, a talking monkey, foxes, tiny creatures and mighty King Neptune." Ed Park of The Village Voice wrote, "No Pixar? No problem! An unstoppable good-mood generator, the resolutely 2-D [The] Dora the Explorer Movie has more yuks than Shark Tale (2004) and enough soul to swallow The Polar Express whole." Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, calling it "an animated adventure that's funnier than Shark Tale and more charming than The Polar Express." Randy Cordova of The Arizona Republic said, "Like the TV show it's based on, it's a daffy, enjoyable creation." Jami Bernard of the New York Daily News gave the feature a score of three out of four: "It's not The Incredibles, or one of those animated features that spent zillions on character design, pedigree and verisimilitude. But Dora is a sweet, silly thing with a child-friendly esthetic all its own." Will Lawrence of Empire gave the film four out of five stars, calling it "a film for kids, students, stoners, anyone who enjoys a break from reality." Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly gave it a B-minus grade: "The best moments in her [Dora the Explorer] first movie outing are those that feel most TV-like, just another day in the eternally optimistic forest society created with such contagious silliness by Chris Gifford." Desson Thomson of The Washington Post enjoyed the film: "You gotta love Dora. Coolest girl in the forest, although this one has a suspiciously manufactured look."

Carla Meyer of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that "The Dora the Explorer Movie retains the 2-D charm of the hugely popular Nick Jr. cartoon but adds a few tricks a little 3-D here, a little Mary Ellen Trainor there. The series' appeal never lay in its visuals, however. 'Dora' endeared itself to kids and adults through sweetness and cleverness, also abundant here." A. O. Scott of The New York Times gave it a score of four out of five: "If you're tired of bluster and swagger, Dora is your girl." Tom Maurstad of The Dallas Morning News also gave the film a B-minus grade: "Being so good is what led to making the movie, and it's also the reason that many small-screen episodes are better than this big-screen venture."

Some reviews praised Mary Ellen Trainor's appearance in the film. Jennifer Frey of The Washington Post wrote, "Getting to see the hairs on Trainor's back (and thighs, and calves) magnified exponentially is perhaps a bit creepy. Like the movie, it's all in good fun." Cinema Blend founder Joshua Tyler called Trainor's role "the best movie cameo I've seen since Fred Savage stuck a joint in his crotch and played a clarinet to charm the resulting smoke like a snake."

There's plenty to treasure in The Dora the Explorer Movie, but for all the spit-and-polish animation and the rollicking soundtrack (which includes an original song by the Flaming Lips, as well as Ween's gorgeous "Ocean Man," from their Mollusk album), this isn't the yellow one's most thrilling hour—or 80 minutes." - David Edelstein, in his Slate review

David Edelstein of Slate criticized the film's plot, calling it a "big, heavy anchor of a story structure to weigh her down." Mike Clark of USA Today called it "harmlessly off-the-cuff but facing far more pedigreed multiplex competition Dora barely rates as OK when compared with The Incredibles." A reviewer noted in Time Out London, "Anyone expecting anything more risky will be sadly disappointed." In his Variety review, Todd McCarthy said the film "takes on rather too much water during its extended feature-length submersion."

Fan project

A non-profit re-animated collaboration project, titled The Dora the Explorer Movie Re-Explored, was released online on May 1, 2022. Similarly to 3GI's Shrek Retold collaboration, the video consists of over 300 artists recreating the film's animation and audio in their own artistic styles. Amid the YouTube premiere, the video was taken down by Paramount Global due to copyright laws. As a result, the hashtag #JusticeForDora became trending on Twitter against Paramount's action. The video was restored the following day.

Video game

A video game based on the film was released for PlayStation 2 PC, Game Boy Advance, Xbox, and GameCube on October 27, 2004 for Mac OS X in 2005 and PlayStation 3 on February 7, 2012. The home-console version was developed by Heavy Iron Studios; the Game Boy Advance version was developed by WayForward Technologies and published by THQ.

Character Find

King Juan El Bobo

Favorite Parts

• Dora: Finding the crown in the Lost City.
• Boots: Driving away from the dragon.
• Princess Mindy: Saving Senor Tucan from King Juan El Bobo

Trivia

General

Cultural References

Goofs/Errors

Information for Dora's Magical Adventure

Dora's Magical Adventure is a 2015 American live-action/computer-animated superhero comedy film directed by Eric Weiner in his feature-length directorial debut. It is the second film adaptation of the animated television series Dora the Explorer and a standalone sequel to The Dora the Explorer Movie (2004). The film stars Antonio Banderas and features the show's regular voice cast who reprised their roles from the television series. The plot follows Pirate Pig, who steals the magical chest in the museum using a magical book that makes any text written upon it come true. Dora and her friends must travel to the beach to confront Pirate Pig and retrieve the chest.

The film was written by Valerie Walsh, who adapted it from a story conceived by Eric Weiner and Chris Gifford. Like the first film, the final act places the animated characters in a live-action world. These scenes were directed by Mike Mitchell and were filmed in Savannah and Tybee Island, Georgia. Filming began on October 9, 2013, and was completed in November that year.

Dora's Magical Adventure was released in the United States at #1 on February 6, 2015, in 3D and RealD 3D and received mostly positive reviews from critics. It was a box office success, earning over $325 million worldwide against its $60–74 million budget, making it the third highest-grossing Nickelodeon film and the 6th highest-grossing animated film of 2015. A third film, Dora and Diego: The Search for Baby Jaguar, was released in Canada in 2020 and USA in 2021.

Plot

As the film opens, Pirate Pig travels to the island, where he obtains a magical book that has the power to make any text written upon it real. The book tells the story of Dora and her adventures. Dora and Boots had spent several years exploring.

One day, Swiper starts getting into the museum. After a battle involving colorful shapes, Swiper uses a decoy of himself to give Isa a fake flower, in which the real Swiper hides to gain access to vault. Swiper swipes the magical chest, leaving the fake one in its place. Dora stops Swiper from trying to get the chest, which disappears.

Without the chest, people become ravenous. Dora and Swiper find the bicycle plane, in which they fly away. Her place is immediately reduced to an incident due to the absence of the magic chest. After a scuffle between the Pirate Piggies, a page of the book is discarded in the ocean and lands on Squirrel Trees, causing Tico to think the page is a sign from the "explorer gods". Dora proposes teaming up with Swiper to find the chest, but Swiper does not quite understand the concept of teamwork. They decide to travel back in time to the moment before the chest disappeared and go to Blueberry Hill to rescue his grandmother, whom they want to help power the time capes. Dora and Swiper find the capes and travel far into the future, where they meet Bubbles, a magical pink river dolphin who acts as an overseer of the galaxy, and inadvertently get him fired. Dora and Swiper retrieve the chest, but it turns out to be the fake one left by Swiper.

Pirate Pig converts his pirate ship into a gift shop and sells treasure at a beach community. Tico suggests making a sacrifice to appease the gods. As the town attempts to sacrifice Dora, she and Benny smell something from the beach. The townsfolk follow the scent, which leads to the beach. Bubbles returns and launches Dora and the others there.

The team lands on a beach and finds the source of the chocolate scent is the pirate ship. Pirate Pig stole the chest using the book to rewrite the story; he uses it to banish the gang to Pelican Island. Dora uses the page Tico had to transform himself and the others into superheroes – Dora (The Invincible Explorer), Boots (Mr. SuperMonkey), Benny (Bullseye), Isa (Miss Flower), and Tico (The Rodent) – but they leave the page and Swiper behind. They return and find Pirate Pig, who drives away with the chest, and give chase. During the ensuing battle, the team destroys the book, but Mean Beard overpowers them all.

Swiper appear as a muscle-bound hero named Fox Man and assists them. He and Dora tells the Pirate Pig, "Give us back our treasure" and retrieve the chest. After sending Pirate Pig flying to the Island, Swiper – having learned the value of teamwork – returns the chest to the others. The gang uses the final page's magic to return to their place. With the chest back, the city is returned to normal, and Swiper resumes his role as a villain.

In a final scene, Pirate Piggies sing the Dora theme song, until Bubbles arrives and sings a rap battle against the pigs, resulting in them winning, finishing the song and ending the film.

In the post credits scene, Baby Jaguar chases Swiper.

Cast

Live-action

• Antonio Banderas as Pirate Pig, a pirate captain who steals the magical chest.
• Kron Moore as a woman on a sidewalk
• Christopher Backus as Pirate Pig Sr. (uncredited), the father of Pirate Pig.

Voices

• Fatima Ptacek as Dora
• Koda Gursoy as Boots
• Sofia Lopez as Backpack
• Antonio Banderas as Pirate Pig
• Skai Jackson as Isa the Iguana
• Oscar Hutarra as Tico the Squirrel
• Aidan Gemme as Benny the Bull
• Jacob Medrano as Diego Marquez
• Elaine Del Valle as Val the Octopus
• Eileen Galindo as Mrs. Marquez
• Chris Gifford as Big Red Chicken and Grumpy Old Troll
• Adam Sietz as Boots' Father
• Marc Weiner as Map, Pirate Parrot and Swiper the Fox
• Esai Morales as Mr. Marquez
• Leslie Valdes as Senor Tucan
• Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci of Garfunkel and Oates as the Popsicle twins
• Peter Shukoff as a seagull (US version)
• Lloyd Ahlquist as a seagull (US version)
• Carlos Alazraqui as a seagull (US version)
• Eric Bauza as a seagull (US version)
• Tim Conway (final film role) as a seagull (US version)
• Eddie Deezen as a seagull (US version)
• Nolan North as a seagull (US version)
• Rob Paulsen as a seagull (US version)
• Kevin Michael Richardson as a seagull (US version)
• April Stewart as a seagull (US version)
• Cree Summer as a seagull (US version)
• Billy West as a seagull (US version)
• Alan Carr as a seagull (UK version)
• Caspar Lee as a seagull (UK version)
• Stacey Solomon as a seagull (UK version)
• Paul Tibbitt (US), Joe Sugg (UK) and Robert Irwin (Australia) as Kyle the Seagull
• Dee Bradley Baker as Fiesta News Trio and various
• Thomas F. Wilson as an angry customer
• Sirena Irwin as an automated voice
• Mark Fite as a customer

Production

Development

Following the release of The Dora the Explorer Movie in 2004, producer Julia Pistor stated that a sequel film was unlikely despite its successful box office performance. In a 2009 interview with Digital Spy, Eric Weiner was asked about the possibility of a sequel; he said, "I think that they are talking about doing that, but I haven't signed up for anything. We just feel like we've told so many stories, and SpongeBob exists so well in this short 11-minute form." He also stated that making another film was "a huge challenge". However, Weiner said a sequel is not impossible, saying "I wouldn't say no, but I don't know if there will be another one". In 2010, Nickelodeon was reportedly approaching the crews of the show to make another film adaptation. The network had long wanted to partner with Paramount Pictures to release another Dora film to help reinvigorate the series' declining ratings. Internal disagreement delayed collaborations.

On March 4, 2011, the Los Angeles Times reported Paramount had "another Dora picture" in development. In July the same year, Paramount formed its new animation unit, Paramount Animation, in the wake of the commercial and critical success of the 2011 computer-animated film Rango and the departure of DreamWorks Animation upon completion of its distribution contract in 2012. Philippe Dauman, a former president and CEO of Paramount and Nickelodeon's parent company Viacom, officially announced on February 28, 2012, that a sequel film was in development and was due for an unspecified 2014 release, saying; "We will be releasing a Dora movie at the end of 2014". Dauman said the new film "will serve to start off or be one of our films that starts off our new animation effort". Nickelodeon expected the film to do much better in foreign box offices than the 2004 feature considering the channel's increasingly global reach. Dauman said, "This will continue to propel Dora internationally".

Production was announced on June 10, 2014, under the title The Dora the Explorer Movie 2, which some trade publications began referring to as Dora the Explorer 2. The film's executive producer is series creator Chris Gifford, who left his role as the series' showrunner in 2004 following the release of The Dora the Explorer Movie. He no longer wrote for or ran the show on a day-to-day basis but reviewed episodes and delivered suggestions. In a 2012 interview with Leslie Valdes, however, Gifford said he was helping to write the film.

Casting

The main cast of the television series reprised their roles for Dora's Magical Adventure. In August 2013, casting directors from Marty Siu Casting began casting calls for the background extras for the live-action scenes. On September 21, 2013, it was reported that Spanish actor Antonio Banderas had been cast for a role as the voice of Pirate Pig.

Animation

The 2D hand-drawn animated sequences for Dora's Magical Adventure were done in South Korea by Saerom Animation. As did its predecessor, the film combines traditional animation with live action, and also used computer-generated imagery (CGI), which was handled by Iloura VFX in Melbourne, Australia, to render the characters in 3D.

In a 2012 preview of upcoming Paramount films, Dora's Magical Adventure was exhibited as a "3D feature film" with "CGI-like animation". Following the release of SpongeBob SquarePants 4-D: The Great Jelly Rescue (2013), a 3D short film that was released at the Nickelodeon Suites Resort Orlando, executives talked about continuing the use of 3D in the film.

Dora's Magical Adventure contains a stop-motion sequence that was animated by Screen Novelties; the company had previously produced a clay animation scene for the first Dora the Explorer film, the mixed-media opening of the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Truth or Square", and the entirety of the stop-motion special It's a SpongeBob Christmas!.

In March 2014, Paramount screened live-action footage from the film during the National Association of Theatre Owners' event CinemaCon. News websites report that the film would be CGI-animated; an Internet Movie Database staff member commented; "When Paramount announced there would be a new Dora the Explorer movie, the assumption was that it would be animated (like all other incarnations of Dora). The very brief footage from tonight's presentation suggested otherwise – it looked as though this was a CGI/live-action hybrid akin to Alvin and the Chipmunks, Yogi Bear, The Smurfs, etc." In an article published by ComingSoon.net, author Edward Douglas said the film's CGI footage looks "weird". Philippe Dauman said the CGI elements are intended to "refresh and give another boost" to the characters.

Filming

Dora's Magical Adventure includes live-action scenes that were directed by Mike Mitchell. Filming began on September 30, 2013, and finished on November 5 of the same year. Filming was done at multiple locations in Savannah and Tybee Island; both of which are in Georgia. On July 11, 2013, the Savannah Film Office announced the filming of live-action scenes in Savannah for 40 days. Will Hammargren, Savannah Film Office's location specialist, said the film was expected to contribute $8 million to the city's economy, including hotel bookings of at least 5,600 room nights.

The film's live-action scenes were shot on various locations in Georgia, including downtown Savannah (top) and Tybee Island's Pier (bottom).

On September 30, 2013, the start of production filming was interrupted by the dismissal of film services director Jay Self. According to a memorandum from Joe Shearouse, bureau chief of the leisure services department of Savannah, Self was fired for his "failure to properly plan and manage the arrangement for the movie". The memo accused Self of shortcomings surrounding the filming and also cited complaints from residents of Savannah. Another reported reason for Self's dismissal was a disagreement between Paramount and the Savannah Film Office about the process of negotiating compensation for local businesses with Paramount to cover losses of trade during filming.

To prepare the filming location in the downtown Savannah, the film crew painted storefronts along Broughton Street to resemble a coastal community called "Salty Shoals". Savannah College of Art and Design's Jen Library and Trustees Theater was converted into a maritime museum. In August 2013, Paramount approached SCAD to use the Jen Library for a scene. The studio's art department transformed the building; it remained open to students during filming. Self said, "The changes are temporary with all buildings scheduled to be restored to their original colors after filming is complete".

Filming in downtown Savannah began on October 9; parts of Broughton Street were closed until October 18. Antonio Banderas was filmed on a pirate ship with wheels for a car-chase scene. At one point, a film-crew member caused an accident that damaged a downtown building and a woman was taken to a hospital.

Filming in the city ended on October 18, when a raffle was also held; the prizes included a Dora the Explorer-themed party, bicycles, a vacation, dinner at a local bistro, gift certificates, and a 60-inch (1.5 m) television. The production received mixed responses from businesses located in filming areas. Businesses were concerned about filming in October because that month is "a big month for merchants along Broughton [Street]". Some merchants suggested filming in February, July, or August instead.

Live-action filming resumed on October 21 on Tybee Island. The producers were permitted to film on the island after meetings held at the local City Hall; businesses and residents raised concerns about the possible effects of the filming and about sea turtle safety. Musician Slash, a member of the band Guns N' Roses, was seen on set at Tybee Pier, although he does not appear in the final film. The film crew later moved to Strand Avenue, where they filmed a chase scene with extras riding bicycles.

Deleted scenes

The Blu-ray release includes animatics of deleted scenes from the film, including a scene in which The Grumpy Old Troll reappears in a tuxedo (in the final film, he does not wear it). In the segment, the Troll pursues Dora and Swiper in a boatmobile chase. The "Squeeze Me" song plays on Swiper's radio until the boat crashes. The Troll catches up with the two runaways, takes off his suit, and tells Dora he will pay the "ultimate penalty" for his reckless driving. She sifts through a variety of torture devices in a bag, then pulls out a red pen and makes Dora sneeze with the pepper shaker.

A fully animated musical sequence, "Thank Gosh It's Monday", was also cut from the film. A shortened version was used as an advertisement for the movie and uploaded to Paramount Pictures' YouTube channel. The extended cut is exclusive to the Blu-ray release, and the song used in the scene was released as the fifth track on the movie's soundtrack album.

Music

Soundtrack

It was announced that Pharrell Williams with his band N.E.R.D would write a song, which has titled "Squeeze Me", for the film. A five-song EP was released digitally on January 27, 2015.

Songs (in order)

• Dora the Explorer Theme Song
• Thank Gosh It's Monday
• I'm the Map
• Travel Song
• Backpack, Backpack
• Teamwork
• Squeeze Me
• We Did It
• Rap Battle
• Boots the Monkey
• Tico the Squirrel

Score

The original score for the film was composed by John Debney. On February 16, 2015, Debney announced via Twitter that Varèse Sarabande would release his score digitally. The score released in the UK on March 23, 2015, and on the following day in the US, along with a physical release on March 31, 2015.

Release

Marketing

In March 2012, in regard to consumer products for Dora's Magical Adventure, Dauman stated, "This will be a Nickelodeon-branded movie. We'll license the toys, but we own it." On June 10, 2014, the film's first teaser poster was released, along with the announcement of its title.

At the San Diego Comic-Con held on July 25, 2014, Paramount Pictures released the first footage from the film. On July 31, 2014, the film's trailer was released. Throughout the year, trailers and 15-second teaser posters of the movie were shown.

Theatrical release

Dora's Magical Adventure was originally planned for a 2014 release to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the first film. On August 1, 2013, however, in an article from The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount Pictures announced that the film would have its official wide release in theaters on February 13, 2015, in North America to avoid competition from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2014 film, another Nickelodeon movie. On June 5, 2014, the film's release date was moved up to February 6, 2015, in order to avoid competition from 20th Century Fox's Kingsman: The Secret Service and Universal Pictures' Fifty Shades of Grey, which both premiered the following week. The film premiered on January 28, 2015, in Belgium and the Netherlands, and on January 30, 2015, in Iceland, Mexico, and Taiwan.

Irish-language release

On February 24, 2015, it was announced that Paramount Pictures, in partnership with Irish television broadcaster TG4, would release the film in the Irish language alongside the English release; it was the first Irish-language release from a major film studio. The film's Irish version, which is titled Eachtraíochta Draíochta Dora, premiered on March 27, 2015, in Ireland.

Home media

Dora's Magical Adventure was released on Digital HD on May 19, 2015, and it was released on DVD and Blu-ray (2D and 3D) on June 2, 2015. The cover of the home-media releases – excluding the Blu-ray 3D release – and digital releases is the principal theatrical poster; the only difference being Swiper appearance as Fox Man.

Reception

Box office

Dora's Magical Adventure grossed $162.9 million in North America and $162.1 million in other territories; a total worldwide gross of $325.1 million against a budget of $74 million. It has outgrossed the first Dora movie, which made $140.2 million worldwide, and is the second-highest-grossing film based on an animated television show, behind The Simpsons Movie ($527.1 million). Deadline Hollywood calculated the net profit of the film to be $99.8 million.

North America

Dora's Magical Adventure was originally expected to gross around $35 million in its opening weekend; however, it exceeded expectations on its opening day. On its opening weekend the film grossed $55.4 million, played in 3,641 theaters, with a $15,206 per-theater average, and finished in first place at the box office, exceeding American Sniper, which grossed $23.3 million, marking the first time in four weeks a film other than American Sniper was the top-grossing film. In its second weekend, Dora's Magical Adventure earned $31.4 million, marking a 43.2% decline and dropping to number three, overtaken by Fifty Shades of Grey and Kingsman: The Secret Service. On its third weekend, the film stayed at number three, grossing $16.5 million. On its fourth weekend, the film was number three again, with $10.8 million.

Other territories

In five markets, Dora's Magical Adventure was released for the three-day weekend of January 30, 2015 – a week ahead of North America release – and earned a gross of $8 million, $6.7 million of which came from a strong debut in Mexico. For its second weekend of February 6, 2015, the film earned a gross of $16.2 million, playing in theaters in 25 markets. The film opened at number one in Brazil and Spain, grossing $4.6 million and $1.9 million, respectively. It also remained at number one in Mexico, earning $2.4 million. In the UK, the film was released on March 27, 2015, in time for the Easter school holidays and opened at number three behind Cinderella and Home.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Dora's Magical Adventure holds an approval rating of 81% based on 105 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10. Its critical consensus reads, "Dora's Magical Adventure won't win over many viewers who aren't fans of the show, but for the converted, it's another colorful burst of manic fun." Metacritic (which uses a weighted average) assigned Dora's Magical Adventure a score of 62 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Andrew Barker of Variety praised the film for "never even feigning a lick of seriousness"; he felt the film is too long and the CGI sequences are inferior to the traditionally animated ones. Barker said the film would prove "popular among the franchise's key grade-schooler and head-shop-owner demographics". Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter said the film's two animation styles failed "to create a cohesive whole in spite of all the inspired non sequiturs ... the live action/CG stuff never satisfyingly jibes with the traditional nautical nonsense in the forest", and that although the film was inferior to the first one, it would likely be a box office success. Barbara VanDenburgh of The Arizona Republic gave the film three-and-a-half stars out of five, saying, "The plot is straightforward, predictable and slight, no more intricate a plot than a 15-minute TV episode would have. It's the freewheeling madness of its execution that makes the movie such a trip – as in acid trip."

Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News gave Dora's Magical Adventure four stars out of five, saying; "The spirit of the series remains true: cheerfully random jokes, blink-and-you'll-miss-them references and, above all, a silly, stubbornly sentimental streak that only the foxiest cynic could dismiss". Colin Covert of the Star Tribune gave the film three stars out of five, saying it "weaves a silly – and often funny – spell. It's a scrappy little B-movie that zips along rather entertainingly." Jen Chaney of The Washington Post gave the film two stars out of four, saying; "There's something about this project that, despite checking all of the requisite plot and sensibility boxes, doesn't convey as an organic work of Dora-ishness".

Nicolas Rapold of The New York Times gave the film a positive review, saying; "While less fluid and fresh than its 2004 predecessor, the new film displays enough nutty writing and sheer brio to confirm the stamina of its enduring and skillfully voiced characters". Gwen Ihnat of The A.V. Club gave the film a B+, saying; "The visual effects and fast and furious quips combine for that rarest of releases: one that both parents and kids can enjoy (just like the show), leaving viewers of any age hoping that the next Dora movie isn't an entire decade off". Alonso Duralde of The Wrap wrote, "The jokes are consistently hilarious, with enough variety to tickle the funny bones of old salts and young fishies alike".

Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film two stars out of four, saying; "The live-action elements – mostly in the person of Antonio Banderas as cranky pirate Burger Beard, who spends most of his time addressing a flock of seagulls – don't mesh seamlessly with the animated sequences. It almost feels like two movies awkwardly melded together." John Semley of The Globe and Mail gave Dora's Magical Adventure two-and-a-half stars out of four, saying it "mostly nails what has always made the character, and her brightly coloured forest world, so endearing: the abundant innocence, the welcome lack of cynicism and the out-and-out stupidity". Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, saying it "remains true to the surrealism of its animated television roots. But it also tries to force a live-action element which isn't as comfortable a fit as a certain pair of symmetrical trousers."

In other media

Video game

A video game featuring a plot set during that of Dora's Magical Adventure, published by Activision, and titled Dora's Super Adventure was released on February 3, 2015 in North America and on March 26, 2015 in Europe for the Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation Vita (cross-compatible with PlayStation TV), and Xbox 360. The game on all three platforms received mostly positive reviews, many point-out the inspired gameplay, colorful graphics, well-made level design, polishes and that it strongly follows the plot of the film.

A mobile game titled Dora on the Run was released on January 22, 2015, for iOS and Android. It is an endless running game based on the film and features several mini-games.

Character Find

Backpack

Favorite Parts

• Dora: Finding the chest using her superpowers.
• Boots: Stopping Pirate Pig with bananas.
• Benny: Meeting Bubbles the River Dolphin.
• Isa: Finding the pirate ship.
• Tico: Spitting the peanuts at Pirate Pig.
• Swiper: Finding the time traveling cape.

Trivia

Information for Dora and Diego: The Search for Baby Jaguar

Dora and Diego: The Search for Baby Jaguar is a 2020 American live-action/computer-animated adventure film based on the animated television series Dora the Explorer. Written and directed by Valerie Walsh Valdes in her directorial debut, it is the first film in the Dora franchise to be fully animated in stylized CGI rather than traditional 2D animation. The regular voice cast of the series reprise their respective roles from the series and the previous films and included new characters (both live-action and animated) performed by Awkwafina, Snoop Dogg, Tiffany Haddish, Keanu Reeves, Danny Trejo and Reggie Watts. The film follows the origin of how Diego meets Baby Jaguar, and Dora and Diego's quest to rescue him after he is kidnapped. It is the third theatrical film based on the series, following the first in 2004 and second in 2015.

Development for a third Dora film began in April 2015, two months after the release of Dora's Magical Adventure. By January 2016, Aibel and Berger had been hired to write the film, and by April 2018, Valdes was onboard as director. Hans Zimmer composed the film's musical score.

The film was produced by Paramount Animation and Nickelodeon Movies, with animation provided by Mikros Image. Originally slated for a worldwide theatrical release by Paramount Pictures, plans were changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was released theatrically in Canada on August 14, 2020, digitally on Netflix in other territories on November 5, 2020. It was released as a premium video-on-demand offering and a Paramount+ launch title in the United States on March 4, 2021. Despite the film's unsatisfactory box office performance (which grossed 4.8 million against a 60 million budget). The Search for Baby Jaguar received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for the animation and loyalty to the series. The film was nominated for Favorite Animated Movie at the 2022 Kids' Choice Awards, but lost to Encanto. A fourth film, Dora the Explorer: The Spooky Adventure, is currently in development with a release date of May 23, 2025.

Plot

Swiper works on a new plan to swipe while his grandmother argues that Dora is actually responsible for all his previous failures and not anyone else. That same night, Swiper sneaks into the Chocolate Tree and scans a sample of cocoa beans to print the formula, but Dora inadvertently stops Swiper while he was searching for his keys. This leads Swiper to understand that his grandmother was right in her suspicions.

Meanwhile, miles away in Atlantic City, selfish ruler King Poseidon has just used up all the slime from his latest animal, which is necessary to keep him rejuvenated. Poseidon decrees the obtaining of a new animal. Swiper finds out about this and kidnaps Baby Jaguar so that Dora will go to find him and thus not interfere with the plans. The next morning, Dora learns from Diego and Boots that Baby Jaguar was taken to Atlantic City. As part of his plan, Swiper offers Otto, a robot built by Isa, to take them to the city with the hopes that they never return. Without Dora making chocolate, Dora's babies trashed Abuela's house despite her efforts to stop them. Otto drives Dora, Boots, and Diego to an old Western town where they meet a tumbleweed spirit named Sage.

Sage reveals that they are in a dream and must overcome a special mission to continue their search. He gives them a "Challenge Coin" that will embrave them into a tavern haunted by ghostly zombie pirates. Following a small musical number with Steve Burns, Dora, Diego, and Boots discover that the pirates' souls are trapped by an evil spirit known as "El Diablo" and their mission is to free them. El Diablo traps the trio in his office, but they accidentally disintegrate him with the sunlight by uncovering some window curtains. The pirates' souls are freed, and Dora, Boots and Diego continue on their travel until Otto wakes them up, thus revealing that everything was a dream.

Now accompanied by Sage, Dora and Diego discover that Poseidon is using Baby Jaguar's spit to stay young and as soon as it runs out, he will have him enslaved with the rest of his previous animals. Arriving at Atlantic City, Sage warns the pair not to be distracted by the city's attractions, which they ignore. After a fun-filled night, Dora, Diego, and Boots discover that they have lost the "Challenge Coin" that allowed them to be brave, but they still reach into Poseidon's palace. When they try to take Baby Jaguar back home to the Rescue Center, both are arrested and imprisoned in the dungeon. Back in Dora's hometown, Swiper arrives at Abuela's house, and a depressed Abuela gives him the recipe because nothing is the same without Dora. However, seeing Abuela so upset makes Swiper feel incredibly guilty about what he has done. Upon finding out that Dora, Diego, and Boots will be executed in a luxury show in Poseidon's palace, Abuela, Isa, Tico, Benny and a redeemed Swiper decide to go find and save them.

In prison, Sage reveals to Dora, Diego, and Boots that the "Challenge Coin" never had powers and that the bravery came from themselves. When Dora and Diego are about to be executed because Boots had made a deal with Poseidon's Chancellor to save himself, Abuela, Benny, Isa, Tico, and Swiper burst into the show to testify in favor of Dora and Diego. Along with Boots, each recounts an experience they had in their remembrance with Dora when they were on the very first trip, as well as how important Dora is to all of them, which earns the audience's gratitude. Afterwards, the group perform a musical number to distract Poseidon and take Baby Jaguar away. Poseidon realizes the distraction and orders his guards to capture the group. Dora and her friends manage to escape the guards and sneak around the palace to the exit but are once again cornered when Otto leaves them behind.

Poseidon confronts them but gleefully orders the charges dropped for amusing him. However, he also does it on the condition that Dora gives Baby Jaguar to him and never come back for him. Remembering Sage's words, Dora gains courage and refuses, arguing that her friends went out of their way to help her in the rescue, even when Poseidon threatens to kill them all. However, when Poseidon finds out that he has no friends and reveals that he needs licks for his appearance, Dora offers to be his friend and tells him that beauty is on the inside and that she doesn't need to hide it. This causes Poseidon to remove all his arrangements and return to his true appearance. Everyone accepts him for who he is, and Poseidon allows Dora and Diego to take Baby Jaguar back home.

Otto drives the group back home while Poseidon releases all his enslaved animals to accompany them, and Rescue Center ends up becoming an "animal refuge".

Cast

Live-action

• Keanu Reeves as Sage
• Snoop Dogg as The Gambler
• Danny Trejo as El Diablo

Voices

• Presley Williams as Dora
• Antonio Raul Corbo as Boots
• Leah Janvier as Isa the Iguana
• Jack Gore as Tico the Squirrel
• Jason Maybaum as Benny the Bull
• Quinn Breslin as Diego Marquez
• Eileen Galindo as Mrs. Marquez
• Chris Gifford as Big Red Chicken and Grumpy Old Troll
• Adam Sietz as Boots' Father
• Marc Weiner as Map and Swiper the Fox
• Esai Morales as Mr. Marquez
• Leslie Valdes as Senor Tucan
• Tim Hill as Documentary Narrator
• Matt Berry as King Poseidon
• Awkwafina as Otto
• Tiffany Haddish as Master of Ceremonies
• Reggie Watts as Chancellor
• Dee Bradley Baker as a reporter
• Rick Pasqualone as a dealer
• Aaron Smith De Niro as a security guard
• Tyler Peterson as Poseidon Concierge

Additional voices by Steve Alterman, Stephen Apostolina, Kirk Baily, Ashley Bell, Mitch Carter, David Cowgill, Wendy Cutler, Romy Cutler-Lengyel, Juliet Donnenfeld, Julie Falls, Peter Falls, Jeff Fischer, Jackie Gonneau, Richard Steven Horvitz, Camryn Jones, Joyce Kurtz, Joanna Leeds, Hope Levy, Scott Menville, Edie Mirman, Capri Oliver, Davis Pak, Paul Pape, Benjamin Plessala, Juan Pope, Michelle Ruff, Aryan Simhadri, Michael Sorich, Warren Sroka, Kensington Tallman, Benjamin Valic, Lynnanne Zager.

Production

Development

In a February 2015 interview discussing Dora's Magical Adventure's success at the box office, Megan Colligan, president of worldwide distribution and marketing at Paramount Pictures, stated the possibility of a third film was "a good bet." In another interview, Paramount vice-chairman Rob Moore remarked, "Hopefully, it won't take 10 years to make another film," in reference to the time passed between The Dora the Explorer Movie (2004) and its 2015 sequel. Later in 2015, it was revealed that Paramount was developing sequels to its franchises, including another Dora film.

The film was initially scheduled for release in 2019, before being delayed to 2020. By January 2016, Valerie Walsh Valdes had been hired to write the film.

In March 2017, Paramount president Marc Evans announced that the studio would work closely with Viacom on its TV brands, including the Dora film. During the same month, Yahoo! Entertainment stated that the film would be titled The Dora Movie.

In April 2018, the film's official title was revealed as The Dora Movie: It's a Wonderful Explorer, and Dora co-developer Valerie Walsh Valdes was announced as director and writer for the film. It was reported later in the year that the film would be written by Aibel, Berger, and Michael Kvamme. With the exception of the kid actors, the principal cast – Eileen Galindo, Chris Gifford, Adam Sietz, Marc Weiner, Esai Morales and Leslie Valdes – are all expected to reprise the roles as their respective characters from the series and the previous films. In October 2018, at the VIEW Conference in Turin, Italy, Paramount Animation president Mireille Soria revealed the plot for the film. The same day, Hans Zimmer was announced as the composer for the film, while Paris and Montreal-based Mikros Image would handle animation for the film, which would be created entirely through computer animation.

On June 12, 2019, it was announced that Reggie Watts and Awkwafina were added to the cast while Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman, who wrote a song for The SpongeBob Musical, would be writing original songs for the film. It was also announced that Mia Michaels would be choreographing and Ali Dee Theodore would add an original song for the film. The next day, Snoop Dogg announced on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that he would be in the film.

On November 12, 2019, it was revealed that the film's title was changed from The Dora Movie:t's a Wonderful Explorer to Dora and Diego: The Search for Baby Jaguar, along with the casting of Keanu Reeves.

Deleted Storylines

• The first deleted storyline would involve Dora and her friends saving Baby Red Fish from King Neptune in Atlantis.
• The second deleted storyline would involve Dora and her friends, with some help from the president of the US, rescuing Perrito and saving the world from the aliens.

Filming

On January 22, 2019, it was confirmed that production on the film had officially begun. Like its predecessors, the film includes live-action sequences, and unlike the previous films, the animated sequences of the film are entirely computer-animated. Larry Fong was initially reported to serve as the film's cinematographer, but due to unknown reasons, Peter Lyons Collister ended up solely with the credit.

Music

Soundtrack

Interscope Records released the film's soundtrack on March 5, 2021. Artists who are part of the original soundtrack include Tainy, Weezer, Snoop Dogg, The Flaming Lips, and Kenny G. Cyndi Lauper and Rob Hyman also co-wrote the track "Secret to the Formula". Previous material that are part of the film but not on the soundtrack album are "Slow Ride" by Foghat, "Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright, Weezer's cover of the a-ha song "Take On Me", and Kenny G's cover of "My Heart Will Go On" from the film Titanic. The score for the film was composed by Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro. It marks as Zimmer's the second score for a Nickelodeon film, following Rango (2011), and his second score for a film based on an animated series, after The Simpsons Movie (2007).

1. It's Always Summer in the Jungle
2. I'm the Map
3. Travel Song
4. How Do We Do
5. Backpack, Backpack
6. Livin' La Vida Loca
7. Secret to the Explorers
8. We Did It
9. Agua
10. Explorer Step
11. Animal Song
12. Jaguar Song

Release

Theatrical and streaming

Dora and Diego: The Search for Baby Jaguar was originally scheduled to be theatrically released on February 9, 2019, by Paramount Pictures. It was then pushed back to August 2, 2019, before being delayed nearly a year to July 31, 2020. It was moved four more times: to July 17, 2020, May 22, 2020, July 31 (as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic), and finally August 7, 2020. In June 2020, it was announced that the film's theatrical release had been cancelled and it would instead be released through video on demand and CBS All Access (now Paramount+) in early 2021. In December 2020, it was revealed that the film would be releasing in February 2021. On January 28, 2021, it was announced that the film would release on March 4, 2021, the same day CBS All Access rebranded as Paramount+. In addition to the ViacomCBS streaming service, the film was available on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Vudu, and other digital platforms.

In July 2020, Netflix acquired international distribution rights to the film, excluding the United States, Canada, and China. On July 30, 2020, Paramount Pictures Canada announced that the film would be released in Canadian theaters on August 14, 2020. Between the Netflix and Paramount+ deals, Paramount recouped the entire production cost of the film. The film was released internationally on Netflix on November 5, 2020.

Home media

Dora and Diego: The Search for Baby Jaguar was released on DVD and Blu-ray on February 2, 2021, in Canada. In the United States, the film was released on DVD and Blu-ray on July 13, 2021.

Reception

Box office

In the film's debut Canadian weekend, it grossed $865,824 from 300 theaters. Since Canada's grosses are factored into American totals, The Search for Baby Jaguar finished first at the box office, and had the highest weekend total for a film since the start of the pandemic. IndieWire estimated that had the film had a traditional North American theatrical release it would have opened to $25–30 million, including a $3 million total from Canada. In its second weekend, despite being added to an additional 26 theaters, the film dropped 36% to $550,000, finishing second behind Unhinged. In its third weekend the film made $400,000 from 314 theaters, then $345,000 in its fourth weekend, for a month-long running total of $3.6 million.

VOD rentals

In its first weekend of digital release in the United States, the film was the most rented title on FandangoNow, fourth on Google Play, and fifth on Apple TV.

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 72 critics have given the film a positive review, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Although its story may leave fans on the surface, Dora and Diego: The Search for Baby Jaguar is a wondrously wacky visit to Dora's place that retains the charm of the original series." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 65 out of 100 based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Writing for IndieWire, David Ehrlich gave the film a grade of B− and said, "Even the weakest bits get by on good vibes and meta-cleverness ([Keanu] Reeves has become something of a human meme in recent years, but The Search for Baby Jaguar milks the actor's brand for a number of solid laughs), and the animation is detailed and inventive enough for the whole film to feel drenched in SpongeBob's demented energy." Writing for CTV News, Richard Crouse gave the film 3.5 stars and wrote: "Dora and Diego: The Search for Baby Jaguar" brings with it the usual anarchy, inside jokes and unexpected celebrity cameos, but at its little osmotic heart is Dora, a character who belongs to the same genus of entertainers as Soupy Sales, Stan Laurel and Pee-wee Herman." The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney called the film "fast, fun, [and] demented" and wrote: "The technological overhaul from 2D doesn't diminish the vibrant personalities of the character animation, and it's added an even trippier dimension to the surreal backgrounds. More immersive, if you will, even if its episodic action gets no prizes for storytelling discipline."

Aparita Bhandari of The Globe and Mail gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars, writing: "I totally understand if the latest Dora the Explorer movie spinoff will draw in longtime fans and new audiences brave enough to venture into a movie theatre this Friday... However, for me and my two kids (aged 10 and 8), this dive into the deep forest wasn't as thrilling an adventure as we'd hoped for."

Accolades

At the 19th Visual Effects Society Awards the special effects team was nominated in the category "Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature".

The film was nominated for four Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in 2022, one for Favorite Animated Movie and three for Favorite Voice in an Animated Movie: Presley Williams as Dora, Awkwafina as Otto, and Keanu Reeves as Sage.

Future

On August 24, 2021, during a video interview with CEO of Nickelodeon, Brian Robbins, he mentioned that "a new Dora movie [is] in the works" when discussing about the studio's film slate. The film was officially announced in February 2022, with plans for it to be released theatrically.

Favorite Parts

• Dora: Dreaming of Saving Diego and Boots from El Diablo.
• Boots: Riding on rollercoasters and eating banana ice cream.
• Diego: Saving Baby Jaguar from Poseidon.

Character Find

• Diego and Baby Jaguar

Trivia

Information for Diego Saves the Forest: A Dora Movie

Diego Saves a Forest is a 2024 animated film based on Nickelodeon's hit TV show Dora the Explorer, as well as its spin-off Go, Diego, Go.

Plot

When the forest starts getting cut down by the Bobo Brothers, Diego, Alicia, and Dora journey to their family house, where they meet their family, and help a red squirrel must save the forest from the Bobo Brothers.

Cast

• Diego Marquez
• Baby Jaguar
• Alicia Marquez
• Daisy Marquez
• Dora Marquez
• Diego's father
• Diego's mother
• Boots the Monkey
• Swiper the Fox
• Bobo Brothers
• Fishy the Monster Fish
• Sparky the Robot Horse
• Phoebe
• Kyle
• Cuda
• Sue Nahmee

Production

On March 4, 2020, Robert Bakish announced that Paramount Global would produce two feature-length Dora spin-off movies for Netflix, representing a "profitable, low-risk rental business with set margins," which he said translates to content ownership for separate distribution down the road, including consumer products and recreation.

"So, we're convinced that both an O&O [owned and operated] and a third-party studio strategy is absolutely right for ViacomCBS," Bakish said. "We believe that maximizing the value of our content asset, that is what you see us executing in 2020 and beyond."

When asked about any updates on the movies, Eric Weiner answered that they are in the writing stage as of January 23, 2021.

On May 20, 2021, it was announced that a hybrid movie featuring Diego was in development. Production was slated to start in August in South America.

On August 12, 2021, the title of the movie was revealed as Diego Saves the Forest: A Dora Movie.

On August 16, 2021, it was revealed that plans to film Diego Saves the Forest in South America were scrapped due to rewrites of the script.

On August 26, 2021, Eric Weiner confirmed that the movie will be CG animated with live-action segments.

Christian Adkins, a camera operator on the movie, lists Diego Saves the Forest: A Dora Movie as a 2021 Warner Bros. feature.

On October 24, 2021, Eric Weiner confirmed that Warner Bros. Pictures is not involved in the movie and that Netflix is still the distributor.

Reception

Release

On February 15, 2022, it was confirmed that the movie will be released exclusively on Paramount+ in the United States.

In April 2023, the film is going to be released in Netflix and is delayed to 2024.

Let's Review

Bold text states the correct answer.

• Does a red squirrel have a long, bushy tail or the short, thin tail?
• Does a red squirrel like to eat nuts or ice cream?
• Does a red squirrel live in the ocean or trees?
• Does a red squirrel like to climb or fly?

Trivia

General

• This is the first Dora film not to have a Character Find.
• This is Swiper's first official appearance in the Go, Diego, Go production.

Information for Swiper: A Dora Movie

Swiper: A Dora Movie is a 2024 animated film based on Nickelodeon's hit TV show Dora the Explorer. The synopsis of this film is currently unknown.

Production

On March 4, 2020, Chris Gifford announced that Paramount Global would produce two feature-length Dora spin-off movies for Netflix, representing a "profitable, low-risk rental business with set margins," which he said translates to content ownership for separate distribution down the road, including consumer products and recreation.

"So, we're convinced that both an O&O [owned and operated] and a third-party studio strategy is absolutely right for ViacomCBS," Gifford said. "We believe that maximizing the value of our content asset, that is what you see us executing in 2020 and beyond."

Asked about updates on the films, Eric Weiner replied that they were in the writing phase. He also stated that "Benny will be in at least one. But nothing is final yet and a lot can change between concept and delivery."

Natalie Franscioni-Karp, a visual development artist on the movie, lists it as a "CG Feature Film" called Swiper: A Dora Movie.

Reception

Release

On February 15, 2022, it was confirmed that the movie will be released exclusively on Paramount+ in the United States.

Favorite Parts

Character Find

• Swiper

Trivia

Information for The Adventures of Boots the Monkey

Favorite Parts

Character Find

• Boots

Trivia

Information for Dora the Explorer: The Spooky Adventure

Dora the Explorer: The Spooky Adventure is a film based on Nick Jr.'s hit TV show Dora the Explorer. In this film, Dora and Boots explore the spooky storybook world, where they fight the evil witch.

On February 15, 2022, a fourth theatrical Dora the Explorer movie was officially announced during Paramount's Investor Event. It is set to release on May 23, 2025. In April 2023, Reel FX Studios will do the animation the film and is titled Dora the Explorer: The Spooky Adventure.