Dora and the Lost City of Gold | August 9, 2019 | Paramount | Live-Action Adaptation | James Bobin directing | Isabela Moner to play Dora

[Porthos]

13 minutes ago, Telemachos said:

 

I have no investment in this movie — I just find fanboy rationale wildly hypocritical. This movie looks no better or worse than 90% of other would-be tentpoles but because it’s not part of the approved list of Favored Blockbusters* everyone’s gonna shit on it.  

 

 

 

(*tentpoles aimed at the same batch of 16-45 year old dudes)

I just checked out the trailer and... Okay, you should know I'm more willing to give these films a chance than most on this board and...

 

...

 

Well it wasn't terrible.  And I KNOW this isn't aimed at my demo so I'm already allowing for that.  But... 

 

Aggressively mediocre might be the way I'd describe it. I didn't like the acting from the father at all.  And the less said about the "lol Dora in school, fish out of water" plot, the better (which thankfully doesn't appear to be the main thrust of the movie).  But, again, not aimed at me.

 

I do think this might have a chance with the GA.  Kids will probably love it (edit:  I wrote this post before I saw Tele saying that Tele jr liked the trailer, so seems I might be on the right track). And family films can be crowd pleasers, so it should have good legs.

 

But even allowing for genre it did seem to be... Average I guess?  Nothing that wowed me, and I was willing to give it a chance.

 

Still it is only a trailer.  And this board is far from the market demo, so who knows how it's playing with it's intended targets.  So, yeah.  You might be right Tele.  But I do think it has the potential to bugsplat.  Time will tell, I suppose.

Edited March 25, 2019 by Porthos

[Plain Old Tele]

3 minutes ago, Mulder said:

 I just don't see the difference in how this is being treated vs literally any movie that could be summed up as "Not intended for a certain audience". Boss Baby got hit with this, 50 Shades got hit with this, it's just how it is.

 

Exactly right, and this is what eternally frustrates me. The approved list of blockbusters is basically MCU, DC, and franchises that 20-somethings and 30-somethings grew up with. Everything else is generally scorned, ridiculed, or tsk-tsked about, as if we’re the only audience that matters. 

 

DORA will end up being whatever it is (frankly it reminds of something like SPY KIDS), but broadly speaking there’s not much difference from their approach versus something like TRANSFORMERS. Or, for that matter, DETECTIVE PIKACHU. 

Edited March 25, 2019 by Telemachos

[Mulder]

Just now, Telemachos said:

 

Exactly right, and this is what eternally frustrates me. The approved list of blockbusters is basically MCU, DC, and franchises that 20-somethings and 30-somethings grew up with. Everything else is generally scorned, ridiculed, or tsk-tsked about, as if we’re the only audience that matters. 

 

DORA will end up being whatever it is, but broadly speaking there’s not much difference from their approach versus something like TRANSFORMERS.

Transformers as a franchise has been scorned for pretty much the same reason until Bumblebee turned around. I'll give you that a lot of TF isn't much different from Dora if aiming at a bit of an older audience then pre-schoolers during the 80s run, but there had been a lot of stuff aimed at older audiences even from the beginning ((Those original Marvel TF comics got very dark)). Dora has kept child-friendly and that's fine, that's just where the humor lays in trying to make an all audience focused theatrical movie with things like Danny Trejo voicing Boots or Benicio Del Toro voicing Swiper. There is definitely an issue in the film community with movies not for adults being judged harshly ((I think this happens to a lot of animated films and films intended for women)) but with this one? I don't think that's exactly the right defense for the tone the marketing has.

[TwoMisfits]

15 minutes ago, Telemachos said:

And how old are you, Mulder?

 

My son saw the trailer and was fairly delighted by it. I have no idea whether we’ll see it or not, or whether he’ll like it when he does. But the internet is stuffed to the gills with 20-something and 30-something dudes acting like the tone police and arbiters of what an adaption should or shouldn’t be. Some are well-meaning, some aren’t. But my takeaway is that maybe we all should just shut up and let a movie exist without us giving our opinion on something that frankly seems to be not aimed at us at all. 

See, these are the words of wisdom...and yet, I did have 4 kids (2 former huge fans now teen girls and 2 younger set boys) watch this preview with me (as well as the spouse - figure he and I were "avid" Dora fans back in the day)...and one of them, the youngest, said it could be okay...the 9 and up crowd were completely out (with the girls, as fans, appalled at some of the changes)...so, maybe there's an avenue for the 8 and unders...but with Dora as a teen in live action, you've ruled out the 5 and unders, so this is a movie aiming for a 6-8 year old audience as a midsize summer release (whoever said it was a movie for 2nd graders is dead on)...that audience does not seem near large enough, especially since even in the age range, it's not wowing them:)...and Angry Birds, which is wowing my kids, opens 2 weeks later...

 

EDIT: And the spouse and I were discussing part of the problems with movies based on known "brands" and the danger when you "camp up" the brand or make fun of it.  I think this movie loses the essence of Dora (at least the trailer has), to try to go for the "easy jokes".  She's not an idiot, she's the ultimate problem solver, so when I see the cavern jump as the opening scene, and it's an "are you kidding me" moment to me?  She's not stupid enough to do something like that, so the trailer loses me in the opening scene:)...to me, Dora should be the "straight man" in her movie to a bunch of other nutty characters, if you make the choice to go for the comedy (vs action adventure vs kiddie), just like she was in her show.  

 

See, that comes from a parent who had to casually ensure this for years...but we also will have opinions on the "brand" and if it's too off-putting:)...

    

 

 

Edited March 25, 2019 by TwoMisfits

[Plain Old Tele]

Which is fine, the movie will do what it will do. I’m just so tired of the prognosticating and pontificating.

[Mulder]

Also the other thing is, a Dora movie in this style had been a source of parody for a long time-

 

So a movie studio actually doing it, comes with the usual trope of Hollywood running out of ideas.

[Plain Old Tele]

And who made that parody video?

 

sheesh, this is exactly what I’m talking about. 

[2kt09]

2 minutes ago, Mulder said:

Also the other thing is, a Dora movie in this style had been a source of parody for a long time-

 

So a movie studio actually doing it, comes with the usual trope of Hollywood running out of ideas.

This is moreover why I can't stand the McQuarrie written & directed M:I movies. 

[Mulder]

12 minutes ago, TwoMisfits said:

See, these are the words of wisdom...and yet, I did have 4 kids (2 former huge fans now teen girls and 2 younger set boys) watch this preview with me (as well as the spouse - figure he and I were "avid" Dora fans back in the day)...and one of them, the youngest, said it could be okay...the 9 and up crowd were completely out (with the girls, as fans, appalled at some of the changes)...so, maybe there's an avenue for the 8 and unders...but with Dora as a teen in live action, you've ruled out the 5 and unders, so this is a movie aiming for a 6-8 year old audience as a midsize summer release (whoever said it was a movie for 2nd graders is dead on)...that audience does not seem near large enough, especially since even in the age range, it's not wowing them:)...and Angry Birds, which is wowing my kids, opens 2 weeks later...

 

EDIT: And the spouse and I were discussing part of the problems with movies based on known "brands" and the danger when you "camp up" the brand or make fun of it.  I think this movie loses the essence of Dora (at least the trailer has), to try to go for the "easy jokes".  She's not an idiot, she's the ultimate problem solver, so when I see the cavern jump as the opening scene, and it's an "are you kidding me" moment to me?  She's not stupid enough to do something like that, so the trailer loses me in the opening scene:)...to me, Dora should be the "straight man" in her movie to a bunch of other nutty characters, if you make the choice to go for the comedy (vs action adventure vs kiddie), just like she was in her show.  

 

See, that comes from a parent who had to casually ensure this for years...but we also will have opinions on the "brand" and if it's too off-putting:)...

    

 

 

Honestly that last bit you bring up is another part of my issue with this. If the trailer was just super overly kiddy and faithful to the show ((As silly as that might sound considering what Dora is)) I'd absolutely say yeah it's time to back off of this. It's not though, it's trying to appeal to at least 10-12 year olds as well and at that point I think you can discuss why that approach might not be the best.

[Plain Old Tele]

How dare a movie try to appeal to more than pre-10 year olds. 

 

 

 

edit: I should probably bow out of this convo.

Edited March 25, 2019 by Telemachos

[Mulder]

Though I'll bow out now, people are entitled to different takes was just saying where I was coming from.

[Water Bottle]

On 3/23/2019 at 5:55 PM, YourMother the Edgelord said:

 

 

+50 for Michael Pena

+10 for Eugenio Derbez

 

I kinda like how it's a funny, female Indiana Jones like movie. I might check this out when it goes on Netflix or Prime or Hulu or whatever.

[filmlover]

1 minute ago, Telemachos said:

How dare a movie try to appeal to more than pre-10 year olds. 

I highly doubt there is anyone on the fence as to whether or not they would want to see a live-action Dora the Explorer movie who isn't already a fan of the property tbh. This could get a 90%+ RT score and I would still have zero desire to see it.

[LouisianaArkansasGeorgia]

Telemachos is absolutely throwing truth bombs all over this thread. 

[Porthos]

Stepping away from the quality argument, this IS at 6.83m views and #2 Trending on YT.  I'm going to ignore the up/down vote in this case because Tele is quite right that this is the exact type of  movie to attract people mocking it and down voting it. 

 

So it does seem to have a pretty decent view count for this type of film.  Might want to keep that in mind.

[Mulder]

Just now, Porthos said:

Stepping away from the quality argument, this IS at 6.83m views and #2 Trending on YT.  I'm going to ignore the up/down vote in this case because Tele is quite right that this is the exact type of  movie to attract people mocking it and down voting it. 

 

So it does seem to have a pretty decent view count for this type of film.  Might want to keep that in mind.

There's definitely curiosity about it.

[LouisianaArkansasGeorgia]

5 hours ago, Telemachos said:

Wait what? This looks fun and charming and y’all yelling about it?

Like you said before: this is not DCEU or MCU or John Wick or Star Wars or any of the same ole same ole that fanboys of a certain age consider acceptable blockbusters, therefore, it is crap.

[Water Bottle]

1 minute ago, Porthos said:

Stepping away from the quality argument, this IS at 6.83m views and #2 Trending on YT.  I'm going to ignore the up/down vote in this case because Tele is quite right that this is the exact type of  movie to attract people mocking it and down voting it. 

 

So it does seem to have a pretty decent view count for this type of film.  Might want to keep that in mind.

 

If this movie does well and has good reviews, we'll get posts about which Marvel movie James Bobin should make. It's quite sad actually. 

[That One Girl]

This looks okay.  I don’t understand why anyone would have an opinion on it one way or another if you’re over the age of 13

[Porthos]

7 minutes ago, Mulder said:

There's definitely curiosity about it.

And that's kinda my point. I might have felt it was pretty average, and on reflection I think that @TwoMisfits point about how it seems to mock Dora at the beginning twigs something that I hadn't quite groked and might indeed be my biggest problem with it all (let's laugh as Dora struggles with school).

 

But...  Nearly 7m views after one day isn't chicken feed for this type of movie.  And, who knows. Kids will probably relate to Dora's struggles.

 

So I'm certainly not knocking it (I'm absolutely with Tele that this board could do with a lot less of laughing at films that aren't targeted at them) and it if there's interest it could certainly surprise.  I just think there's better entrants out there when it comes to this style of movie.

 

...

 

Certainly wasn't as bad as the trailer for Alpha, and that movie actually managed to surprise when it came to quality.  Dora could easily do the same.

Edited March 25, 2019 by Porthos