Do you see the movie trailer? Good!
March 24, 2019 9:24 AM Subscribe
The first trailer for the live-action Dora the Explorer movie is out. The movie is not produced by Michael Bay as previously expected and looks to follow in the footsteps of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
The face of Dora running from something has the same 'feel' as the almost natural render of the Alita character. Perhaps it's some explosion scene where they could not use a minor and it's a full CGI Dora. I think we're entering the phase of wondering if it's the uncanny valley or just bad makeup.
posted by sammyo at 9:44 AM on March 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by sammyo at 9:44 AM on March 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
This looks like a lot of fun, even above and beyond having Michael Peña.
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:02 AM on March 24, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:02 AM on March 24, 2019 [7 favorites]
How did the Michael Bay thread not have a single "Dora the Transformer" joke
posted by phooky at 10:28 AM on March 24, 2019 [7 favorites]
posted by phooky at 10:28 AM on March 24, 2019 [7 favorites]
With Isabela Moner and Benicio del Toro both starring, it's obviously a sequel to Sicario: Day of the Soldado: Isabel Reyes (codename Dora) escapes the Witness Protection Program and Alejandro (Codename Swiper) goes after her. This somehow explains why Dora's backpack contains weapons and explosives.
posted by elgilito at 10:50 AM on March 24, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by elgilito at 10:50 AM on March 24, 2019 [6 favorites]
Does it seem weird to anybody else, conceptual-direction-wise, that this setting, this world, has a talking blue alien mutant monkey in it? Like, why would anybody bother looking for some ruined city? Wouldn't the bad guys just decide to grab the freak monkey instead, and sell him to some Jurassic Park lab? Seems like he'd be both worth more, and easier to get hold of.
posted by Sing Or Swim at 11:05 AM on March 24, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by Sing Or Swim at 11:05 AM on March 24, 2019 [5 favorites]
Oh, look! Dora brought a knife on the field trip, everybody.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:33 AM on March 24, 2019 [13 favorites]
posted by vibratory manner of working at 11:33 AM on March 24, 2019 [13 favorites]
That's not a knife!
Oh, wait. That's a really big knife.
posted by Bee'sWing at 11:35 AM on March 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
Oh, wait. That's a really big knife.
posted by Bee'sWing at 11:35 AM on March 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
I thought you were linking this one, jkaczor. Turns out Robot Chicken did Dora several times apparently.
posted by traveler_ at 11:51 AM on March 24, 2019
posted by traveler_ at 11:51 AM on March 24, 2019
Heh - forgot about the others - but if you keep watching the one I linked to, they had a particularly gruesome scene with Boots taken from grainy B&W "security cam" footage.
posted by jkaczor at 11:55 AM on March 24, 2019
posted by jkaczor at 11:55 AM on March 24, 2019
This doesn’t look bad! My kids watched a 1000000 episodes of the cartoon and this is definitely not what I expected.
posted by gryphonlover at 12:08 PM on March 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by gryphonlover at 12:08 PM on March 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
The Fast and the Curious
posted by glonous keming at 12:29 PM on March 24, 2019 [17 favorites]
posted by glonous keming at 12:29 PM on March 24, 2019 [17 favorites]
Okay, I have a two year old, so I am very familiar with Dora the Explorer. Did you know Dora has a last name? I did. Do you know what it is? I do. I am very well acquainted with Dora the Explorer.
This has nothing to do with Dora the Explorer.
posted by Naberius at 12:54 PM on March 24, 2019 [8 favorites]
This has nothing to do with Dora the Explorer.
posted by Naberius at 12:54 PM on March 24, 2019 [8 favorites]
I'm chuckling at the various Dora-grown-up parodies, and then I'm, like, huh, I wonder what this urge is to take a curious, confident girl and turn her into a complete mess of an adult. More than one series. Do other cartoon kids get this treatment?
posted by clawsoon at 1:00 PM on March 24, 2019 [9 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 1:00 PM on March 24, 2019 [9 favorites]
Most definitely for children, and that's not a bad thing. Not everything has to have a wink wink nudge nudge for the adults watching.
But that trailer...can someone pass a law to keep trailers under a minute, please? That wasn't a trailer--it was a highlight reel of the entire film.
posted by zardoz at 1:13 PM on March 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
But that trailer...can someone pass a law to keep trailers under a minute, please? That wasn't a trailer--it was a highlight reel of the entire film.
posted by zardoz at 1:13 PM on March 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
Yeah, it happens. As an example, the animated series The Venture Bros., which starts as sort of a broad caricature of Jonny Quest-style "child adventurer" shows, eventually actually features Jonny Quest himself as a strung-out, completely ruined adult. Versions of Robin (the Batman sidekick), Astro Boy, the Scooby-Doo gang, and the Hardy Boys end up appearing as screwed-up more-or-less adults as well.
posted by IAmUnaware at 1:14 PM on March 24, 2019 [5 favorites]
posted by IAmUnaware at 1:14 PM on March 24, 2019 [5 favorites]
But that trailer...can someone pass a law to keep trailers under a minute, please?
The thing you're looking for exists already and is called "a commercial". Trailers should be longer and more informative.
posted by IAmUnaware at 1:20 PM on March 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
The thing you're looking for exists already and is called "a commercial". Trailers should be longer and more informative.
posted by IAmUnaware at 1:20 PM on March 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
Naberius: Okay, I have a two year old, so I am very familiar with Dora the Explorer. Did you know Dora has a last name? I did.
Duh, her middle and last name are right in the title of the show.
posted by dr_dank at 1:25 PM on March 24, 2019 [10 favorites]
Duh, her middle and last name are right in the title of the show.
posted by dr_dank at 1:25 PM on March 24, 2019 [10 favorites]
looks to follow in the footsteps of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
Er? Other than both taking place in "the jungle", looks a lot more like the Goonies, at least on the surface.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:26 PM on March 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
Er? Other than both taking place in "the jungle", looks a lot more like the Goonies, at least on the surface.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 1:26 PM on March 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
Because, I mean, Dora as a competent adult extension of herself would be doing writing grant applications and doing careful fieldwork excavating soil in proper layers and that is much harder to make funny than Dora Does Edibles.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:42 PM on March 24, 2019 [17 favorites]
posted by jacquilynne at 1:42 PM on March 24, 2019 [17 favorites]
Man, this makes me feel warm and wistful for when my son was little. I sorta hated Dora then—eh, not really—but I kinda love her now. I didn’t make it through the trailer; do they show Swiper?
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 2:15 PM on March 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 2:15 PM on March 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
Swiper, no swiping!
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 2:16 PM on March 24, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 2:16 PM on March 24, 2019 [6 favorites]
Do other cartoon kids get this treatment?
The Venture Bros. has gotten seven seasons out of how fucked up Johnny Quest turned out.
posted by phooky at 2:17 PM on March 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
The Venture Bros. has gotten seven seasons out of how fucked up Johnny Quest turned out.
posted by phooky at 2:17 PM on March 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
(There's this classic Onion bit, and now I'm realizing this is a whole genre...)
posted by phooky at 2:22 PM on March 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by phooky at 2:22 PM on March 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
I meant that both movies were fun for both adults and children; are aware of the annoyances of the genre; and defy expectations. They both feature jungle backgrounds, true. (Predicting a follow up: there are other similar movies that could’ve been compared but Jumanji came to mind.)
posted by bbrown at 2:23 PM on March 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by bbrown at 2:23 PM on March 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
Also, Robert Smigel did a great parody back on SNL.
posted by bbrown at 2:25 PM on March 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by bbrown at 2:25 PM on March 24, 2019 [3 favorites]
But that trailer...can someone pass a law to keep trailers under a minute, please?The thing you're looking for exists already and is called "a commercial". Trailers should be longer and more informative.
posted by IAmUnaware at 4:20 PM on March 24 [+] [!]
No, I totally agree with zardoz on this. Trailers are increasingly becoming a chronological play-by-play of the movie and it's irritating. I want to know enough to get a rough outline, but I don't need to know that:
-Dora's parents go to find a lost city, dora wants to come and is turned down.
-Dora has inner conflict is about being left out, but also about being irresponsible and over confident.
-dora moves in with diego, who is nothing like the TV version, and this creates a dynamic of farm mouse/city mouse where dora is a wide-eyed, incompetent, out-of-touch cousin with weird skills.
-Dora's inner conflict of being over confident and "looking before she leaps" is tested in this new environment as she struggle to do things like ride a damn bus.
-some men kidnap dora and her "friends", where her weird skills eventually come in handy and everyone learns a great lesson about how diversity is good blah blah blah,
-along the way they meet the funny, charismatic stranger who is just there to help (cue scooby doo music)
-jungle hijinks ensue, they find the city, defeat the bad guys, everyone learns their independent lessons (diego learns sometimes being uncool is cool/just be yourself, dora learns the schtick about adult risk taking, her parents learn to respect her, the school kids learn to appreciate differences) everyone hugs, the end.
I could also list like 6 of the gags and 5 of the cool action shots (out of how many?) and I didn't even watch the full trailer. Lets compare it to a movie from the 90's. To be fair I picked a movie that isn't necessarily great (though its one of my favs) and is around the same time - 2 minutes. Twister. What does that trailer tell you? There's people. They chase storms. There's cool special effects.
posted by FirstMateKate at 2:26 PM on March 24, 2019 [12 favorites]
It's the return of an old trend:
The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by Pyrates by Daniel Defoe
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders Who was born in Newgate, and during a life of continu’d Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Years a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her brother) Twelve Years a Thief, Eight Years a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv’d Honest and died a Penitent by Daniel Defoe
posted by clawsoon at 2:31 PM on March 24, 2019 [17 favorites]
The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, Of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by Pyrates by Daniel Defoe
The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders Who was born in Newgate, and during a life of continu’d Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Years a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her brother) Twelve Years a Thief, Eight Years a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv’d Honest and died a Penitent by Daniel Defoe
posted by clawsoon at 2:31 PM on March 24, 2019 [17 favorites]
My takeaway is that the Dora the Explorer trailer was edited by Daniel Defoe.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:42 PM on March 24, 2019 [15 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:42 PM on March 24, 2019 [15 favorites]
On the "fucked up adult Dora" thing, and similar vids for other "childhood" heroes: The "parody" characters look a lot more like typical young adults to me than they undoubtedly would be portrayed in a Disney production. Maybe not everyone hits all of the bases adult Dora does, but lots of us hit at least a few when we were 24 (and a few of us still do when we should know better).
And the parodies don't show her doing anything truly awful, like voting republican.
posted by maxwelton at 5:21 PM on March 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
And the parodies don't show her doing anything truly awful, like voting republican.
posted by maxwelton at 5:21 PM on March 24, 2019 [2 favorites]
I liked it, but I was a little freaked out by the fact that cartoon-Dora is supposed to be seven years old and movie-Dora is very obviously a teenager. I don't know if they could have done Boots any better, but I had to go check a cartoon to confirm that no, he wasn't a sort of elderly gremlin. Also, Diego is just wrong. But as a movie, it looks fun!
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:47 PM on March 24, 2019
posted by Joe in Australia at 5:47 PM on March 24, 2019
Given who owns the franchise, I can see the after-credits sequence now.
Dora, back in mainstream society. feels out of place. A stranger asks her if she's okay. She tells him that she's just had an adventure in a jungle - a freaking jungle - nobody around for miles can possibly understand how she feels about anything right now.
The man says, "Try me."
He's wearing a kilt.
posted by BiggerJ at 6:15 PM on March 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
Dora, back in mainstream society. feels out of place. A stranger asks her if she's okay. She tells him that she's just had an adventure in a jungle - a freaking jungle - nobody around for miles can possibly understand how she feels about anything right now.
The man says, "Try me."
He's wearing a kilt.
posted by BiggerJ at 6:15 PM on March 24, 2019 [1 favorite]
A common misconception! Arnold isn't wearing a kilt, he's wearing an oversized flannel shirt with the tails hanging out. Check the matching collar!
posted by traveler_ at 7:06 PM on March 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
posted by traveler_ at 7:06 PM on March 24, 2019 [4 favorites]
It's the return of an old trend:
In the name of the most holy and individual Dora: Be it known to all, and every one whom it may concern, or to whom in any manner it may belong, That for many Years past, Discords and Civil Divisions being stir'd up in Explorer Town....
posted by Chrysostom at 8:10 PM on March 24, 2019
In the name of the most holy and individual Dora: Be it known to all, and every one whom it may concern, or to whom in any manner it may belong, That for many Years past, Discords and Civil Divisions being stir'd up in Explorer Town....
posted by Chrysostom at 8:10 PM on March 24, 2019
DOES EVERYONE SHOUT AT ALL TIMES? Otherwise it's not canon.
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:46 AM on March 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
posted by GallonOfAlan at 2:46 AM on March 25, 2019 [6 favorites]
DOES EVERYONE SHOUT AT ALL TIMES?
WHAT DORA TEACHES TODDLERS IS TO SHOUT THE SAME THING REPEATEDLY UNTIL YOU GET WHAT YOU WANT, BUT TODDLERS ALREADY KNOW THAT.
posted by clawsoon at 6:21 AM on March 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
WHAT DORA TEACHES TODDLERS IS TO SHOUT THE SAME THING REPEATEDLY UNTIL YOU GET WHAT YOU WANT, BUT TODDLERS ALREADY KNOW THAT.
posted by clawsoon at 6:21 AM on March 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
I'm chuckling at the various Dora-grown-up parodies, and then I'm, like, huh, I wonder what this urge is to take a curious, confident girl and turn her into a complete mess of an adult. More than one series. Do other cartoon kids get this treatment?
I think part of it is the ubiquity of certain cartoons and the reactions of adults to constant exposure; I know when my kids were little and there was a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder, my wife and I had developed some pretty hilarious & disturbing storylines about their universes - we had a whole universe built in which Bob was a crack dealer, for example.
I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying it might be what keeps somebody sane.
posted by nubs at 7:45 AM on March 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
I think part of it is the ubiquity of certain cartoons and the reactions of adults to constant exposure; I know when my kids were little and there was a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder, my wife and I had developed some pretty hilarious & disturbing storylines about their universes - we had a whole universe built in which Bob was a crack dealer, for example.
I'm not saying it's right, I'm saying it might be what keeps somebody sane.
posted by nubs at 7:45 AM on March 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
I feel like this is meant to capture the "I watched Dora as a kid and now I want to see a movie about her as a teenager" crowd and I'm entirely unconvinced people like that really exist.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:47 AM on March 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 7:47 AM on March 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Towards that end, my kids grew up on Dora and Diego. They were all—to the person—"enh" when I giddily showed them the trailer.
(I also watched countless episodes of each and played with them in various Dora-related activities, which is definitely why I'm attracted to Dora parodies. Not because of any misogyny—the kids in question are three females—but exactly because I spent so much time in the Doraverse that I can appreciate anything that makes me feel something again.)
posted by bbrown at 8:05 AM on March 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
(I also watched countless episodes of each and played with them in various Dora-related activities, which is definitely why I'm attracted to Dora parodies. Not because of any misogyny—the kids in question are three females—but exactly because I spent so much time in the Doraverse that I can appreciate anything that makes me feel something again.)
posted by bbrown at 8:05 AM on March 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
> Other than both taking place in "the jungle", looks a lot more like the Goonies, at least on the surface
I've never seen The Goonies, but this trailer feels very strongly like Jumanji -- the new one, which I enjoyed -- to me. And hey, it the trailer passes the Bechdel Test. I'm in.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:56 AM on March 25, 2019
I've never seen The Goonies, but this trailer feels very strongly like Jumanji -- the new one, which I enjoyed -- to me. And hey, it the trailer passes the Bechdel Test. I'm in.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:56 AM on March 25, 2019
Parenthetically, I forgot to change the recording settings on our old MythTV server, and by the time I caught it, ended up recording 100GB of Dora episodes from PBS
posted by mikelieman at 8:57 AM on March 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by mikelieman at 8:57 AM on March 25, 2019 [3 favorites]
the monkey don't look right
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:20 AM on March 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 10:20 AM on March 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
I've never seen The Goonies
It's good enough
posted by nubs at 10:45 AM on March 25, 2019 [5 favorites]
It's good enough
posted by nubs at 10:45 AM on March 25, 2019 [5 favorites]
The Venture Bros. has gotten seven seasons out of how fucked up Johnny Quest turned out.
There's also one of the originals of this trope, Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
posted by loquacious at 11:07 AM on March 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
There's also one of the originals of this trope, Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
posted by loquacious at 11:07 AM on March 25, 2019 [2 favorites]
I know when my kids were little and there was a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder, my wife and I had developed some pretty hilarious & disturbing storylines about their universes - we had a whole universe built in which Bob was a crack dealer, for example.
Heh heh. Heh heh. Heh heh heh.
Ask me sometime to explain my theory that Swiper the Fox is actually a sacred trickster figure trying to knock Dora and Boots out of their self-satisfied complacency so they can see the true abundance that surrounds them. (or better yet, don't)
...
But seriously! He doesn't steal things for his own material gain! Like, ever! He forces Dora and Boots off the path, makes them explore new avenues and encounter new things. I mean the very first time we see Swiper, Dora and Boots are trying to open a gate with a key. Swiper swipes the key. But he doesn't fence it, or run home and add it to his key collection. He promptly tosses it away, into a huge pile of keys.
...
Okay, I'm done.
...
A huge pile of keys that was right there just off camera the whole time! Dora and Boots had to have walked right past it to get to the gate! But they never even saw it until Swiper made them notice it. All the keys you could ever need. To everything. Right there. And they only saw it because Swiper made them wake up and pay attention. He's like a Zen master, a bodhisattva endlessly following Dora and Boots around, struggling to open their eyes to the beauty and wonder they ignore because it's not one of the three guideposts the map told them to pay attention to to get where they're going.
...
Yeah, don't get me started on the map either. That fucker. That demiurge.
posted by Naberius at 1:15 PM on March 25, 2019 [9 favorites]
Heh heh. Heh heh. Heh heh heh.
Ask me sometime to explain my theory that Swiper the Fox is actually a sacred trickster figure trying to knock Dora and Boots out of their self-satisfied complacency so they can see the true abundance that surrounds them. (or better yet, don't)
...
But seriously! He doesn't steal things for his own material gain! Like, ever! He forces Dora and Boots off the path, makes them explore new avenues and encounter new things. I mean the very first time we see Swiper, Dora and Boots are trying to open a gate with a key. Swiper swipes the key. But he doesn't fence it, or run home and add it to his key collection. He promptly tosses it away, into a huge pile of keys.
...
Okay, I'm done.
...
A huge pile of keys that was right there just off camera the whole time! Dora and Boots had to have walked right past it to get to the gate! But they never even saw it until Swiper made them notice it. All the keys you could ever need. To everything. Right there. And they only saw it because Swiper made them wake up and pay attention. He's like a Zen master, a bodhisattva endlessly following Dora and Boots around, struggling to open their eyes to the beauty and wonder they ignore because it's not one of the three guideposts the map told them to pay attention to to get where they're going.
...
Yeah, don't get me started on the map either. That fucker. That demiurge.
posted by Naberius at 1:15 PM on March 25, 2019 [9 favorites]
My mother thought that Swiper just wanted to make friends and didn't know how.
A little more pedestrian than your take, but I thought it was sweet.
posted by clawsoon at 1:21 PM on March 25, 2019
A little more pedestrian than your take, but I thought it was sweet.
posted by clawsoon at 1:21 PM on March 25, 2019
For your consideration: Map is voiced by the same actor as Swiper. Two incarnations of the same thing, twinned yet opposite, the Yin and Yang of the Dora Universe. For with the Map alone, she need not explore; but with only Swiper, she would be irrevocably lost.
posted by nubs at 1:27 PM on March 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by nubs at 1:27 PM on March 25, 2019 [1 favorite]
Say it with me! SWIPER, NO EXPANDING MY MIND! SWIPER, NO EXPANDING MY MIND! SWIPER, NO EXPANDING MY MIND!
posted by clawsoon at 1:32 PM on March 25, 2019
posted by clawsoon at 1:32 PM on March 25, 2019
DORA: Can YOU tell me what shape time is?
[viewer points]
DORA: That's RIGHT! Time is a flat circle! The last Map is made from the flayed hide of the last Swiper!
BOOTS: The cycle repeats endlessly! We are bound to it and can never escape!
DORA: ¡Nunca podremos escaper! Say it with me!
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:56 PM on March 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
[viewer points]
DORA: That's RIGHT! Time is a flat circle! The last Map is made from the flayed hide of the last Swiper!
BOOTS: The cycle repeats endlessly! We are bound to it and can never escape!
DORA: ¡Nunca podremos escaper! Say it with me!
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:56 PM on March 25, 2019 [7 favorites]
« Older Good Cocktails Sans Alcohol | Human contact is now a luxury Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by clawsoon at 9:26 AM on March 24, 2019 [7 favorites]