Dora and the Lost City of Gold | Interview with Eugenio Derbez

From laughs to maps, check out our review of Dora and the Lost City of Gold and interview with a star of the film, Eugenio Derbez!

Dora and the Lost City of Gold

Dora and the Lost City of Gold is now in theaters and we were lucky enough to snag a sneak peek thanks to our friends at Allied Phoenix!

Having spent most of her life exploring the jungle with her parents, nothing could prepare Dora (Isabela Moner) for her most dangerous adventure ever – High School. Always the explorer, Dora quickly finds herself leading Boots (her best friend, a monkey), Diego (Jeff Wahlberg), a mysterious jungle inhabitant (Eugenio Derbez), and a rag tag group of teens on a live-action adventure to save her parents (Eva Longoria, Michael Peña) and solve the impossible mystery behind a lost city of gold.

Interview with Eugenio Derbez

We also had the awesome opportunity to do a roundtable interview with one of the stars of the film, Eugenio Derbez! Eugenio is a Mexican actor, comedian and filmmaker. In 2014, he was recognized by Variety as the most influential Hispanic male in the entertainment industry. Derbez is one of the most influential creative forces in Latin America and is one of the most recognized actors among the Spanish-speaking population in the U.S.

Did you have any interesting jungle experiences?

Eugenio: Oh my God. Every single day. I mean it was it was scary. We were in the real real jungle. Did you hear about the story of the spider? I was with the wardrobe lady in a tent in the middle of the jungle. I was changing my shirt. I saw a spider a spider crawling up her chest and I flipped it off. And then she turned around and she said “Oh my God, you saved my life. That’s a white tail spider. One of the most poisonous spiders in the world.”

Why was it important to make this movie right now?

Eugenio: Well first of all I think that live action movies are trending right now. And Dora it’s such an icon for Latinos all around the world. I think it’s great especially now that we’re so judged in this country just for being Latinos that I think especially for kids that are afraid of getting separated from their families or boo’ed at just because they speak Spanish or they’re Latinos to go to the movies and see that it’s okay to speak Spanish that it’s okay to be Latino. I think he’s gonna be so good for them. So so good. So I think it’s it’s perfect timing especially now, especially for Latino kids.

You’re known for having such loveable roles, but here’s a role where you get to play a villain. Who inspired you as a villain to bring out your inner bad guy?

Eugenio: Oh my God. I’m glad you brought this to table. It was hard for me because this is the first time I play a villain first time so I was like “Oh my God I need to be believable.” And I think that I went probably too far. I was watching great actors like Daniel Day Lewis and when I prepared my scene and went to the director he said it’s great, but it’s Dora the Explorer. It’s for kids — you’re not able to kick anyone’s ass, hit anyone or kill anyone. You’re not able to curse, nothing. So you have to be a light villain. So it was hard to find the balance between being a villain, but at the same time not that bad. So that’s why I played it like this kind of dumb tour guide at the beginning and at the end I’m bad, but you never know if it was on purpose…if I was really stupid or I was like trying to trick the kids, but that was the point. More or less to be mean but not that much.

Dora and the Lost City of Gold: A No-Spoiler Review

Ok, now to our review! Having little ones and nieces and nephews that grew up over the past 20 years, I knew that Dora would be top of our must-see list. My nieces who are teenagers were big Dora fans when they were little and I knew they would love to see Isabela in this film, so I brought them along this time.

I found the movie to be enjoyable, light-hearted, funny and entertaining. I loved that it was just a wholesome family movie that brought our beloved Dora to the big screen. Going in I was most worried how they would handle a cartoon-to-real life transition, but I loved Isabela as Dora, completely in her own world, smart and quirky. When she is dropped into the “real world” her obstacles are relatable but she is able to remain true to herself. Such a good message for kids!

The audience laughed throughout the movie and notably, there were times that the little kids were tickled. I loved to hear that. It means that the movie has a wide reach for the little ones who might be newer to Dora to the teens and adults who grew up with her. All around it was a fun movie, great cast and good message.

THE CONCLUSION?

Pack up the kids and go see it! It’s fun for the whole family. I enjoyed it and so did my nieces and I’m going to take my boys to see it soon. I know they’d love it too.

IS IT OK FOR KIDS?

This film is rated PG for action and some impolite humor. I brought my nieces who are both teenagers to the film, but I would have had zero issues with my younger boys seeing it. In fact, the theater was full of little kids who giggled with glee throughout the movie so you could just tell that the younger audience enjoyed it as well.

See it next week and let us know what you think!