"Dora the Explorer" (2000) TV series 2000-????

User Rating:

4.2/10   

Creators:

Chris Gifford
Valerie Walsh
Eric Weiner

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | unknown

Genre:

Adventure | Animation | Family

Plot:

Along with her friend Monkey Boots, Dora goes on adventures.

Plot Keywords:

Monkey | Map | Hispanic Culture | Surrealism | Breaking The Fourth Wall

Awards:

4 wins & 25 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 11	9:00 AM	Univision
Mon. July 13	9:00 AM	NIK

Cast

Harrison Chad	...	Boots / ... (62 episodes, 2000-2004)
Jason Thornton	...	Ricardo (54 episodes, 2000-2008)
Kathleen Herles	...	Dora (38 episodes, 2000-2004)
Sasha Toro	...	Backpack (38 episodes, 2000-2004)
Marc Weiner	...	Swiper / ... (37 episodes, 2000-2004)

Runtime:

Argentina:30 min

Country:

Canada | USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:TV-Y

Company:

Nickelodeon Studios

Goofs:

Continuity: In the episode "Boots' Special Day", Dora and Boots' dad switches places in one shot as they speed down the roller coaster.

Quotes:

Backpack: [singing] Backpack, Backpack, Backpack, Backpack. I'm the Backpack loaded up with things and knick knacks too. Backpack, Backpack. Backpack, Backpack. YEA!

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in "Grim & Evil: A Grim Day/Pandora's Lunch Box (#6.7)" (2006)

Pointless TV-filling

I think it would appear to be really easy to just criticize a children-show like Dora, but after seeing this a couple of times I felt I should write a review about this.

First of all, the version over here is in Dutch so the second language being 'taught' here is English, not Spanish like it says on the IMDb-page. Second of all, when I wrote 'pointless' in the summary in this review I really meant pointless in every meaning of the word, because every time you (and maybe your children as well) watch this you never have a clue what the true goal of this show is. Yeah of course; children get to learn some small (in this case) English words every now and then but other then that its the same repetitive things over and over again.

The first thing that I noticed was the very poor production. Granted, as a children-show it should focus more on the educational part of the show instead of nice imagery, but the production looks plain rushed and uninspired.

To obtain attention from the next-generation children, the entire show is done in a semi-computerprogram based environment, complete with mousepointer. I think one of the worst aspects of the show is the illusion of children having a choice in the matters in the show. How is this helping children, by making them think a animated girl and her (pink...?) monkey can hear him/her through the television? I've always found that aspect of the show mindboggling. However, whats even more ridiculous is the fact that a subject like theft (in this case done by a fox wearing a mask) is portrayed as something you can just solve by telling the thief he shouldn't steal... Especially in this day in age thats just wrong.

Most of the time I don't bother reviewing children-shows like this but this show lacks in almost every way to be a good show and I think parents have the right to know how much a show is helping they'r children and not. At least a show like 'Blues Clues' (while also being quite mediocre) has some straight learning-subjects (calender-times, seasons, telling the time etc.). Even if Dora wasn't supposed to be educational, it would have been even worse as a normal entertainment-show since every episode is practically the same. The same 3 stages towards a goal, the same (dull) characters, and the same weird questions that are being asked towards the audience in order to 'help' the characters in the show. And while it is silly to ask for things like character-development in a show like this, it should at least have some entertainment-value I think. Now it is just pointless and uninspired TV-filling.

Keep away.