What if Nickelodeon was founded in 1937?/Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2004 film)

Dora and the Lost City of Gold is a 2004 American animated film directed by George S. Chialtas. It is an animated adaptation of Nickelodeon and Nick Jr.'s television series Dora the Explorer. It stars Kathleen Herles as the title character, with Eugenio Derbez, Esai Morales, Eileen Galindo, and Harrison Chad in supporting roles.

The film was theatrically released in the United States on August 9, 2004, by Paramount Pictures. It received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised Herles' voice.

Plot
Deep in the Peruvian jungle, Dora, daughter of explorers Cole and Elena, spends her days going on adventures with her monkey friend Boots, Diego, Backpack and Map while thwarting the Swiper. Diego leaves to be with his family in Los Angeles, while Dora's family remains searching for the hidden Inca city Parapata.

Dora's parents decipher the location of Parapata but choose to send Dora to Diego's school in LA while they travel to the lost city. Staying with Diego's family, Dora meets fellow students Sammy and Randy, but Diego considers her an embarrassment. On a class field trip to a museum, Dora and the others are lured to its off-exhibit archives, where they are captured by mercenaries who fly them to Peru. When they land, a man named Alejandro, who claims to be a friend of Dora's parents, helps them escape. In the process the mercenaries, aided by Swiper, steal Dora's map. Alejandro reports that Dora's parents have gone missing, and that the mercenaries are searching for them in hopes of getting into Parapata and stealing its treasures. Dora resolves to find her parents first with Alejandro's help, while the other teens come along in hopes of being rescued.

The group travels through numerous obstacles, including quicksand, Inca ruin puzzles, and attacks from forest guards of Parapata. After numerous hazards, Dora reaches her parents just outside the borders of Parapata, but Alejandro reveals he was working for the mercenaries all along and captures them. The other teens are caught as well, but Boots the monkey helps them escape. With Dora's parents still prisoners, the teens decide to find the way inside Parapata in hopes of acquiring treasure that they can use to bargain for Elena and Cole's release.

Inside the hidden city, Dora and the others solve its temple's puzzles and dodge its traps, bringing them to the center shrine. Alejandro turns out to have been following them, and attempts to steal its central idol himself, but instead falls into a trap. The soldiers guarding Parapata, led by their queen, defeat the mercenaries and confront the teens. Dora speaks to them in Quechua, assuring that the teens only came for her parents and to learn. The Inca permit the teens and Dora's family to leave, allowing them a glimpse of their greatest treasure.

The teens and Dora's parents arrive at Dora's jungle home. Her parents discuss going on another expedition as a whole family, but Dora decides to return to school in Los Angeles. She and the other teens celebrate at a party while Alejandro and the mercenaries remain prisoners in Parapata.

Cast

 * Kathleen Herles as Dora
 * Eugenio Derbez as Alejandro Gutierrez, an explorer and professor of National University of San Marcos in Peru
 * Esai Morales as Cole, Dora's father
 * Eileen Galindo as Elena, Dora's mother
 * Sasha Toro as Backpack
 * Harrison Chad as Boots
 * Marc Weiner as Map and Swiper
 * Andre Dieppa as Diego, Dora's cousin
 * Nicholas Coombe as Randy
 * Madeleine Madden as Sammy
 * Temuera Morrison as Powell
 * Adriana Barraza as Abuela
 * Q'orianka Kilcher as Inca Princess Kawillaka
 * Isela Vega as Old Woman

Production
On October 24, 2002, a deal was struck for an animated film based on the television series to be made, with George S. Chiatlas directing. Nicholas Stoller and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel were hired to pen a script. Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes was announced as producer, though Bay and the company were ultimately not involved.

In an interview with Forbes Hearles stated that she learnt Quechua language for the character. She said that the film would "take audiences to Machu Picchu" to "explore the Incan culture," and commented that "Dora is very cultured and she knows everything about everything," and that she "doesn't have a defined ethnicity."

Filming
Filming began on August 6, 2003.

Marketing
The trailer for the film was released during the 2004 Kids' Choice Awards on March 23, 2004.