Nickelodeon is set to release a new live-action Dora film — Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado — tonight on Paramount+. It stars Samantha Lorraine as Dora and Jacob Rodriguez as Diego, who take over the live action roles from Isabela Merced and Jeff Wahlberg, respectively.

In this new story of the Dora universe, Dora and Diego, along with their new friends Naiya (Mariana Garzón Toro) and her younger brother Sonny (Acston Luca Porto), embark on a journey to find the fabled Sol Dorado treasure before Camila the Crusader (Daniella Pineda) and her crew claim and exploit its power.

Dora, a spunky little girl who takes viewers on an adventure and helps children learn and maintain their Spanish speaking skills, was first introduced to the world in the animated Dora the Explorer series in 2000. Though light-hearted and wholesome, this new film presents many problematic issues that continue to plague the Latine community and the entertainment industry, overall. The main two issues I found are the lack of Spanish language accuracy and colorism.

Though the film does have Spanish sprinkled throughout, learning and teaching Spanish takes a backseat with its focus being on Dora’s struggle to find her identity as things and people around her change and move away.

And while Spanish is not prioritized, it is still present in the film. However, there are far too many Spanish language errors made for me not to comment on them, especially as a native Spanish speaker who grew up watching Dora the Explorer. If this film was made to build on the legacy of the original show, it should have correctly used Spanish, specifically its pronunciation and translation. The many errors communicate that Spanish language was not a concern for the team.

Of the many errors, some include:

Spanish mispronunciation

The consistent struggle Samantha Lorraine and Daniella Pineda had in pronouncing “Sol Dorado.”Lorraine’s mispronunciation is not as noticeable as Pineda’s. Lorraine quickly pronounced/slurred through this word and others as if to try to hide the fact that her pronunciation was off. This is noticeable from the first time she says the phrase about five minutes into the film. Lorraine’s does not pronounce  “Diego” in Spanish, but instead in an English way. She says “dee-EH-go” instead of “dyeh-goh.” Pineda’s mispronunciation of “Sol Dorado” is more noticeable and her struggle to pronounce it is obvious. Pineda also struggled to correctly pronounce “Dora” (the “Spanish pronunciation” of Dora). And while some may feel this scrutiny of Lorraine and Pineda’s Spanish speaking skills is purist of me, why not be critical of Spanish language in a franchise that was made iconic for helping children learn and maintain their Spanish skills? Further, if Dora and her family are in Perú, a Spanish-speaking country, is it purist or “unfair” of me to expect not a proficient, but a highly fluent level of Spanish speaking skills?

Lorraine’s mispronunciation in Dora’s conversation with Diego after her first day at Jungle World was painful to listen to. Listening to her mispronounce “espectacular” and “absolutamente perfecto” was particularly hard to listen to. Lorraine also mispronounced “churro” as she instead said “churo” — a word so simple and an error so noticeable, made all the more noticeable because she incorrectly pronounced the word immediately before Rodriguez correctly pronounced churro. Lorraine could and should have spent more time practicing her Spanish language skills in preparation for the role. The crew could have also made sure a Spanish language consultant had been on set, which I elaborate on in a future point. Were Lorraine’s Spanish speaking skills tested in auditions? Why was she cast if she struggles with speaking Spanish? Why did casting directors Chelsea Ellis Bloch and Marisol Roncali not make fluent Spanish speaking skills a priority or requirement when casting roles? Did director Alberto Belli (who was born and raised in Mexico) not care about having fluent Spanish speakers in his cast?

Incorrect Spanish translation

In the establishing shot of the Jungle World entrance, the sign reads “Entrada – Welcome,” incorrectly translating “Entrada” in Spanish which actually translates to “Entrance” in English. “Welcome” in English translated to “Bienvenidos” in Spanish. How lame and irresponsible of the team to not care for translation accuracy in this Dora franchise that promotes Spanish language communication.

That so many Spanish language errors are present in the film is very concerning, especially as director Alberto Belli was born and raised in Mexico, and assumingly grew up speaking Spanish. Belli can be found speaking Spanish in many interviews. Did he not review footage or disapprove of the error the Jungle World entrance sign? Was he involved in the casting process? Was there Spanish language consultant on the film? How does a film with Spanish language, by a director originally from Mexico, being filmed in Colombia — a Spanish-speaking country — with a Colombian crew fail to recognize and correct Spanish-language errors made in set design and pronunciation by actors?

But I’ll move on because I can go on for a while about the Spanish in this film.

Another concern in this film was the presence of colorism. Off the bat, I noticed how fair-skinned the cast was. Yes, the Latine community is not a monolith, and we do not all present the same way. At the same time, in an industry and society that favors fair skin, I would have appreciated more colorism-conscious casting. Moreover, the cartoon character Dora comes across as being tan, so when I see a live-action Dora with fairer skin, I have a bit of an identity crisis. Who is Dora?

On one hand, Dora is all of us, and maybe this is why the “inconsistent” skin color across the film and animated series does not matter as much. However, having a darker-skinned animated Dora and a fairer-skinned live-action Dora communicates that lead dark-skinned characters only have presence/are only important in animated, imagined, unreal worlds. It also communicates that only light-skinned persons can be explorers and heroes.

Similarly, why did the villains have the darkest skin among cast members, and why did they use a stereotypical accent? For example, lead henchman Beetle (Christian Gnecco Quintero) rolled the R in “treasure.” Why? To emphasize that the character is a Spanish speaker or that he “speaks with an accent” (whatever this means?). I saw no reason for it, especially when his pronunciation of other words was fine and not exaggerated like this.

The colorism in this film reminds me of the colorist casting of the 2021 film version of In The Heights in which dark-skinned Afro-Latinos were largely excluded from the film.

Why does the darkest skin in this film only exist in drawings and paintings of the ancient Inca, or in the background with extras? Where are the Afro-Colombians in this movie given that it was filmed in Colombia? I saw at most two dark-skinned actors, both extras: one a parkgoer and another a henchman.

At most, there is a single Afro-Latin actor in a given shot. If they are in a shot, they are extras without any dialogue. This film did not use race and color-conscious casting and therefore is not inclusive of everyone in the Latine and African diasporas. Instead, the film places them on the fringes, further emphasizing their marginalization in the real world.

Sure, this film’s story and dialogue was lighthearted, but its failure to maintain Spanish language accuracy and its heavily fair-skinned cast perpetuate legacies of U.S. imperialism, colonization, and assimilation. The film’s failures are all the more tragic because it is made by a Latin director and had the potential to be inclusive at a time when Latines in the United States, namely darker-skinned Latines, are being profiled and abducted by ICE and the current presidential administration.