Why Dora the Explorer Drove Me Crazy

An unbiased review

Over the past 11 years, my kids and I have watched a wide variety of kids’ programming. In these reviews I will cover what the kids liked about them, what I liked about them and why we stopped watching them eventually.

Today’s review: Dora the Explorer

Premise

A young girl named Dora explores the world around her home and is confronted with a series of small and incredibly easy puzzles, mysteries and problems to solve, including how to cross rivers when standing right in front of a bridge, which object inside her backpack to use to tie a knot with the choices being an apple, a book or some string and, of course, dealing with a sneaky fox named Swiper. She is never without her trusty backpack and map, both of whom are always reminding us who they are and what they do using impeccable English especially considering they are a backpack and map. Her companion/partner on all of her journeys is her pet/friend Boots, the monkey and we occasionally get to meet her older cousin, Diego.

Oddities

Let’s see -

• she’s 7 and we almost never see her parents at all — in fact she barely mentions them at all not even when she is scared or in danger
• her best and only friend is a monkey she named after his choice of footwear, or did he name himself or possibly his parents named him Boots — either way, weird name
• she is allowed to wander the countryside going over mountains, bridges and visiting castles etc. with no adult supervision at all
• she is always talking to someone: “We had such an exciting trip today! What was your favorite part of the trip?……………..I liked that too!” Should we be at all concerned for her mental health that she keeps asking questions and agreeing with the replies when no one else is talking or around?

Why my kids liked it

It’s bright and colourful. The plot and script is VERY similar and predictable from show to show and Dora asks the audience for answers to questions, pausing for responses, which little kids, like mine, just love. Each episode Dora would say “Hola, soy Dora. What’s your name?” And the kids would call out their names with so much enthusiasm. What an idea? Who writes this stuff? Give ’em an Emmy!

The voices are funny, Dora and Boots are cute, and even the bad guy, Swiper, is nice at heart. Other characters come along for the ride like Isa the Iguana, Benny the Bull and, my favourite, the Big Red Chicken.

My kids would both be heard yelling at the TV during the show as if they were confused why Dora wasn’t answering them back, especially when she had seemingly just asked for their help. “If Dora is going to do ______, you gotta say _______” and say it they did. It was like they were part of the adventure.

Why I liked it

My kids were happy; the show featured a strong, female character; we all learned some basic Spanish: vamanos (go away), estrellas (stars), abuela (grandmother) which gave me the ability to have some, albeit quite limited, conversations with friends in Spanish.

And who doesn’t like the funny, recurring characters like Backpack and The Map? I also love the Grumpy Old Troll (and no, I don’t see a lot of me in that character). Only on an occasional episode, the troll had an awesome intro/theme song and he didn’t just let Dora push him around.

Why it eventually drove me crazy

The questions are so ridiculously easy! What should we use if it is raining? An umbrella? You think?!?!? What number is between 1 and 3? And there is a huge 2 on the screen! Aargh! I started worrying that my kids were getting dumber watching this “educational” show.

Also, after being exposed to months of the voices, the characters and the repeated quotes I became filled with rage. If I had to hear “Swiper no swiping” or “I’m the map, I’m the map” or “Yum, yum, yum Delicioso!” one more time only a long ice bath would work in cooling me down. And I am all out of ice.

Dora is a good introduction to kids’ TV, but it should be short-lived as I wouldn’t call it great TV for anyone involved. In time, you must guide your kids towards better TV shows, but it is an essential show to watch at some point in your children’s childhood.