Dora the Explorer (2000–2019) User Reviews

An example of why children's T.V. is so awful.

[BlackJack_B · 3/10 · 18 December 2006]

Before I begin, I applaud what Dora The Explorer tries to accomplish. Shows like Sesame Street want to teach kids about other cultures and languages. I think a kid's show that lets kids learn about another culture and language is a good thing. We need more shows like this.

The problem with the show is its execution. First of all, I feel that Dora treats their young audience like idiots. They expect the child to scream the answers to Dora at the T.V.; as if she'll hear them. Second, the show has a shrill way of getting its point across. Dora, Boots, the Knapsack, the Map and everybody else talk down to the audience or simply come off as annoying. The songs and writing are weak and the voice-acting will give you a headache. The Map, especially, grates on me. There is way too much repetitiveness and it's tiring to see Dora asking for help whenever she comes to an obstacle. She's not much of an explorer.

The worse part of the show is the fact that there is NOTHING here that an adult can enjoy. The ride is as saccharine as it gets. Also, the animation is pretty blah. It's full of colors but it won't win any awards for its technical brilliance.

Yes, maybe the show will keep kids occupied but I think there are much better shows from the past and even today that can help teach kids when they don't want a textbook or a learning toy. This is just their Grey's Anatomy, a bad show whose popularity is due to their fans calling it "escapism" as their excuse for watching it.

Dora is not for tweens, teens or adults.

[fappymanman · 5/10 · 9 February 2021]

Dora is pretty boring, repetitive and annoying to adults but It's a amazing show for little kids under 5. It does a good job teaching Spanish and is entertaining to kids. So I can't rate it too low. The animation is also colorful and nice to look at.

Poor!

[ian-1211 · 3/10 · 12 January 2007]

This is the early version of "Maya and Miguel". Another show promoting multiculturalism. Okay, beside all. The show when I first saw it it put me off. I watched it five times or so then never again. The show's synopsis is pretty stupid. Dora, a Latino girl, Boots, a blue monkey wearing boots and other funny creatures travels long distances to get something really unnecessary. Like a packet of party poppers. They have to get over obstacles to reach their pointless task and then defeat a dumb, masked fox which then they tell the audience (children) to yell at the T.V screen to make him go away, EVERY SINGLE EPISODE! It also teaches kids Spanish along the way. Also, the songs in it makes me really sick! I don't like Dora. It's becoming another dumb little girlie fad like "Disney's Princess" which I hate with a passion! The person who created two premises must be rolling in cash! Okay, nice thought to creating Dora to promote multi-culture but a bad idea to make tons of money out of this! A bad show! 3/10

A foreigner's point of view

[loblie · 23 June 2004]

As I can see, so far every comment came from English speaking audience.

Well, we live in Hungary, and here the series were translated to Hungarian, with some English phrases in it (which were originally the Spanish ones, I guess). I have a 5 and a 2 year-old daughter, and they both enjoy watching Dora very much. I think this is a very good educational movie! The younger learns special Hungarian words, which she would not know otherwise (eg. volcano). She also enjoys the activity Dora asks us to do. And the older one picked up the English words very fast, and even asked me to teach her more English! Thanks to this cartoon now they tell us to fasten our safety belts when we drive, and the little one learned to count to ten at a very early age. We have most of the parts recorded on video, and they often ask for them. By the way, I couldn't find the information on this site: how many parts are there altogether? If somebody knows, please let me know.

Not educational at all

[dhik24 · 1/10 · 4 July 2009]

In case you are not familiar with this show Dora is a 7 year old Latina girl who travels around with a monkey named Boots. The episodes typically consist of Dora traveling to three places with the third place as a goal. That is my first complaint about this show, the repetition is too much for a kid's show. The songs consist of the same words over and over and the plots are also the same thing every time. While there is some repetition in every form of entertainment, especially for children, this is absolutely ridiculous.

The second complaint I have about this show is that Dora is not educational. Out of all the episodes I have watched the one that most stands out on this point is the backpack episode. During that episode Dora teaches kids how to count to eight twice. Yes, that's right. Out of a 23 minute show the creators devoted an astounding 16 SECONDS to the educational bit. I do admit that Dora did teach a Spanish word but children should be learning more about ABC's, counting, etc than Spanish. The characters don't even have personality so it's not like they could learn about people through the actions of Dora either.

My final complaint is that this show has way too much merchandise. You could even buy your kid Dora cereal if you wanted. Considering that that every episode is the same and there is no educational value to this show is it obvious that it was created for only one thing: money.

I find it too repetitive to be honest...

[TheLittleSongbird · 1/10 · 10 May 2010]

I have tried to like Dora the Explorer, as I am all for educational shows. For example Tots TV, Sesame Street and Rosie and Jim were educational and all three of them I loved as a kid because they were also a lot of fun. As an 18 year old girl, I kept in consideration that this was a kids show, but sorry I don't like it. The first problem and my major problem with Dora the Explorer is that it is too repetitive. The scripting, the music, the story lines... they felt the same in every episode. Another problem is that I for one don't find it educational, there was an episode when Dora I think counted to ten in Spanish. Kids will definitely find that educational, but for someone who studied Spanish for two years, I couldn't help rolling my eyes at something I already knew. Then the story lines are unoriginal for the most part, the music is forgettable(to me that is though I do appreciate that they were keeping it simple for kids to remember, but I personally felt they went overboard with the simplicity), the characters are thin, the writing is shallow and for me the voice acting was unexceptional. On a plus, the animation was nice to look at, simple but colourful and bright. Overall, sorry but I don't like it, kids will love it but being older it doesn't appeal to me. 1/10 for the animation. Bethany Cox

horrid!!!!

[DeathlyRanch · 1/10 · 8 August 2006]

Dora the explorer is a cute little show if you are 2. For the rest of us, it seems to be a pointless journey of a 5 year old Latino girl and her very strange monkey friend. Every show Dora must do through 3 obstacles just to to or get something pointless! And it takes Dora 22 minutes to walk about a mile! and just to do something like get ice cream! What i want to know is who cares? I don't care about a little girl doing stupid tasks. I remember when kids TV was fun and simple, and not in Spanish! And whose parents let there kids do what ever they want and do dangerous stuff like ride in helicopters without there watchful eye! this show will appeal to 2 year olds, But two year olds don't go on IMDb....

Don't like it at all

[veronyka821 · 1/10 · 3 April 2007]

I absolutely can't stand this show. I bought a Nick DVD for my daughter and seriously wish I could remove Dora but she's the first episode so I always end up skipping through. She is very obnoxious, and in the few times the episode has slipped by me, she now has my 2 year old yelling "sTOP! STOP!" I figured out it is from the show. Dora yells at the audience, and I think encourages loud socially unacceptable behavior. If my child wants something now she's gonna scream for Tico? Wrong! None of the other shows she watches encourage this. I wouldn't recommend letting your toddler watch this until they are old enough to know that shouting and demanding what they want is not acceptable. At 2 years old I'm keeping my daughter as far away as possible!!

Boring,stupid

[bugcrazy10 · 1/10 · 13 January 2013]

Dora bores me to the limits. it is barely educational. one example is you do not need go to over everything you see why can't you go around it. like how they go over mountains and not around? Dora teaches you terrible Spanish the entire sentence should be in Spanish not one word. Also they should not be helping evil characters like when Swiper the Fox was on the naughty list for the bad things he'd done why did they helped take him off. My son was scared because of Dora because of Swiper the Fox.Also they are giving you bad examples, Should you really be going around and be stealing Easter eggs from other peoples property and ruining their Easter egg hunt! But still it is kind of educational for example it teaches you counting and matching (i think some preschoolers know counting and matching.) My daughter watched Dora a little in second grade. I still don't know why little kids like it and why it is that popular.

I don't understand all the complaints

[gentlegerman1986 · 7/10 · 3 May 2010]

I have a 16-months-old girl and she LOVES Dora. Trust me I have tried to get her to like other cartoons or Sesame Street, but no luck. I agree, it gets annoying after a while, but I don't have to watch it. I can do stuff around the house, while Dora is on TV.

If you have ever worked with kids, or have kids, you may have noticed that they like interaction. They don't know that Dora cannot hear them. At this age they have no concept of what TV really is. And they need repetition. How many times have read the same book(s) to your child in one day? I can tell you have a read most of her books plenty of times (I don't have to read them anymore). They learn by repetition...

As for the person who said kids should be learning their ABCs, yes they should, when they are 5, and not at this age. Even though, Dora is supposed to be for "pre-schoolers" I don't think many kids over the age of 4 are interested in Dora anymore. So, lighten up and let kids be kids before you make them learn a whole bunch of stuff before they really need to know it. Your child won't read any better if he/she knows the ABCs by the time he/she is 2.

To sum this up, I think Dora is great for kids from 1 to 3. They will learn some words, maybe remember some of the Spanish, and maybe learn to count. But even if they don't learn anything, it's a good way for them to relax and have some fun. They don't have to learn ALL the time. And best of all, it's NOT violent!!! So for all the complainers, stop watching it!!! It's for your child, NOT you! There are shows for adults on TV, but probably not on Nick...

Pointless TV-filling

[lodewijkpollemans · 1/10 · 27 January 2008]

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.

It's Not That Bad

[zsofikam · 7/10 · 11 June 2016]

It seems so easy to criticize Dora, or any other kid's show for that matter, just for the sake of criticism, but after rewatching after a long time, I felt that I should write this review anyway. With that in mind, the criticism leveled at Dora seems a bit harsh. Yes, it has its problems but I've seen much worse. What do I mean by much worse? I mean the likes of Secret of NIMH 2, Titanic the Animated Movie, Uncle Grandpa, Breadwinners, Boohbah, and the output of Video Brinquedo. Yes it's repetitive, but did you know that repetition is actually good for young children? I admit that it gets annoying but it helps little kids to learn. Yes her shirt is a bit tight on her, but will the average preschooler care? Plus, to everyone who talks about how useless the "Swiper, no swiping" thing is, if you want young kids to know about the experience of being mugged, have them watch CSI. That's not to say that it's the perfect show. As I mentioned previously, it is very repetitive. Now, all shows, especially kids shows, are repetitive to a certain degree, every single Dora episode that I've seen is almost exactly the same: Dora has to go to a specific destination in order to do a certain task. Before she reaches her destination she has to pass through two other places while accompanied by her trusty companions Backpack, Map, and Boots the monkey. My second problem is the song sung by Map, it feels rather pointless. Overall, I used to really like Dora and while it's not as good as I remembered it still hated on far too much. Even with its flaws, it's a fairly cute fun little show.

My god, this show is TERRIBLE

[Dr_Death666 · 1/10 · 25 June 2009]

This has got to be one of the worst shows for little kids ever created, up there with "Ni Hao Kai Lan" and "Go Diego Go". My little brother LOVES this stupid show though, which is OK for a 3 year old, but I hate this show for a few reasons.

One- Dora yells nonstop. OK we get that you want to get to the stupid blueberry tree so shut up already. That's basically like me writing LIKE THIS ALL THE TIME.

Two- The Swiper scenes. Dora tells your child to say "Swiper no swiping!" and 95% of the time he stops in his tracks and says "Oh man!" If a robber ever tried to steal something from you if you said "no swiping" like they would really stop? NO. How unrealistic and dangerous to teach little kids.

Three- The plot is just stupid. Here's the plot for every episode. Dora plans to do something. Dora needs to figure out something or get something from a place far away. Dora does mindless tasks to do whatever she wants to do. That's it. Curtains. How lame is that? Therefore, you should not watch this show, and if you have a choice between watching this show for a whole day and burning yourself with fire, pick the burning. That will be more fun than even glancing at this horrible show.

-5,000,000,000,000,000,000 out of 10 or: F--------------------

My kid's have learned a lot.

[blacktearz411 · 17 September 2011]

I kind of think it's funny how many adults there are telling people not to watch this show, hello? It's a kid's show. I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old and they both love this show, it drives me crazy but I let them watch it because they have learned so many words, colors, shapes, etc. And like it or not they will probably need Spanish as they grow up because America is changing. When my oldest son was just over a year old I found him counting his toys, he could go up to 11 by himself thanks to Dora, now that he's 3 he counts to 20, he know's all his colors and shapes and it's all thanks to Dora. And yea it's not realistic, do you really think any of the show's we watched as kid's were realistic. If I wanted my 1 and 3 year old's to know what would really happen when someone wanted to mug you I would have them watch csi. It's our job as parents to teach them the reality's of this world when there old enough to understand them, so idk about you but I'm going to let my toddlers enjoy telling swiper no swiping without blood and violence. Thanks.

P.S. I only gave it an 8 because it does drive me crazy, but I think it's worth it sense my kid's get to enjoy learning.

Fails as an educational show

[darkghost3400 · 4/10 · 16 November 2015]

This show is not all that bad. It has some charm and it has good decorations and an alright animation. However, this is not a good educational show. The weak story lines can be overlooked (this cannot be a super-complex philosophical show, for obvious reasons), but it is mostly of that stories than education. And in that few time, the writers limit to show the same things: a few bonus words, some directions and a limited counting.

These flaws are worsened by the fact that this is a status quo in the series. Tropes are not bad, but this is quite mishandled.

The video game atmosphere is not a bad idea, but the handling of it makes Dora and company seem stupid. They are just asking for things and places they have closely, which barely contributes to knowledge.

That's all I had to say. I won't be harsh about the storyline or other things, for reasons that should be clear, but this can hardly be called educational.

Ugh.

[9ofeverything · 2/10 · 22 January 2007]

I've only seen the show maybe once, but my sister tells me horror stories when she comes home from babysitting. Now, most people are like, "I HATE THIS SHOW" and the rest are either saying, "My kids love it" or "YOU'RE NOT A LITTLE KID YOU CAN'T APPRECIATE IT!!!" But to tell you the truth, even if I was a little kid, I would honestly hate this show. If I got a question wrong, Dora would say, "Good job, you got it right!" And that means there's a chance the kids could think they were right and you would have to convince them their idol was wrong.

The whole interaction premises is a rather dumb one in the first place. I don't think it's a great idea to make your children think the TV can talk to them. I mean, sure, it's good to get kids involved, but do you really need to involve them so much, they'd be trying to climb into the TV to be with Dora? You could easily just leave out the interaction and the kids would still love it. I doubt that interaction is that important, or else most shows wouldn't be around anymore. Thomas the Tank Engine wouldn't be in it's 10th series. (Don't even get me started about how THAT show got ruined)

So, basically, I'm not saying that Dora will brainwash your children, I'm saying that there are many other shows that are more than just learning Spanish and how to jump over a pit of snakes or whatever.

it wasn't the best show in my childhood, but not horrible

[memphisgirl-73691 · 4/10 · 12 November 2017]

In the early years of this show, it wasn't that bad. However, since I grew up (around 2007) the show took an unusual turn. The format completely changed! I may be an adult now, but the old episodes may just entertain me. The new episodes, however, I steer clear from. I don't view the show too badly though. In fact, I would even recommend the old episodes to kids of today. But not the most recent ones (2007-2017).

Dora's a pain in the butt!

[Jesseloveshockey · 1/10 · 29 December 2008]

I know it's werid to review a 4 year old show but, it's so bad I need to review it. First off the plot is terrible, Dora needs to get something stupid like ice cream, what's worse is she always has to get past three places which are stupid and random like a lake. The characters are just werid like Dora's interesting monkey friend, who wears boots and he's just there to say where is it when Dora ask you where's the place there looking for and it's right in front of her. Swiper the fox steals, so then how do you stop him? In Dora's world saying no stealing will mean he will not steal. But in reality she would get killed. So do you want your children learning this crap ? I think no. It gets worse because Dora teaches Spanish why the hell do are children need to learn Spanish when were in America. The songs are just plain and horrible like the map song which the map repeats 6 times which get on your nerves. When Dora gets what she whats she acts like a moron.

Oh yeah how could I forget Dora shouts at her audience treating them as stupid. Your young kids will scream at the TV by watching Dora. Make your kids watch Sesame Street rather.

4/10? Come on.

[Kung_JK · 6/10 · 23 May 2020]

This has a avarage rating of 4 out of 10. I find that a bit unfair. This show is great for young children 2-5 years old or so, and explores many subjects, teaches language, maths, and a lot of more topics while clearly engaging the children.

From an adaults point of view it's pretty unbearable though. lol

So to sum it up, great for small children not so much for an older audience. Kind of like Friday the 13th inverted.

a very dangerous show

[watsuke · 1/10 · 15 June 2012]

There are many things wrong with his show, the things that are most important to me are Dora going out by herself, and that anyone she comes across who is bad can easily be turned good.

Dora has complete control on where she goes and how long it takes her, and any danger she comes across is handled with a smile and show-tunes. This gives a false reality of the world. It also tells kids they don't need their parents at the age of five, my daughters 3 yo and its getting harder to have her hold my hand crossing the street without Dora's influence.

The worst thing is kids think everyone is friendly. It teaches them to talk to strangers and trust people they don't know. I know people who spend a good amount of time explaining why their kids should talk to strangers, and my friend is having a harder time because "but Dora does it."

If you don't want your kid to have bad habits, avoid Dora like the plague.

Educational for early years

[pauldoesmaths · 9/10 · 6 September 2018]

Surprised by all the negativity. Compared to many childrens tv where my daughter just watches the tv this is a show she actively engages with. Learning numbers, Spanish words, left from right, and many more.

A boring baby's show that I hate with a passion

[kumargopinath · 1/10 · 19 September 2013]

WHY THE HELL is this piece of dog poop so popular?why,WHY!?!?!?Even my seven year old sister can come up with better ideas.This makes the new episodes of spongebob look like a masterpiece.The writers of this show are probably as dumb as dora.Speaking of dora,she's got to be one of my least favorite cartoon characters,no,scratch that,my least favorite CHARACTER of all time.And boots is no better either.I'd rather watch blues clues and I don't even like that show either.Oh,I forgot to mention that dora and boots sing pointless and dumb musical numbers every episode(if that isn't bad enough, they sing the EXACT SAME SONGS EVERY SINGLE EPISODE!!!!!)And don't even get me started on swiper,who I wish would once swipe dora's clothes.You know what,now I am pretty convinced that this show's writers are DUMBER than dora.So bottom line:dora is a dumb,stupid show that I believe is making our generation's kids dumber.It's sad that kids have to grow up watching these abominations instead of watching classics like tom and jerry,looney tunes etc.

Dora is great!

[nediri79 · 12 January 2005]

I have a 3 year old daughter who loves the show. Not every show is great, they are all repetitive however when it comes to small children that helps them to learn. Thanks to this show my daughter has developed excellent decisive skills and puzzle solving skills. While it is incredibly annoying for an adult to watch as the songs get quite aggravating however, the kids seem to just love it. Throughout the show kids are asked to find things to help them along the way. They keep it simple so that small kids get a feeling of accomplishment when they get it right. There is always a little jingle played when they complete a task which makes the kids smile. When waiting for a response from the viewer they actually wait long enough for small kids to formulate a response, unlike many other children's shows. Keep in mind when watching Dora that it is not intended for older kids nor is it intended for adults. As much as we may hate to watch it, small kids love it and do learn a lot from it.

Ughh

[maschoe1369 · 5/10 · 15 June 2011]

My 2-year-old son loves this show, but I hate it. It's obnoxious the way they always say and sing the same things, and why do the animators think its cute for her to have a short little shirt on? The only good things I have to say about this show are that it keeps my son's attention, and it does teach colors and counting, and a few words in Spanish. If I never saw this show again I wouldn't complain. However, it is a children's show and apparently a lot of kids love it, so I guess it has something for them. Overall, I would say that it's a good show for young children and toddlers, but a drag for parents who have to watch it too.