After being stuck babysitting my niece and my nephew for prolonged periods of time I have grown to appreciate various kids' shows. Call it Stockholm Syndrome, but "Dora the Explorer" is one of my favorite shows for kids (not for me). With the rise of Christmas special reruns on various network channels this week, I stumbled upon this holiday classic.
Season 5, Episode 16 for all of you label fanatics.
I had to watch this all the way through and then I watched it some more so that I could accurately summarize and passionately review it for you. Just for you, since you probably don't "have the time" to watch this highly rated Christmas movie.
The movie opens with a choir singing a cool version of the traditional "Dora the Explorer" opening, where they sing "Nochebuena" (which I discovered means "Christmas Eve" in Spanish after a quick Google search) on canon with the traditional theme. The opening has a CGI element to it, making you think that this special will be the one. It might be the one to knock out all past, present, and future Dora the Explorer episodes ever created. You're right, but don't fool yourself into thinking that Nickelodeon gave them the budget to have a full CGI episode. This isn't "The Fairly Odd Parents" that we're talking about here.
Personally, I like imagining Santa as an alien or an ethereal being made up of gas. Coca-Cola wants you to think that Santa is some bearded white man with glasses and a fat, fat belly. "Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure" broadened my horizons. It poses the question: "What if there's more than one Santa and there's actually one for every race?" It would make sense. One man cannot conquer the world alone, so who's to say that Santa is the exception?
Conspiracy theories double.
It is then revealed that Santa Claus is the narrator of the story and that the main focus of our story is how Swiper the Fox learned the power of self-restraint. Then we cut to Dora's Nochebuena party where we see many A-List celebrities from Dora's world: the Dora the Explorer, Boots, Benny, Isa, Tico, and even the Big Red Chicken. Then they start singing "Nochebuena," which is track 1 from this movie's soundtrack, for those who are following. Dora announces to the audience that the best part of Nochebuena is when everybody exchanges gifts. There is no other "best part" because friendship is the only best part for Dora. But do you know who has a problem with "exchanging" presents? That's right, you fool, it's Swiper the Fox. Apparently Santa has made a royal decree that if he swipes once more, then Swiper will be put on the Naughty List (or, as Tico calls it, "la lista de los que se portaron mal") until further notice.
As fate has it, Swiper attempts to steal the Christmas tree topper and almost completely tips over the Christmas tree. Fortunately, Santa Claus comes to town and saves the day once more. As a punishment, Santa puts Swiper on the Naughty List for nearly destroying beautiful angel Dora's Nochebuena party. After much begging and Dora's persuasion, Santa lessens Swiper's sentence to Santa Probation and forces Swiper on a journey where he ends up learning the "True Meaning of Christmas." I don't want to get into the nitty gritty of the plot since there are more important things here than theme and character development.
We're going to skip to the part where they time travel. Dora and Swiper turn to the only Time Lord that they knew for their time travel needs: the Grumpy Old Troll. After winning a round of holiday trivia and pleading their case, the Troll bestows upon them three Traveling Capes. That's right, he didn't forget about you. You also get a cape. Then Dora and Swiper discover that to time travel they must "shake, shake, shake, shake" until the magical properties of the cape absorb their atoms into the time vortex. Dora and Swiper decide that the most obvious way to reverse this travesty is to go back in time. However, they went too far back and everyone who they love are now just babies in cribs.
They're also apparently victims of parental abandonment.
Dora remembers a childhood tune that always made her feel better. That's right, she's talking about the old children's song hit "Wiggle Jiggle Sneeze." I myself did not know that sneezing and aerobic exercise make babies stop crying and I will rightly incorporate this new technique into my babysitting repertoire. Audiences will not be shocked that this worked on Boots first. That's all that I have to say.
After their Zumba class Dora and Swiper go into the future from this past to the lesser past from their present, where they're all toddlers. The only important thing here is that the toddler version of Swiper got a bunny from Santa and was also a prodigy song-writer. Also, Swiper's kleptomania started at around this age. Present Swiper helps the toddlers get their presents back, continuing the journey of his character development.
Now for the best part: Dora and Swiper go to the not-so-distant-but-still-pretty-distant future. They first encounter a future version of Dora, who is presumably a teenager (nobody can tell nowadays), and they get a slightly-less-than-welcoming reception. After explaining their situation we learn that there are no Nochebuena parties in the future because the future version of Swiper went rogue. The future Swiper dons a respectable gray beard and is also immune to people saying: "Swiper, no swiping," which is truly a testament to how far future Swiper has fallen. Future Swiper nabs present Swiper's traveling cape and flees to his decrepit castle. Swiper then realizes that he must confront his potential future self to be able to go home. All of Dora's friends come out of the woodwork (except the Big Red Chicken for some reason) and volunteer to help Swiper on his quest. Also, future Map and Present Map sing a duet. I'm surprised at the lack of time paradoxes in this episode.
Tico still refuses to speak English, even for the convenience of his peers.
After the lovely musical interludes the whole gang storms future Swiper's home. Fortunately for them, future Swiper's old age renders him incapable of being awake for over a couple of hours. They all take back what future Swiper stole as he snored away in front of his fireplace. The gang then leave the scene of the vengeful crime and Swiper makes one final remark about how cranky the future version of him is. That's it. There's no redemption for the future Swiper. Swiper doesn't try to have a heartwarming moment with his future self. He doesn't try to console future Swiper or try to boost his reputation among his future peers. This is when I realized that the true theme behind this episode is to be good or be shunned. These characters are good people not from their own free will, but from their fear of rejection. Swiper is the only exception because society can always use a scapegoat.
Be good, or don't be.
Overall, I rate this movie as an 8.5 out of 10. It would be a 10 out of 10, but the writers failed to integrate Backpack into this episode.
