The Review:

Dora’s Christmas Carol Adventure is a narrative told by Latino Santa Claus and has everything to do with his fabled “Naughty and Nice List.” Don’t worry, Santa provides a caveat in his prologue that you–the viewer–have made his “Nice List” this year, so you may watch the program with that heavy question put off your conscience. This extended Dora Christmas special is something like A Christmas Carol meets It’s a Wonderful Life meets Back to the Future meets Citizen Kane…or not…but most of all, it seems to be the writers’s commentary on the nature of sin itself.

Read on and all will be explained….

Swiper the Fox shows up at Dora’s Christmas party to swipe–of all things–the star atop the 15 foot Christmas tree. Latino Santa arrives to inform that, because of Swiper’s continued swipage, he has been relegated to the Naughty List. No bueno. Dora pleads with Santa to rescind this decision and Santa agrees to do so on the condition that Swiper will magically travel back in time and into the future to learn the true meaning of Christmas. So we now have a tie-in to the Dickens story. Even after Swiper shows his appreciation for this second chance, he continues with multiple other swiping attempts on his way to the past and future. What a jerk.

Swiper and Dora travel back in time to when Swiper was a baby. It is indeed interesting to note that Baby Swiper is already outfitted with his swiping mask and gloves at this early age, as though branding him a thief from the get-go. Present-day Swiper looks on in horror as Baby Swiper filches Christmas presents from other babies around him. Baby Swiper also steals Present-Day Swiper’s magic traveling cape. Given Baby’s Swiper’s estimated age, this does not appear to be a learned behavior.

When Swiper and Dora travel to the future, they find a world in which Swiper’s habitual thievery has become pathological and has spiraled out of control. They meet up with Future Dora who sadly tells them as much. This point in time is referred to by Dora as when they are “big kids.” Although Dora and other characters simply look to be a few years older, Swiper presents ambulating with a cane while hunched over and has white hair and a white beard. It is never made clear if we are to assume that foxes age faster than the other animals (i.e., Boots the Monkey, Tico the Squirrel, et al), or if his rapid deterioration is due to the darkness that has consumed him these many years (a la Gollum in The Lord of the Rings). When Future Swiper appears, he announces that he is going to steal Swiper’s cape. Present Day Swiper repeats the phrase that has hitherto prevented him from successfully stealing: “Swiper no swiping! Swiper no swiping! Swiper no swiping!” Dora and Swiper are aghast when Future Swiper nabs the cape and tells them, “that doesn’t work anymore.” Swiper and Dora later find Future Swiper holed up in his lair in the top of a castle where he is asleep in a rocking chair, surrounded by years of ill-gotten booty. It is at this point Present Day Swiper acknowledges he does not want to end up like this and really does want to change. Character transformation complete. Santa arrives at the end to put Swiper back on the Nice List.

Swiper’s character has always been an interesting case study from a psychological point of view, and I’m told that many state universities are incorporating whole courses dedicated to his psychoanalysis. Swiper appears to exhibit a form of kleptomania, deriving little joy or monetary gain from the objects he swipes. Indeed, Swiper has always appeared to swipe for the sole purpose of the victim begin deprived of the object. In the Dora series until this Christmas special, Swiper is never seen to keep what he swipes, but instead just chucks it away and sneers cruelly, “You’ll never find it now!” In this way, Swiper seems truly evil and we may assume there is little–if any–hope for his redemption.

Dora’s Christmas Carol Adventure confronts Swiper’s internal conflict. Is Swiper’s swiping innate or is it merely a product of his personal choices and a byproduct of his past and present environment? I was personally hoping for a more conclusive storyline to suggest the latter when we visit Baby Swiper, like maybe him having to share a nursery with a bully who always swipes his stuff, scarring him emotionally for life and forcing him into a lifetime of swiping as a maladapted way of reconciling this past hurt. Alas, we are not given anything. We only know that Swiper was swiping without regret as a baby. Nature: 1, Nurture: 0. Unfortunately, while in the future, we are never able to see Swiper’s actions alter the future, a la Back to the Future, but we are led to

assume that Swiper’s willingness to change will reprieve him of the cold bleak vision of the future he witnesses. Nature: 1, Nurture:1. So we are left to believe that Swiper’s swiping is in his nature, but he possesses the free will to change his behavior. Some of my friends and colleagues who are more adept at theological debate and doctrinal analysis I’m sure will have a field day with this one.

Or they’ll just tell me I’m aggrandizing a stupid kids’ show.

The Kids

Any time Dora’s shrill nasally voice can be heard, children gather around like so much deer to an automatic corn feeder. Even though this Christmas special is particularly Swiper-heavy, the children will still be entranced by the several musical numbers, talk of Santa, Christmas and Christmas accessories in general. It may warrant consideration to make it into your children’s holiday rotation.

The Verdict: Mostly Harmless

Dora’s Christmas Carol Adventure has a couple of upsides that reduces its annoyingness factor. Because the subject matter delves into an almost spiritual realm, the typical format of going-through-three-physical-waypoints-to-arrive-at-the-destination is done away with. Also, it is somewhat enjoyable to see how they are going to incorporate the Christmas Carol parody in its completely nonsensical way. If you’re like me, you may enjoy the psychological exploration into the polarizing figure that is Swiper the Fox.

Hey, it’s the holidays. Let your kids watch it.