In 2000 a new century brought a new heroine to children’s television: “Dora the Explorer.”

This week reveals a dynamically contemporary, live action “Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado” premiering simultaneously on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon .

“The idea was,” director Alberto Belli said in a Zoom interview, “to reboot Dora as a live action heroine for kids and take the franchise so new generations can identify. Not only pre-schoolers but whole families and teenagers.

“We just wanted to find the perfect Dora, because without the perfect character, it was not going to be made right.”

Finding Samantha Lorraine for Dora was, “A two months’ search. We went everywhere: the US, Latin America, the UK.”

A California native Lorraine, now 18, was cast because, “She just was Dora — she was perfect! She had that positive, energetic attitude, just like Dora. But she was also physical, because with this movie, we wanted to make the action really exciting.

“We needed someone who could also pull that off. Samantha, because she had taken lessons of dancing and gymnastics for a long time, she was able to do all of that.”

Belli knew casting an inspirational teen with a real teen complicates filming.

“Because Samantha was a minor, she couldn’t work late. That was one of the big challenges, as well as she also goes to school. The same thing with Acston Luca Porto as Sonny. He also was a minor.”

As director, how does that affect filming?

“You do Dora’s scenes in the morning and get everything done, and then you go to the other stuff in the afternoon.

“After her scenes, you do her ‘coverage’ where either we had a double for her — for a shot over the shoulder, or her feet — or whatever we needed to get. The same thing with Sonny.

“But we shot this in Colombia, where the hours with the kids are a even stricter than the US. So, you just managed.

“I’ve been doing this, working with kids, for about five years now, so you just know how to work around them when you have a feeling they’re not prepared.”

Dora’s dream is to be a world class explorer, only she’s working as a tram guide for this really tacky amusement park.

“That,” Belli conceded, “was one of my favorite parts, because it was so unexpected. Like, she was so lost that she ends up working at the place that couldn’t be more opposite. Like her friend says, ‘Cheesy animals! Everything is fake. Everything is plastic.’

“It’s really the opposite of her. And that’s when I feel we discover that she really wants to explore a jungle.”

“Dora and the Search for Sol Dorado” streams on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon