Go Diego Go: The Live Action Movie

I have been watching some Go Diego Go lately. More than a little bit. Diego is pitched at preschoolers and is somewhat tarred by association with the gentle inanity of his cousin Dora, but this hero concept has solid foundations. I think that Diego could be great on the big screen. It would be a fast paced adventure movie, full of action but OK even for the little fans of Diego.

Envision Diego as a fully clothed cross between Tarzan, Indiana Jones and Doctor Doolittle, which is essentially how he is portrayed now. In the movie he is not 8 but 18, and a hot hot hottie with tousled hair and deep brown eyes who pets tapirs and does his own gymnastics. His sentient tools Rescue Pack and Click are weird alien artifacts that he found in an ancient temple. Diego can speak to the CGI animals, some of which only speak subtitled spanish. Some are ferocious and some brooding, but all of them respect Diego.

Diego would open the movie rescuing animals by battling one natural disaster after another, occurring in such rapid succession that Baby Jaguar (all grown up and pure CGI cat muscle) rolls his eyes. Then the animals begin to disappear and (with Alicia's help) Diego must figure out why, find them, rescue them, and ultimately face aliens who themselves are animal rescuers and hope to save the animals from human ignorance.

One major change: Diego would not shout everything he says but would occasionally speak in moderate tones. The Diego theme music needs no help, especially the rocking timbale solo that closes the show.

Nickelodeon execs, I should mention that my consulting fees are dirt cheap. The above is only a tickler.