Based on Margaret and H.A. Rey’s classic series of children’s books, Curious
George breathes life into the misadventures of its inquisitive little
primate and his keeper, heretofore known only as “The Man in the Yellow Hat.”
In an age of exactingly rendered, computer-generated animated landscapes, Curious
George is a bit of a throwback. Eschewing modern convention, the movie
instead hews closely to the same storybook style of the serial narratives,
aiming for appeal through characterization and a charm offensive rather than
technological bedazzlement. This tack captures the floppy-limbed antics of
George quite well, but makes for a movie that feels a bit quaint and, even if
they’re not able to articulate it, likely slight to many children.
 works as a curator and guide at his<br />
local museum, and if his earnest lectures are a bit dry and boring to the<br />
schoolchildren that frequently serve as his guests, they’re anything but to<br />
teacher Maggie (voiced by Drew Barrymore), who enjoys any excuse she can to<br />
entertain her barely concealed crush. One day, though, owner Mr. Bloomsberry<br />
(voiced by Dick Van Dyke) breaks the unfortunate news to Ted that the museum is<br />
going to have to close due to a shortage of income. While Ted is devastated,<br />
this is a potential boon to Bloomsberry’s perpetually overshadowed son Junior<br />
(voiced by David Cross), who shares none of his erstwhile-adventurer father’s<br />
interests and has accordingly always held Ted and the doting manner in which<br />
his father treats him in not-so-silent contempt. Junior’s plan is to turn the<br />
space into a parking lot (he even proudly displays a little model), but <b>Ted<br />
forestalls plans for closure by volunteering to trek to <st1:place>Africa</st1:place></b><br />
to track down a giant tribal carving of the Zagawa tribe and return it for a<br />
sure-to-be-popular display. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Outfitted in yellow by some silver-tongued safari salesmen, Ted sets sail,<br />
and <b>it’s not long before he stumbles across a curious little monkey</b> (later<br />
christened George by some of Maggie’s young charges). George takes to Ted’s<br />
bright outfit, at first mistaking his hat for a banana, and through a series of<br />
contrivances eventually stows away on the ship and follows him back home to the<br />
city, where Ted bears the unfortunate burden of having to tell Bloomsberry that<br />
his long-coveted statue is keychain-sized, not 40 feet tall. Here, <b>George gets<br />
into all sorts of trouble, and Ted rescues him from various predicaments</b> while<br />
trying to also concoct a plan to save the museum. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><b><i>Curious George</i> has over the last dozen years gone through many<br />
writers and almost as many potential directors</b>, including one planned live<br />
action/CGI hybrid under the eye of <i>The Iron Giant</i>’s Brad Bird that was<br />
scrapped after the runaway success of <i>Shrek</i>. (Monkey see, monkey do, in <st1:City><st1:place>Hollywood</st1:place></st1:City>,<br />
I guess.) The version that actually made it to the big screen is directed by<br />
Matthew O’Callaghan (television’s <i>Life With Louie</i>, the straight-to-video<br />
feature <i>Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas</i>), and <b>comes across as<br />
straightforward and unfussy, a throwback to animated movies like <i>The<br />
Rescuers</i> and <i>The Land Before Time</i></b>. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>After the <b>dreadfully slow-going opening sequence</b> in <st1:place>Africa</st1:place><br />
set to one of the <b>several treacly tunes Jack Johnson provides for the movie</b>,<br />
things come to life when Ted arrives in <st1:place>Africa</st1:place>, and<br />
really bloom when the pair returns to the city. <b>All pat narrative hurdles are<br />
quite clearly and plainly delineated</b>, but the film thankfully doesn’t make<br />
George talk or give us a direct inner monologue, though it does — like Peter<br />
Jackson’s recent <i>King Kong</i>, actually — anthropomorphize George by<br />
ascribing to him very human emotions. <b>This is the crux of the movie’s appeal —<br />
the playfulness and yearning for companionship of George</b>, and the lengths to<br />
which the ever responsible Ted goes to rescue his newfound friend and also help<br />
save Bloomsberry’s museum. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=)
Much material is gently, winningly evocative of the books (George
finger-painting the white walls of a snooty society lady, Ted coming to
George’s rescue as he floats off with a bunch of balloons), but not necessarily
integral to the main story. That said, Ferrell gives a good voice performance
as the somewhat scatterbrained but innately honorable Ted, even working in a
few sly, improv asides. Generally pleasing if not quite lastingly touching, Curious
George will sate many children’s curiosity, and certainly fans of the
books, but may not be flashy enough for those weaned on the flash (and
flatulence jokes) of the breathlessly paced Shrek films.
Supplemental extras on the 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen presentation include a whopping 15 deleted scenes that clock in at 17 minutes, as well as the music video for Jack Johnson’s “Upside Down.” There’s also a neat featurette that instructs kids on how to draw Curious George, and a five-minute featurette that includes chats with animation artists. Rounding things out are a bunch of set-top interactive games and activities, plus a “virtual coloring book” and DVD-ROM content. B
(Movie)