Curious George is an old-fashioned animated feature that is nonetheless quite entertaining. It's based on the beloved series of children's books by the husband-wife team of H. A. and Margret Rey. The Reys shared a love of animals, but as German Jews, their 1935 move to Paris turned out to be unwise. When they realized the danger posed by Hitler’s advancing armies, H. A. scrabbled enough parts to put together two bicycles, and he and Margret escaped from Paris in the dead of night, just hours before the Germans stormed in. They pedaled for four days to reach the Spanish border, with only the clothes on their back, and the carefully illustrated manuscripts for six children's books. Among them was Curious George.

The Reys quickly found a warm and welcoming home in the United States. The first Curious George book was published to great acclaim by Houghton Mifflin in 1941. More than 60 years and 27 million books later, the gentle tale of the lovable and mischievous little monkey is still enchanting children, even in this age of violent videos. The movie perfectly captures the gentle nature of the "Curious George" tales. It's entertaining without sacrificing anything to supposedly "modern" tastes, and, I suspect, the reason it works so well is because it's so universal.

The opening sequence of the movie introduces George and instantly sets up his curious nature. That’s also where we hear the first of the wonderful musical score by Jack Johnson. His sprightly, light-hearted songs set a perfect, mellow tone for the movie.

George investigates everything in his African jungle home, and usually ends up in trouble with the grown-up animals. (It's made quite clear in the movie that George is a baby monkey, something I never got from the books.) Then one day George meets an inept explorer named "The Man in the Yellow Hat," (voiced by Will Ferrell). He mistakes the man’s hat for a mega banana and is instantly smitten. The Man works for the faltering Bloomsbury museum in New York City, and he's been sent to Africa to look for a giant monkey idol that will save the museum. If he can't find it, Mr. Bloomsbury's son is going to turn the museum into a parking lot. Nothing like a little pressure to get an anxious jungle explorer going.

The voice talent is really good in the movie, and all the actors put a lot of heart into their performances. Dick Van Dyke plays Mr. Bloomsbury with suitable gravitas, and David Cross is very funny as the whiny, unsuccessful son who's jealous of his dad's relationship with The Man in the Yellow Hat. Drew Barrymore is sweet as The Man's love interest, but it's George himself, who never utters a word, who all but steals the show.

When "The Man" goes to Africa, all he can find is a 3 inch monkey statuette, because Mr. Bloomsbury's son has altered the treasure map that would have led him straight to the idol. The Man drags himself back to New York in utter defeat, only to find Mr. Bloomsbury has the media and even the general public whipped into a frenzy of anticipation over the giant monkey idol.

Things go from bad to worse. The Man loses his job, his apartment, his girl, but he still has Curious George. Will that be enough to save the day?

Of course it will.

In case you’re worried that an old-fashioned animated feature like Curious George can’t hold your children’s interest, the kids at the screening I attended were held in rapt attention throughout the movie. I didn’t hear any whining or crying, in itself a miracle given the average age of the attendees. And when we exited the theater, the children eagerly grabbed the free mini posters being given out, and they were all chattering with great enthusiasm about the movie. Even the somewhat older kids, the 10 to 13-year-olds one would guess might have been bored, were all smiling, because Curious George is just an engaging, feel-good movie, and one that’s very well executed. Director Matthew O’Callaghan can be proud that his first major feature as a director is so entertaining and well-crafted.

Speaking of craft, perhaps that’s why O’Callaghan did such a great job with Curious George. He started his film career as a storyboard artist who then evolved into an animator, working on films like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" and "The Little Mermaid." He then morphed into a sometimes writer and frequent visual effects supervisor, usually working on animated features like "102 Dalmatians." If I was hiring in Hollywood, I would take someone like Matthew O’Callaghan, who learned his craft step-by-step from the ground up by working on actual movies, over some hot shot kid with a UCLA film school degree any old day.

I look for great things from this director in the future. If his take on Curious George is any indication, there are lots more wonderful children’s movies in our future.

As a final note, the Curious George web site is exceptional and offers a lot of great activities for kids. Visit curiousgeorgemovie.com and check out all the fun.



Recommended:
Yes