Right On The Monkey
Curious George Captures Spirit of Children’s Books

I have to admit that when I first heard that someone was making a feature-length animated movie based on the Curious George children’s books I was more than a little skeptical. The books are rather slim (you can read one in about five minutes), the artwork is more painting-like than a lot of illustrated books, and Hollywood has recently butchered a couple of Dr. Seuss stories.

Will Ferrell and Drew Barrymore star as the Man in the Yellow Hat and Maggie in the new animated feature Curious George.

Well, I’m happy to report that the Curious George movie is bona fide success, especially if you are looking to entertain the youngest members of the family. The story moves along at a brisk pace, the animation is cleverly original yet stays true to the books, and George’s gentle spirit and mischievous nature are intact.

Unlike the Shrek movies and Monsters, Inc., Curious George is a movie dedicated to entertaining young children. Adults will enjoy it in a nostalgic sort of way, but it is really aimed at a genuine G-rated audience. The film features the voices of Will Ferrell as the Man in the Yellow Hat, Drew Barrymore as Maggie, Dick van Dyke as the professor, and David Cross as Junior. Apart from Farrell’s character, whose look was dictated by the original books, all of the characters in the movie look like the actors who provide their voices. It’s a nice touch that adults will appreciate.

As the movie opens, George is a happy little monkey living in Africa. The Man in the Yellow Hat is in charge of a museum in America—a museum that is losing customers because of a lack of a new exhibit. The professor sends the Man in the Yellow Hat to Africa to pick up a giant statue for the museum but he ends up coming back to America with George instead.

The plot is really secondary to the action and heart of the story. Like all good children’s films, there are a couple of important life lessons learned along the way. George learns that his curiosity can get him into hot water and the Man in the Yellow Hat learns the importance of sticking by your friends.

Everything about Curious George is colorful and pleasing. The soundtrack is filled with original songs by Jack Johnson that toe the line between kids’ music and Americana that the parents will enjoy.

Although Curious George isn’t breaking any new ground in the animated feature genre, it is nice to see a film that honors a time when artists created animation without the help of computers. It’s very two-dimensional, in an eye-catching way, with plenty of reliance on primary colors. Just like the book.

Curious George is rated G. It is currently playing at Regal Cinemas in Boone.

Margret & H.A. Rey

At a time when Hollywood’s freshest movies appear to be inspired by biographies (Capote; Good Night, and Good Luck; Ray; Walk the Line), I would love to see some filmmaker bring us the story of Margret & H.A. Rey, the couple who created the Curious George books. They were both born in Germany but met in Brazil where they married and started the first advertising agency in Rio de Janeiro. They later moved to Paris but had to flee their home during the Nazi invasion of France during World War II.

In an article for Publishers Weekly, Margret told of the couples’ exodus: “In June 1940, on a rainy morning before dawn, a few hours before the Nazis entered, we left Paris on bicycles, with nothing but warm coats and our manuscripts—Curious George among them—tied to the baggage racks, and started pedaling south. We finally made it to Lisbon, by train, having sold our bicycles to customs officials at the French-Spanish border. After a brief interlude in Rio de Janeiro, our migrations came to an end one clear, crisp October morning in 1940, when we saw the Statue of Liberty rise above the harbor of New York, and we landed in the U.S.A.”

For the Curious George series, H.A. drew the pictures and Margret wrote the words. He died in 1977 and Margret passed away in 1996.

The idea of a young artist couple pedaling away from the Nazis during WWII, only to end up coming to America and creating one of the most beloved children’s book characters of all time is pretty compelling stuff and, in the hands of the right director, would make a movie I would want to see.