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To me, this movie is perfection.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Admirable film.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie. It mayn't be an animated classic, but it is so cute, amusing, clean and charming you find it so easy to like. The traditional animation is nice and colourful, with the pretty backgrounds especially standing out, and the soundtrack is very bright and breezy. The dialogue also amuses, the opening sequence is an inspired touch and the story while thin and predictable perhaps is nice and simple, easy to follow and goes along at a cracking pace thanks to George's mishaps. Not only that, it sticks to the spirit of the terrific books. The characters are engaging, especially George who is just adorable and steals every scene he's in. The voice work overall is terrific, Will Ferrell I am not a fan of but he does a solid job voicing a likable character, Drew Barrymore is appealing and it is a delight hearing Dick Van Dyke again. In fact, Curious George's only real problem, or so in my view, is that it is too short. In conclusion though, it is delightful. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Curious George, the protagonist of a very popular series of children's books, is a character I was familiar with from a very early age, when books from the series were read to me. I also remember listening to "Curious George" stories on cassette tape, and eventually seeing stop-motion animation based on the books. With all these memories, I'm not exactly sure why it took me several years to get around to watching this 2006 film adaptation. I seem to remember hearing about this movie and that Will Ferrell was in it, but for some reason, I forgot about it for a long time, until the other day, when I came across a copy of it in the video store. When that happened, I decided to rent it, and overall, I found it to be an impressive family film.Ted works at the Bloomsberry Museum. Every Thursday, an elementary school teacher named Maggie (Ted's love interest) takes her class to this museum, and Ted gives lectures on displays, which the students find very boring. When museum owner Mr. Bloomsberry tells Ted that the business is going under and his son, Bloomsberry Junior, plans to have the building demolished and replaced by a parking lot, the employee decides they could save the museum by getting a large idol called the Lost Shrine of Zagawa. Bloomsberry plans to go and get it himself, but then decides he is too old, so he sends Ted, who then sets out to Africa in a yellow safari outfit to find the statue. Unfortunately, he only comes back with a miniature idol and a curious monkey he met in Africa who follows him back home. Ted doesn't know the monkey has followed him home until he finds him in his apartment, and the presence of an animal gets him evicted! This leads to the beginning of an adventure with Ted and the monkey, who gets a new name, George. The museum employee continues his attempts to save Bloomsberry Museum, but Bloomsberry Junior does not want him to succeed, and although George means well, his curiosity is also bound to cause trouble.This adaptation has a good opening sequence, showing George (not yet given that name) in the jungles of Africa, making many other animals angry, which can be pretty funny. This intro also features a good song called "Upside Down" by Jack Johnson. After that, we see Ted in the museum, talking to a class of very bored students, and this is a good part for laughs. There are many other funny moments, some small laughs and some big ones, though the film may sometimes overdo it a little with the sight gags. The animation here (traditional animation) is excellent, with some great backgrounds, both for the jungle and for the city. George and Ted (The Man in the Yellow Hat) both stand out as likable characters, and they're not the only ones. Another one is Maggie, voiced by Drew Barrymore. I also can't think of a single poor voice-over performance in the entire film, with Will Ferrell as the voice of Ted, veteran voice artist Frank Welker as George (Welker often does animal voices), and several other big names in the cast. There were times when I felt I would have found the story more entertaining as a kid, but overall, I was still impressed with this story, with many of the experiences George and Ted have on their adventure (which are often humorous), and their friendship can lead to some touching moments in this "Curious George" adaptation.For the most part, I didn't find this film to be a family masterpiece, as it sometimes seemed too much like a typical children's TV cartoon to me, but it certainly has a lot of charm, which was enough to leave me in a good mood. Also, since it is based on a classic series of children's books, it's good that they made this movie clean enough to earn a G rating, unlike so many other modern-day family films. It's the same case as with the 2008 full-length adaptation of Dr. Seuss's "Horton Hears a Who!" Unlike the live action movie adaptations of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" and "The Cat in the Hat" that preceded it (especially the latter), that 2008 CGI effort was clean enough for a G rating, instead of PG, which is a good thing, since it's based on a Dr. Seuss book. Anyway, while kids just MIGHT like this traditionally animated "Curious George" adaptation more than adult viewers, I think there's enough here for both groups.

Based on the popular children's books, this was a cartoon I had heard a little about, so I thought I might as well see if it was worth getting interested in. Basically a natural history museum is having a hard time attracting people, so the owner's son Junior (David Cross) wants to turn it into a parking lot, while his father Bloomsberry (Dick Van Dyke) wants to keep it running. So to try and get some more business Bloomsberry sends museum guide Ted, aka Man with the Yellow Hat (Will Ferrell), to go to Africa and find an ancient mysterious idol called the Lost Shrine of Zagawa. He finds what he thinks is the idol, a tiny keyring size gem monkey, and he also finds a mischievous and curious monkey (Frank Welker) that follows him back home. While he tries to find a way to explain the bad news of the statue and the museum's possible closure, he gives the monkey the name George (after President Washington), and tries to keep him under control. George is fascinated with the world around him, and he is never far away from creating a little bit of chaos while he has fun exploring and touching things in his wonder. Thankfully, in the end, Ted finds out the whereabouts of the true statue from the tiny one in the sunlight, the museum is saved, and Ted finally gets love interest Maggie (Drew Barrymore), with George sticking around. Also starring Eugene Levy as Clovis, Joan Plowright as Ms. Plushbottom, Billy West as Manager and Clint Howard as Balloon Man. The animation might not be the most exciting thing ever, but with good voice casting, a good story, songs by Jack Johnson (including "Upside Down" and "Supposed To Be"), and a cute and cuddly lead creature like George, you do get to have some fun. Worth watching!

The "Curious George" books were never my first choice for reading, even as a kid, but they were my wife's favourites, and so we rented this for our 3 year old daughter. It's a kids movie, and she watched it all the way through and her attention didn't seem to wander much, so I have to rate this as a success.The story was updated pretty well to the 21st century (for example, cell phones) and the story was fun to follow and solved at least one of the things I didn't like about the original stories. My memory is that back then, George was captured by the man in the yellow hat (voiced in this movie by Will Ferrell) and brought back to a zoo, where the man tells him he'll be so much happier. This story is a little more eco-friendly. George likes Ted (the name of the man in the yellow hat) and follows him back without his knowledge. I still have a bit of trouble with the monkey wanting to leave the jungle to become a pet, but, hey, it's a kiddie movie, right? In a couple of ways, the movie is too formulaic. There's the apparently requisite romance, for example, between Ted and Maggie (Drew Barrymore.) Would kids really care? And, of course, there has to be the evil character, in the form of Junior (David Cross), whose father Mr. Bloomsberry (Dick Van Dyke) owns the museum Ted works at, and who sets out to close it to build a parking lot.Having said that, the movie worked (especially for the target audience.) I got worried at one point because it seemed as though the solution for saving the museum was going to be built on a lie (what kind of message would that have been for kiddies?) but finally the lie is abandoned (interestingly enough it's evil Junior who points out that lying would be wrong - although he does it for his own evil purposes!) It's a lot of fun and has some great animation; worth renting for the kids, or if you have unsatisfied longings to return to your childhood. 7/10