Curioso come George

I thought I would be bored out of my SKULL seeing this, but I really enjoyed a lot of this movie. I am glad I watched this with some friends and their siblings, and by the end of it we were all pretty cheerful, Curious George is such a gentle, light feel-good movie!

Ted (voiced by Will Ferrell) is a guide at a museum. He needs more fun in his life, and it comes in the form of a cute little monkey, who Ted names George, after the George Washington statue. George stowed away on Ted's boat, after Ted was sent to find some ancient shrine in Africa - and lo behold! George is now part of Ted's life. However, George is a bit difficult, and Ted's life gets more and more stressful in the process...

I thought the music was the highlight of the entire movie. Jack Johnson's soulful, calm, meaningful tracks just did it for me. Each song fit in perfectly with the movie too. The animation is fantastic. Though strictly childish, it is appealing to adults too! George is ADORABLE! Just look at him! I also liked the story, it is universal, and everyone enjoys a film, rather than kids freaking out and adults sitting there bored. Curious George does not do that. Everyone enjoys.

Anymore animated movies are trying to appeal to adult audiences with crude humor, and double meanings. If I wanted to see an adult movie, I would get a babysitter. This is a movie FOR CHILDREN. I took my 2 and 3 year old girls to see it. It is a visually stunning rendering of the classic children's books. George is wholesome, endearing, and charming. The whimsical animation style breathes life to the character we remember fondly from our youth. He exudes youthful exuberance and energy and mischief.

It is a true G rated movie. I would say it reminds me of Classic Disney but even Cinderella had its wicked stepmother and Sleeping Beauty definitely had its scary moments. There is nothing here to frighten even the smallest children. Only delight them!

Here I am, taking my 2 year old to a movie expecting to be bored stiff. Much to my surprise, my 8 year old also enjoyed it, and my 2 year old sat enraptured and watched the entire movie without a peep. And then talked non-stop about it for the next couple days. That is enough for a positive rating, but I also found myself enjoying this cute movie. Usually for that to happen the movie makers have to put in scenes just for the parents that the kids don't get at all, not here, I found myself chuckling at the same things my daughter did. Just simple innocent monkey business and a bumbling Will Ferrel, it needs no more. I even thought the additions by Jack Lullaby Johnson added to the movie, not just to put the parents asleep. We will definitely end up with this movie on our shelves for the kids, and even the parents can watch it one or 2 more times without going out of our minds with the typical substitute stupid for cute fare that usually passes for children movies.

Universal Studios and Imagine Entertainment have, in the past, co-conspired to produce two truly offensive cinematic travesties of iconic children's books: "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "The Cat and the Hat". With "Curious George" I am delighted and relieved to say that in this instance tragedies do not come in threes. Simple, charming, attractively animated (by hand, with some 3D effects which blend in well), appropriate for kids, with no Seinfeldian self- consciousness or Adam Sandler-style gross-out humor, this film is near perfect.

I say near perfect because of Will Ferrell's vocal performance as The Man in the Yellow Hat (now named Ted) is a misfire. If he talked about 35% as much as he does in the film he would be just right. He's still better than in the god-awful "Bewitched" pseudo-remake. But that's a small price to pay for one of the few genuinely appropriate-for-children children's movies since the Jim Henson-era Muppet movies.

"George" succeeds where every post-Lilo and Stitch, non-Pixar Disney film has failed. Yet the finger-licking' bad, sub-Dreamworks "Chicken Little" made more money.

I took my two-year-old son to see this movie, his first in a theater, and we both had a great time. Curious George is a light-hearted, sweet movie that portrays our little monkey's mayhem without resorting to manic pacing, blaring music or wise-cracking.

In fact, the makers deliberately put very little into the movie that is aimed over the children's head and at the parents. So, unlike a Shrek or a Toy Story movie, there was never an instance of a joke that mommy and daddy laugh at and the kids miss. All the jokes are shared.

So, see this movie with a small one. It probably isn't 'slick' enough for anyone over 8. People without small children can take a pass. The most hard core Curious George fans can rent the DVD.