If you were ever curious about the Man in the Yellow Hat's real name, how he found his impish little sidekick, or why exactly he wears a yellow hat and suit in the first place, "Curious George" will put your mind at ease.
Matthew O'Callaghan directs the big screen version of the popular children's book series, first published some sixty years ago, incorporating several great Hollywood talents to make a better-than-average G-rated movie. While there are no adult jokes, there are things that adults will no doubt find funny and, of course, cute.
The film opens with a playful George trying to entertain his jungle brethren with a series of hilarious antics. After a full day of monkeying around in the animal kingdom, George goes to sleep all alone while his furry friends are attended by their respective parents. But luckily for George, the Man in the Yellow Hat, voiced by Will Ferrell, is on his way.
The Man ventures on excursion to Africa in the hopes of finding an artifact that will draw a big enough crowd to keep his boss's struggling museum afloat. Unfortunately, the artifact, which is billed to be 40 feet tall, turns out to be only a small figurine, leaving The Man in the Yellow Hat out of a job and the patrons without the promised spectacle. The Man in the Yellow Hat, with George's help, decides to come up with a way to produce an artifact before the museum has to be sold.
Surprisingly, the film's opening spends a good deal of time focusing on the orphaned and mischievous chimp, George, in his natural habitat. This opening sequence is pleasantly backed by the music of Jack Johnson, effectively making it the funniest and most touching scene in the film, though it uses none of the film's considerable voice talent.
Will Ferrell, Dick Van Dyke, Drew Barrymore, David Cross, Eugene Levy and Joan Plowright round out a cast surely intended to draw audiences. For most of the film, however, it sounds as if the actors are reading from a children's book to a group of kids. They could have hired any mother or father well-versed in the art of bedtime stories to relate George's latest animated adventure to the same effect.
"Curious George" is by no means a masterpiece. The animation blatantly and clumsily shifts from hand drawings to computer drawings for long shots. That said, this reversion back to traditional cel animation, instead of the ever-so-popular CGI, is much appreciated, especially in an adaptation of a children's book known for its distinctive, hand-drawn illustrations.
The screenplay is an effort by several notable writers, including veterans of such comedies as the latter "Austin Powers" movies, "Monsters Inc." (2001), "Shrek" (2001) and 2004's "Shrek 2." With those powers combined, "Curious George" does amount to a universally entertaining children's flick.
And, while the film is somewhat suspenseful, that quality seems contrived when the movie's conflict reaches an unlikely and simple resolution, though it's probably very interesting and creative to the movie's younger viewers.
With that said, the humor in "Curious George" is Chaplin-esque, using more visual than verbal cues and backed by music when there is no dialogue. This type of humor is enjoyable because it is refreshing. "Curious George" is not the funniest or most memorable movie, but you just might find yourself chuckling out loud at times.
This movie is clearly geared toward young children. Anyone over the age of 13 may not want to make a trip to the theater for this film, but the cuteness factor makes a watch more than bearable.
George is practically a little kid, one that any actual little kid can identify with and enjoy. Besides, don't we all just love to watch little kids, or monkeys in this case, do what they do best - be cute?
