Movie Review

After seeing CURIOUS GEORGE on Friday night (see previous post for details) I can honestly say that I would give it 3 stars, possibly 3.5 as I have only two real complaints...but we'll get to those in a minute. My comments are overwhelmingly positive, and I think the producers have hit upon a mostly-perfect style to keep a CG franchise alive and well for a long time. While not identical to the original H.A. Rey illustrations, George and friends are based very closely upon the original, and maintain the style and feeling of the beloved books. With one exception...
As voiced by Will Ferrell, The Man In The Yellow Hat has become less of a benevolent father-figure and more of a buffoon. His bumbling and stumbling are funny, just not really "right" for TMITYH. I would have much preferred to see (hear?) someone like Dick Van Dyke (who also voices one of the characters) as TMITYH, with Will Ferrell as a bumbling lab assistant or jungle guide. Ferrell was funny...just not appropriately cast.

My other complaint is a small one, as the "problem" was very short-lived. However, (and this is a frequent criticism I have with much children's literature) there were a couple of genuinely scary moments in which George appeared to be in real danger. As I admitted, these were few... one of these lasted for about two seconds (a fall from a great height, only to be caught and saved at the last minute by TMITYH) and the other about two minutes (a not-so-happy segment in which The Man is despondent over a mishap at the museum and George is put on a boat back to Africa...of course, The Man realizes how much he loves George and rushes down to the boat and saves him.) Okay, so we're not talking Bambi's mother or Old Yeller-type "oh my God, I want to kill myself" tear-jerking, but especially for the younger ones, these segments may have been a bit too intense. I would have found it much more palatable to have seen a secondary character emperiled in some way, and George and TMITYH rushing together to save "Fred" or whoever...I'm sure I've put waaaaaaaaaaay more thought into the subject than the average 6-year-old (ie the movie's target audience) but I think it would be better not to have the kids genuinely fear for the safety or well-being of a character in whom they have put an emotional investment. I mean, let's face it...do you really care what happens to "random guy we've only seen once or twice?"

Bottom line, however, is that there is (of course) a very sweet and happy ending, the film is cute and faithful to the books, and overall, the casting is superb. As a CG fan, I recommend it highly.

FLT3