Curious George (film)
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Curious George is a 2006 animated adventure comedy film based on the book series by H.A. Rey and Margret Rey.
The film had been under development at Imagine Entertainment for a long time, dating back at least 1992, but it is possible that it was conceived years before. Although a traditionally animated film, it blends animation with computer generated, 3D scenery and objects that take up 20% of its environment. It features a musical score by Heitor Pereira, with songs produced by the musician Jack Johnson.
Why It Makes Us Curious
- It stays very faithful to the original source material.
- Beautiful animation that captures the charm of the illustrations in the books as well as some great CGI on the cars.
- Great use of lighting and camera angles, with the parkour scene with George having an excellent camera angle.
- George is a very likeable character who is always curious about everything.
- The movie, while having a simple plot, manages to be consisently engaging and has some pretty heartfelt moments.
- The Man In The Yellow Hat is finally given a name unlike the original books.
- Several moments from the books are thrown into the movie yet it still remains to not feel like a rehash of the books.
- It has a lot of funny moments like when Ted falls into the penguin exhibit, the fireflies scene and the hotel scene.
- It has some awesomely sublime dialogue.
- It has some very terrifically charming vocal performances from Will Ferrell as Ted, Drew Barrymore as Maggie Dunlop, and more.
- It spawned a successful PBS TV series of the same name and two decent direct-to-DVD sequels.
- It has some brilliantly fantastic songs and music by Jack Johnson such as "Upside Down", "Broken" and "People Watching".
- One of the many examples of bringing back an old IP for the big screen done right.
Bad Qualities
- Some other characters were being mean-spirited to George and The Man In The Yellow Hat.
- The story can be predictable at times.
- George often does trouble just like the books or the TV show.
- The part where George gets captured by the animal control and taken to the ship to Africa was a bit dark, mean-spirited, and sad.
- Ted (The Man With The Yellow Hat) was a punching bag at the start of the movie.
Reception
The film has a 70% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 103 reviews; the average rating is 6.1/10. The site's consensus reads: "Curious George is a bright, sweet, faithful adaptation of the beloved children's books."
Roger Ebert praised the design of the film and its faithfulness to the "spirit and innocence of the books." Since he himself didn't particularly enjoy the film, Ebert made an exception in this case in recommending it for young children based on its better qualities, a point on which he said he disagreed somewhat with his television show co-host Richard Roeper.
Box office
The film was released to 2,566 theaters and opened at #3 with a total opening weekend gross of $14.7 million averaging $5,730 per theater. The film grossed $58.4 million in the United States and $11.5 million overseas, totaling $69.8 million worldwide.The film was released in the United Kingdom on May 26, 2006, and opened on #5.