Other than Arthur I think Curious George is the show I have seen the most. For well over a decade it was my breakfast show due to it coming on at 7 AM, and that first season is glorious. There are better PBS Kids shows, but I think its first season is a major candidate for their best season. It premiered when I was ten, and before then I really loved the books.
The first film came out in 2006 with the second coming out in 2009. This came out 6 years later in 2015, and it was a major change while still feeling like the movies. It keeps the darker and 4th wall breaking comedy, but it ditches all the side characters. Other than Ted (Man with the yellow hat’s real name) and George nobody in it is in another movie. Chuck Tately is back as the writer and Hector Pereira is back as the music composer. After this these jobs will be shifted for each movie. It is directed by Phil Weinstein. He also directed Balto II and Balto III.
I know I said this for the last movie, but it just feels special seeing the full Imagine Studios logo. Normally for an episode they just show a frame.
The opening scene shows the strengths and weaknesses. For one it adapts a famous part of the books. It is funny. The problem is the same as the all the sequels have, Ted scolds George and needs to learn to trust him. These movies do that message over and over for film after film. In some speedy exposition they quickly get to the main plot.
Some scientists made a dam to control flooding in Africa. Interesting they teach about manmade attempts to help the environment and portray it completely positively. I do not know if this science is accurate, but it feels really odd remembering this aired on PBS Kids. They lost their custom made one of kind controller (RDS), and they need George to retrieve it. It is in a dead satellite, and the only rockets they have is monkey sized. Very forced but okay. It is less forced than the plots of 2 and 5 (and less boring than the plot of 4). The problem is the scientists are boring. They are the typical excited and overly calm scientist, and they are too calm to be funny. As strange as this sounds John Goodman is phoning in the role.
It is not really an anti-caution message, but that does come through. It is really about Ted being a better parent by seeing what his monkey is actually doing. Another key detail is the stuff they do this movie is way crazier than the stuff they do in the 4th and 5th film, and that makes them struggling to be cautious more logical. After fighting off a lion illegally flying a broken plane does not sound very dangerous.
The movie then meanders for around ten minutes with astronaut training. George retrieves the RDS, accidently damages the rocket, crashes in Central Africa (hence the title), and he loses the RDS. The scientists dismissing all Ted concerns that keep proving legitimate is really annoying. Thankfully it has some saving scenes like Ted packing George his favorite lunch, and George saving a picture of Ted. It adds some needed heart to all the chaos.
One great thing about the first three movies is the conflict narrative is different in all of them. The first one is man vs himself, as Ted is also the main antagonist. The second one is man vs Man (a nice detail is the man is not the villain either, just the antagonist). This one is man vs nature.
The movie gets back to its biggest strength, Ted. I love George, but the movies increasingly made him crazier and crazier, and that gets to be too much for one movie. Ted on the other hand works great in large doses. The action survivor who somehow comes out on top in all these wacky situations. For example he gets mistaken for an astronaut allowing him to get a rental airplane. He realizes how dumb flying it is, accidently turns it on, and he somehow pulls it off. Most of the comedy is bad luck keeps following him resulting in getting the plane stuck. This guy is somehow incredibly lucky and unlucky at the same time.
After this the song “Welcome to Paradise” plays, as George saves a baby rhino while Ted tracks him down. This song was really pushed, as all the TVs at Walmart were constantly playing it in Summer 2015. It has poor lyrics and great melody. It is about the benefits of throwing caution to the wind. The show and books are on caution’s side. The first film is balanced. The sequels are anti-caution.
Ted and George are reunited, and a major strength is Jeff Bennet and Frank Welker’s acting. By this point they have the roles down so well, and they add so much sincerity to this man/monkey relationship. After this Ted lectures George about caution completely oblivious to George saving his life every two seconds. The middle of the movie is full of dragging scenes, and this is by far the best part of the middle. I think it shows this was made to be background noise on the TV.
The final third is Ted and George trying to retrieve and install the RDS before devastating floods come. It is a lot of episodic mishaps until they get there just for George to be unable to climb the power pole meaning everything will flood with the RDS right there. They solve it by making a kite to fly George. As underwhelming as most of this movie is the climax is very good.
It is unimpressive animation, hit or miss comedy, and a slow unfocused plot, but it certainly kept my attention the first watch back in 2015. I give it three Tree Stars for that. Certainly way better than the 5th film.
Next time. I finally found the source material for The Flight of Dragons. Time to look into it.
The Animation Historian 