If you have kids, or if you have an affinity for well done, artfully animated movies, I would strongly recommend going to see Curious George. The two words that best describe the movie version of H. A. Rey's classic children's books do not tax the thesaurus and might unintentionally evoke treacle, but nonetheless, I stand by them: Curious George is both cute and sweet. It is unashamedly aimed at relatively young children, and while there are some funny moments, they are not of a piece with the recent trend in kids movies to keep adults in the game through a series of ironic or clever contemporary references and sly asides. The animation almost intentionally eschews computer generated kerfuffle except where it will truly enhance the visual experience, and the plot is both straightforward and timeless. as I reflect beack, with a few exceptions, this same movie might have been made in 1966.
Curious George is not perfect. For example, the decision to make the Man in the Yellow Hat something of a bumbling doofus was jarring to those of us who always envisioned him as a patient but competent foil to George, the truly human adult face in Curious George's life. Some might take issue with the fact that the movie strays somewhat from the books (I did not have a problem with this; my friend Jaime did.)
But minimal caveats aside, Jaime's little boy, Ben, loved it. So did Ana and Jaime. And so did I. Curious George will become a staple in every parent's dvd collection. If I know my girlfriend, it will become a staple in ours as well the Tuesday it is released in a few months.
1 comment:
From the reviews I've seen, they finessed the whole "caught and put in a zoo" thing, which was always something of a barrier to enjoying the original books.
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