It’s time to finally look at the big movie that came out for this series. Pretty much everyone knows about the books from the old days but how many of you have seen the film? I was generally aware of it but now it was time to finally see how good it could be. The visuals are impressive with how bright and colorful it is but I do think the story could have used a little more pop. Ultimately it’s a solid film that I can still recommend to anyone though.
The movie starts with George wandering around the jungle and having a good time. He likes playing with the various animals and exploring all of the things that he doesn’t know. One day a museum employee named Ted shows up to find a giant artifact that will save the place from closing down. Unfortunately he only finds a miniature one and decides to lie about it to his boss. Not a good plan and then George ends up following him back to the city. Ted must now find a way to save the museum, keep George from ruining things, and stay one step ahead of Junior, a jealous colleague who wants to speed up his demise. It’s going to be a long day for Ted.
Right away I will say that Junior makes for a pretty fun villain. You can see why the guy is jealous because his father who owns the museum is really good friends with Ted. Junior wants to be the sole center of attention and rather than improving his own abilities in order to get that role, he spends all his time trying to sabotage Ted. The guy’s priorities are absolutely off the whole time. Well I suppose that’s why he’s the villain eh? He does a good job of putting Ted on the spot on different occasions though. He is able to see through Ted’s lie pretty quickly and then decides to make a big spectacle of it. He may have even claimed victory here if he had just told his father about the lie right away instead so it’s another example of his petty revenge getting in the way.
Don’t expect this guy to be a serious villain though. He’s funny and that’s why I say that the guy is solid but he does spend a lot of time crying so that doesn’t really help his age either. Still, you always want to have a main villain to root against even in a film aimed at kids so it was a good idea to put him into the adventure.
A film is only as good as its lead though so how was Ted? Well he’s one of those characters who means well but is always getting into a whole ton of trouble: the guy is completely oblivious to Maggie’s advances and just keeps on doubling down on everything which gets him into more and more trouble. He should not have tried lying from the start and still could have had the chance to save the day. He needed to be a little more creative instead of just giving up. Ted’s generally a kind soul and so he’s a good main character but naturally I prefer my leads to be a bit more proactive and on the ball. He basically has to get forced into going on the jungle adventure in the first place and you’d think that he would be the one chomping at the bit to save the day.
As for Maggie, she’s a solid heroine. I give her credit for really being more upfront than most characters when it comes to the realm of romance but at the same time she may as well have just confessed by that point. That’s always my position when it comes to romance in general. If you like someone then you should just ask them out instead of dropping hints and riddles as you wait for them to make the first move. It’s always a good idea to take the initiative. It ultimately works out for her though. If the film got a bunch of sequels I could definitely see her being a solid supporting character throughout.
The film is generally pretty funny, it has some good gags like Ted trying to hide George from the hotel staff. That said, the film tends to be funniest with the human characters as George just doesn’t have the same impact. It’s a bit ironic since George is in theory the selling point but instead he ends up being one of the weakest characters here. There’s just not a lot to him which is part of the point I suppose. He mainly messes with anything that captures his attention in order to live up to the curious part but that’s about it. I think it would have helped if he could talk, personally I feel like that would make a huge difference.
You could also have more of a dynamic between him and Ted that way. Sure we do get the character arc of them getting closer to each other including an emotional scene when George is being taken away, but it doesn’t hit as hard as it would have if he could talk. Instead you always have to wait for the next human moment for there to be a lot of banter and intense dialogue.
Like I mentioned before, the animation is really solid here. In particular the colors are what really stood out because everything is just so bright. The colors absolutely pop out at you whether it be the yellow hat or the red color of the statutes. The movement is good as well and this is an animation style that will absolutely age very well. They spared no expense on this one and it makes you wonder just how good the fights would look in this film if it was a different genre.
Overall, Curious George is a good film. The pacing is solid and the production values are good. The script isn’t bad either and so that’s why you have a well balanced film. It’s not terribly exciting though so you really do need to be enjoying the visuals and the overall experience the whole time. If you’re looking for a deep story, well then you were in the wrong place all along. This isn’t that kind of film although I do think it could have been a little more thrilling. Best way to do that would have been to give Junior a bigger role because that guy really made for a solid antagonist. Either way I would recommend checking this out if you want to watch a pleasant film about a nostalgic property.
Overall 6/10
