Curious George (film)
Curious George is a 2006 animated adventure comedy film based on the book series written by H.A. Rey and Margret Rey and illustrated by Alan J. Shalleck. It was directed by Matthew O'Callaghan, who replaced Jun Falkenstein. Ken Kaufman wrote the screenplay based on a story by him and Mike Werb. Ron Howard, David Kirschner, and John Shapiro produced. It was released on February 10, 2006 by Universal Pictures. Featuring the voice of Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, David Cross, Eugene Levy, Joan Plowright, and Dick Van Dyke, with Frank Welker voicing the titular character. It was Imagine Entertainment's first fully animated film, as well as Universal Animation Studios' first theatrically released film.
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.
The film grossed $69.8 million from a $50 million budget and has a 69% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, which calls it "a bright, sweet, faithful adaptation". The film received a Satellite Award nomination for the song "Upside Down".
Plot
Ted Shackleford is a tour guide at the Bloomsberry Museum, which is often visited by teacher Ms. Maggie Dunlop and her students, being the only regular visitors. Mr. Bloomsberry informs Ted that the museum will have to close because it is no longer making a steady money flow. Mr. Bloomsberry's son, Junior, wants to tear down the museum and replace it with a parking garage. Ted is convinced to volunteer to go to Africa in place of Mr. Bloomsberry and bring back a mystical, forty-foot tall idol known as the "Lost Shrine of Zagawa" in the hopes that it will attract customers, much to Junior's envy. Ted is outfitted with a yellow suit and boards a cargo ship to Africa.With the help of a guide and tour group, Ted supposedly finds the idol but discovers it to be only three inches tall and an inscription saying, "turn the eye to the light, go from blindness to sight." He sends a picture of it to the museum, but the angle at which it was taken leads Mr. Bloomsberry to believe that the shrine was even taller than he had originally believed. Ted encounters a happy and mischievous monkey living in the jungle and gives him his yellow hat, but the monkey soon follows him and boards the cargo ship. Ted returns home to find advertisements for the shrine all over the city, and receives a call from Mr. Bloomsberry telling him to report to the museum and be interviewed for the news.
After he reaches Ted's apartment, the monkey discovers the building's penthouse and vandalizes a woman's room with paint. Due to the strict "No pets allowed" policy, Ted is evicted by Russian-accented doorman Ivan. Ted returns to the museum and reveals to Bloomsberry the idol's size. Ted is kicked out of the museum by Junior after the monkey accidentally destroys an Apatosaurus skeleton.
Ted and the monkey sleep outside in the city park. The next morning, Ted follows the monkey into the zoo, where Maggie and her students name the monkey "George" after a nearby George Washington statue. George begins floating away on helium balloons high up over the city, prompting Ted to commandeer a larger amount of balloons and a kite to save him. George's balloons are inevitably popped by bird control spikes on a building but Ted catches him.
Ted and George make their way to the home of an inventor named Clovis, where George uses an overhead projector to increase the idol's size, making it appear 40 feet tall. Ted and George head to the museum so that Ted can reveal and explain his plan to Mr. Bloomsberry. Junior tries to convince his father that it would not be honest to fool the public, but Mr. Bloomsberry sees it as the only way to save the museum. Crushed and jealous, Junior foils Ted's plan by pouring a latte on the projector, causing it to explode, and says that George caused it because he gave him the rest and Ted thinks George poured the latte and caused it. So it is revealed that George had ruined Ted’s plan when he really didn’t and as a result he ends up getting taken into custody by animal control. Ted addresses the crowd outside of the museum, announcing that it is to close permanently and they don’t have the idol.
Ted later speaks with Ms. Maggie who helps him understand what is important in life. Ted regrets his decision to let George be captured and drives his car all the way onto George's cargo ship to get him back. While Ted explains to George that nothing else matters besides their "buddyship," George discovers that the idol reveals a pictogram when turned to the light, and Ted realizes the meaning of the inscription: when held up to the sun, the small idol is actually a map to the real idol. They sail the ship back to Africa and George helps Ted find the real forty-foot tall idol.
The idol is put in the museum, which goes back in business and becomes more successful than ever from becoming more hands-on through the addition of George, Clovis's inventions, and Ms. Dunlop and her young students. Despite being devastated over not getting his parking lot, Junior gets a job as the valet, but finds joy in his father, Mr. Bloomsberry, finally being proud of him. Ivan invites Ted to move back to his apartment out of his fondness for George. George causes more trouble by starting up a rocket ship which he and Ted are forced to fly and end up repeatedly circumnavigating the globe.
Cast
- Frank Welker as Curious George, a curious monkey who is compassionate and clever, with a proficiency in the visual art.
- Will Ferrell as Theodore "Ted" Shackleford, Curious George's friend. He is clumsy but resilient and compassionate. In a deleted scene, his last name is established as Shackleford.
- Drew Barrymore as Margaret "Maggie" Dunlop, a teacher and Ted's love interest. She is named after Margaret Rey, one of Curious George's creators.
- David Cross as Junior Bloomsberry, the son and only child of the museum's owner.
- Eugene Levy as Clovis, an inventor who builds robotic animals to help him with his work.
- Joan Plowright as Ms. Plushbottom, Ted's neighbor. She is an opera singer.
- Dick Van Dyke as Mr. Bloomsberry, the kind, elderly owner of the museum.
- Ed O'Ross as Ivan, the Russian doorman at Ted's apartment building.
- Michael Chinyamurindi as Edu, Ted's African guide.
Production
Director Matthew O'Callaghan greatly appreciated having Dick Van Dyke voice one of the characters. "I was surprised when I actually finally met him that he had never done an animated voice before, with his association with Disney for all those years. I was just blown away so I'm going, 'This is great,' because as an animation director you always want to use people who are fresh, who haven't done animated voices – at least I do." he said. Voice-recording sessions took place between late 2003 and early 2004.
After the voice-recording sessions, animating and filming began on March 15, 2004. CG supervisor Thanh John Nguyen states that they tried to duplicate the look of the cars in the book, which Executive Producer Ken Tsumura describes as bearing the look of the 1940s and 1950s; according to production designer Yarrow Cheney, the filmmakers also partnered with Volkswagen to design the red car that Ted drives, simplifying it a bit and rounding the edges. Cheney also said that prior to this they had based some of the models on Volkswagens due to their suitability.
Release
The film was released to 2,566 theaters on February 10, 2006, 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. The film was released on DVD on September 26, 2006.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 gave the film three out of a possible four stars and 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.
Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly was "pleasantly surprised" by the film's calm tone, which he found to be against modern trends, but said that George was perhaps a bit too sweet and that the "movie comes close to denying he's any sort of troublemaker". He noted somewhat negatively the few modern anachronisms in the film. Brian Lowry of Variety was negative about the film, criticizing the quality of the animation, the music, and other aspects.
Lowry states that there are some updates to the story, such as that "The Man in the Yellow Hat" from the books is finally given a name. He also notes that David Cross' animated character bears a strong resemblance to the actor himself. Colin Covert of the Minneapolis Star Tribune noted that the film's use of "traditional cell painting and digital effects" complements the original watercolor illustrations, and thought the film entertaining and yet still quite simple. He considered the difficulties in adapting the original stories into a film, and how some conflict and a slight romantic subplot were added.