CURIOUS GEORGE

US, 2006, 86 minutes. Colour.
Voices of: Frank Walker, Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, David Cross, Eugene Levy, Dick van Dyke
Directed by Matthew O' Callaghan.

Glad I saw this with some four and five year olds rather than eight or nine year olds. The latter would have thought it just for littlies. The littlies seemed to be engrossed with it more or less, though they still had to drag parents out for toilet breaks.

Actually, for this age group it is quite charming in its way, relying more on action and antics rather than characters and dialogue. For adults, it is a benign version of King Kong where inept academic explorer from America, trying to do an Indiana Jones, wants to discover a long lost idol but finds, instead, a curiously cute little monkey. It is only fair that George, the monkey, go to New York since, with Madagascar and The Wild, the process seems to be that cartoon animals are fleeing New York zoos for African climes.

Will Ferrel voices the bespectacled hero turned adventurer and Drew Barrymore his teacher girlfriend. Dick Van Dyke is the proprietor of the museum.

Colourful and sweet.