Curious George [Blu-ray]

Director: Matthew O'Callaghan

Overview

The naughty little monkey from Margret Rey and H.A. Rey's beloved children's stories makes the leap to the big screen in this animated adaptation. Ted (voice of Will Ferrell) is an explorer with a large yellow hat who is good friends with Bloomsberry (voice of Dick Van Dyke), who runs a natural history museum. Bloomsberry's greedy son, Bloomsberry Junior (voice of David Cross), wants to tear down his dad's museum and put a parking ramp in its place, but the elder Bloomsberry is convinced that a spectacular new exhibit could save the museum from the wrecking ball. Ted heads to Africa on an expedition to find some special artifacts that will keep his friend in business, but while he's there he befriends a playful monkey he calls George (voice of Frank Welker). While George is friendly, he has a taste for mischief and seems to always get Ted in hot water; Ted thinks he's seen the last of his simian friend when his ship heads back to America, until he discovers that George managed to hide aboard the boat before it set sail. Ted's search for a eye-catching exhibit proved to be a failure, and Ted and his good friend Maggie (voice of Drew Barrymore), a schoolteacher who's sweet on him, struggle to find of a way to save Bloomsberry's museum. But time becomes precious for Ted when George has an entire new city to explore. Curious George features a handful of original songs composed for the film by surfer-turned-singer/songwriter Jack Johnson.

Product Details

Release Date:	03/03/2015
UPC:	0025192274961
Original Release:	2006
Rating:	G
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo, DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound]
Language:	English
Time:	1:28:00
Sales rank:	25,042

Special Features

Jack Johnson music video with sing-along feature; 15 deleted scenes: even more monkey business!; Monkey around with words: go bananas learning new words!; "Drawn" to George: learn to draw your favorite monkey!; Monkey in motion: see how an animation artist makes George come alive!

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Will Ferrell	Ted, the Man in the Yellow Hat
Drew Barrymore	Maggie
David Cross	Bloomsberry Jr.,Actor
Eugene Levy	Clovis
Joan Plowright	Miss Plushbottom
Dick Van Dyke	Mr. Bloomsberry
Michael Chinyamurindi	Edu
Ed O'Ross	Ivan
Billy West	Manager
Hailey Noelle Johnson	Kid,Kid #7,Kid,Composer,Musician
Michael Sorich	Seen It Cab Driver
Kath Soucie	Animal Control Receptionist
Shane Baumel	Kid
Timyra-Joi Beatty	Kid
Christopher Chen	Kid
Jessie Flower	Kid,Actor
Alexander Gould	Kid,Kid #5
Terrence Hardy	Kid
Kelsey Lansdowne	Kid,Kid #8
Ariel Winter	Kid,Kid #9
Christopher Cheng	Actor
Christian Damsgaard	Voices
Kaya Brüel	Voices
Henning Moritzen	Voices
Martin Brygmann	Voices
Terrence Hardy Jr.	Kid,Kid #6
Philip Maurice Hayes	Additional Voices
Mandy Fabian	Additional Voices
Joey D'Auria	Voices,Additional Voices
Richard Epcar	Voices,Additional Voices
Treva Etienne	Voices,Additional Voice
Eddie Frierson	Voices,Additional Voices
Bridget Hoffman	Voices
Rif Hutton	Voices
Steve Kehela	Voices
Henrik Koefoed	Voices
Wendy Cutler	Additional Voices
Donald Fullilove	Additional Voices
Jim Cummings	George
Jeff Bennett	Salesman
Clint Howard	Balloon Man
Kimberly Brooks	Voices
Donna Leavy	Voices
Nadia Lewis	Voices
John Mariano	Voices
Caitlin McKenna	Voices
Kerry Michele	Voices
Juan Pope	Voices
Jonny Solomon	Voices
Mandy Steckelberg	Voices
Fred Tatasciore	Voices
Alastair King	Conductor
Heitor Pereira	Composer

Technical Credits

Ken Kaufman

Mike Werb

Matthew O'Callaghan	Director
Ken Kaufman	Screenwriter
Mary Hidalgo	Casting
Ron Howard	Producer
David Kirschner	Producer
Jon Shapiro	Producer
Bonne Radford	Executive Producer,Producer
Ken Tsumura	Executive Producer,Producer
James Whitaker	Executive Producer,Producer
David Bernardi	Executive Producer,Producer
Scott Heming	Director
Stuart Allan	Special Effects
Scott Cannizzaro	Sound Effects
Mike Werb	Screenwriter
Brian Grazer	Producer
Cheryl Murphy	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

Those who've grown up reading Margret and H. A. Rey's enduring books will be more delighted than disappointed in the feature film debut of the good little monkey who is always curious. The playful George (voiced by Frank "Fred" Welker of Scooby-Doo fame) befriends Ted, an enthusiastic museum guide who has come to Africa in search of an "amazing new exhibit" to save the failing Bloomsberry Museum. Too bad the mythical, long-lost idol of Zagawa for which he is searching turns out to be a paperweight-sized trinket. Ted's life is further complicated by George, who has stowed away on Ted's ship (dubbed the H. A. Rey -- a nice touch). The simian in the city innocently runs riot. In two sequences drawn from the books, he and Ted are carried aloft by a bunch of balloons, and George impulsively paints an opera diva's apartment with a jungle motif. After monkeying around with The Grinch and The Cat in the Hat, the third time's the charm for producer Ron Howard in bringing to the screen a book beloved by generations of readers. The mostly hand-drawn animation is faithful in spirit to the books' illustrations (the end credits replicate scenes from George's literary misadventures). The dialogue is pretty much geared to its target audience, without the self-consciously audience-broadening pop-culture references that glut most of today's animated films. The usually untamed Will Ferrell reins it in as Ted, who becomes the gaudily dressed Man in the Yellow Hat after an ill-informed shopping spree. Drew Barrymore is Wedding Singer-sweet as the elementary school teacher who likes the clueless Ted. Dick Van Dyke is the comical geezer Mr. Bloomsberry, and David Cross is hilariously nasty as his greedy son, who wants to turn the museum into a parking lot. The film avoids a pre-packaged soundtrack of ill-placed pop hits for likable original songs by Jack Johnson. Children, as ever, will go bananas for the adorable and mischievous George, whose innocent curiosity always gets him (and Ted) into trouble.

The first adventure in this highlyi popular series tells how the little monkey Curious George, caught in the jungle and brought back to the city by a man in a yellow hat, can't help being interested in all the new things around him. Though well meaning, George's curiosity always gets him into trouble. Young readers can easily relate, and Rey's cheerful illustrations celebrate Curious George's innocence.

Barnes & Noble Staff

PreS-Gr 3-The timeless antics of Curious George are given new life in this read-along series, which faithfully follows the text of each story. A male narrator, accompanied by minimal musical interludes and sound effects, reads the story, once with page-turn signals and once without on each CD. Sounds effects occasionally explain pertinent parts of the unspoken story, like a splash in the water when George takes a dive into the ocean. Curious George Feeds the Animals has a female reader, with a male counterpart reading the Man with the Yellow Hat's lines. Margaret and H.A. Rey's original character has been entertaining children for decades, but it's hard to imagine a child today who wouldn't be puzzled by The Man with the Yellow Hat plucking George from his environment and transporting him to another country, George's imprisonment (and jail-break!) for inadvertently dialing the fire department while playing with the phone, or the fact that the Man in the Yellow Hat leaves his charge unattended when he takes him to a movie. Still, a naughty anthropomorphic monkey is entertaining, and adults may want to take the opportunity to explain to pint-sized listeners that their monkey-shines won't warrant the same results. Curious George certainly deserves a spot on the shelf, and these engaging stories will provide a good exercise in imagination and creativity. A solid choice, especially with an all-new animated adventure based on the classic tales debuting as a feature film in February 2006.-Kirsten Martindale, formerly Menomonie Public Library, WI Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

"Small children will wear the book out with affection." Horn Book

From the Publisher