DVD Review: Curious George Sails With Pirates
Kids' CBC, NBC-Universal Adapts H.A., Margret Rey's Classic Books
Sep 8, 2008 Dominic von Riedemann
It's a lesson that countless creative executives neglect time and time again. They get handed a classic novel or children's book and, in their haste to make it relevant and interesting for the current generation, destroy those elements that made it a classic in the first place.
Which is why the current CBC/NBC-Universal adaptation of Curious George is a winner. Executive producers Ron Howard, Brian Grazer and David Kirchner, along with developer Joe Fallon, clearly respect creators' Hans Augusto and Margret Rey's picture books and have designed a series that puts the classic characters in new adventures that pay homage to the Reys' vision.
What's It About?
As any schoolchild can tell you, Curious George follows the adventures of the titular monkey (voiced by Frank Welker), who lives in an uptown apartment (in what looks very much like New York) with his friend, the Man in the Yellow Hat (Jeff Bennett). George's endlessly curious and fun-loving nature puts him into countless scrapes, which often necessitates a rescue from The Man in the Yellow Hat, if George doesn't luck out and inadvertently provide his own salvation.
Despite the fact that George is a constant source of trouble, he never really means any harm and always feels guilty when he makes mistakes. That manages to endear him even to those people most irritated by his shenanigans, like Hundley the neat freak dachshund.
More importantly, the humour flows naturally from the situations, or from the clash of characters, and feels unforced. Many animated shows try too hard to be funny, or throw in "topical" jokes that have no relevance two years later. Curious George (the TV series) trusts the charming anarchy in the Reys' original creation, and is all the better for it.
The animation looks like a combination of cel and CGI animation. Though there are some obvious corners cut in the interest of keeping costs down, the animation doesn't have the plastic quality of cheaper CGI, and the character designs are warm and appealing.
After the animated adventures, there's a live-action segment featuring a group of kids re-enacting some of the principles demonstrated in the show. For instance, after the episode "Up, Up and Away" (where George and a friend get stuck in a runaway hot-air balloon), the children mess around with helium-filled balloons, attaching various weights to the strings to see what happens.
It's a smart way to reinforce the common sense, math and science lessons introduced in the shows, which gives this series an educational aspect as well. Not only that, the kids are natural and unaffected in front of the camera, which saves these segments from becoming annoying.
Extra Features
Not a whole heck of a lot here. There's "George's Boat Game" and you can load the DVD disc into your computer to print out some colouring and connect-the-dots pages. And, of course, there are the trailers for other Universal animated features, such as Veggie Tales: The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything.
Final Analysis
Okay, we're not talking masterpiece or instant classic here. But Curious George gets the job done, and in fine style, by respecting the charm inherent in the source material. Somewhere, H.A. and Margret Rey would be proud.
With all that, and extra coolness points for getting legendary New Orleans singer/songwriter Dr. John to play the theme song, Curious George Sails With the Pirates earns a 7/10.
Fun Fact: William H. Macy (Fargo, Boogie Nights) narrated the first season of Curious George.
Curious George Sails With the Pirates DVD cover
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Film & TV
Latest Articles