A Very Monkey Christmas

Cindy is a GINORMOUS fan of PBS and has been ever since they were helping her learn to read with Sesame Street, one of the only television shows she was permitted to watch during her entire childhood. Both our children adore Curious George, so it was with barely a flinch that I agreed to accept a promo copy of Curious George, a Very Monkey Christmas when the public relations department of PBS contacted me last week.

I’m supposed to write my thoughts. Easy peasy, one, two threesie.

A Very Monkey Christmas starts out with Curious George exploding with anticipation for the BIG day by using The Man with the Yellow Hat as a trampoline, just as he has each morning since Thanksgiving. I laughed seeing that George also greets each morning at 5:00 a.m., just like our own curious little monkey.

The DVD unfolds in a wonderfully predictable, though perfectly comforting narrative as George and The Man each spend a month of their time and one hour of ours wondering what to get one another. As you can well imagine, this leads George to making a series of small messes while The Man hunts around town asking George’s friends and acquaintances to help him crack the code so he can give his little monkey the present he deserves.

The animation in A Very Monkey Christmas has none of the gee whiz gloss which graced George’s multiplex adventure from a few years back. Instead, the animation is exactly like that found in the version of Curious George which normally airs on PBS, sticking closely to the tradition established by the original books from more than 60 years ago. Though I did love the look of the feature film, I fully appreciate the simple design, colors and texture which made the movie look like H.A. Rey’s original books given breath.

Overall, the movie is fairly adorable. It’s simple themes and undeniable warmth are perfect for children of all ages and the script would only offend the most cynical among us. Unfortunately, this daddy didn’t really dig on the music. While I genuinely enjoyed the soundscape of the Curious George feature film, I felt the songs in this DVD were largely forgettable, except the one that rattled around in my head all Saturday afternoon. It did take the place of Michael Jackson’s “Ben,” which my daughter is suddenly and quite curiously obsessed with, and though I was grateful for that, I still didn’t care too much for the tune. Considering it was the best one in the movie, I have to admit the soundtrack was a disappointment.

Let’s be honest though, the real judges when it comes to this stuff are the kids, and they gave it four collective thumbs up. My daughter is 7 and son 5, yet neither one of them were interested in watching anything else this weekend. If Curious George had been less fun, I might’ve missed my usual weekend time with Pixar, but George was just adorable enough to make me forget.

PBS has given me two copies of the film, one which made me feel like a bootlegger because of the words, “Property of Universal” omnipresent on the screen, and another shrink wrapped mass market copy that I’m going to give away to a lucky commenter. Drop a comment below and I’ll pick someone at random to send the DVD to.

Thanks PBS!

Writer Dad

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