Curious George

This topic contains:

• overall comments and recommendations
• details about Curious George's classification and consumer advice lines
• a review of Curious George completed by Young Media Australia (YMA) on 17 August 2006.

Overall comments and recommendations

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) and the associated consumer advice lines.

YMA review

This review of the movie Curious George contains the following information:

• a synopsis of the story
• themes
• use of violence
• material that may scare children
• product placement
• sexual references
• nudity and sexual activity
• use of substances
• coarse language
• the movie's message

A synopsis of the story

Ted (Will Ferrell), a cautious historian, loves working at Mr. Bloomsberry's museum, where every week he gets to bore a group of schoolchildren with his anecdotes from the past while their teacher Miss Maggie Dunlop (Drew Barrymore) adoringly hangs on every word. Ted is devastated when he learns that Mr. Bloomsberry (Dick Van Dyke) may have to close the Museum for financial reasons. Desperate to save it from being turned into a parking garage at the insistence of Junior Bloomsberry (David Cross), Ted inadvertently volunteers to lead an expedition to Africa in search of a lost idol.

While what he finds is not exactly what he is looking for, Ted nevertheless does not return empty handed. He is accompanied by a curious little monkey (Frank Welker), later named George, who has stowed away on the ship after being infatuated by Ted's yellow hat. While George means well, his curiosity often gets the better of him and lands him, or rather Ted, in one difficult situation after another.

Themes

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Sibling rivalry

Use of violence

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

The burly doorman in Ted's building blasts through doors a number of times. He roughly evicts Ted from the building.

Material that may scare children

Under eight

Children under eight are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations, the death of a parent or child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scene, scenes which could scare or disturb children under the age of eight, include:

•  George gets caught in traffic and is nearly hit by a car or truck a number of times.

•  when Ted wants to be rid of George and can't get him to go away, he calls Animal Control. George desperately tries to cling to Ted but is forcibly yanked away by two strange men and placed in a dark cage. George appears very distressed.

Over the age of eight

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

It is unlikely that children over the age of eight would be disturbed by anything in this movie.

Product placement

None

Sexual references

None

Nudity and sexual activity

None

Use of substances

None

Coarse language

There is no coarse language; however Ted at one stage refers to himself as an idiot.

The movie's message

The main message of Curious George is that with effort, persistence and honesty your dreams can come true no matter who or what you are.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

• determination
• courage
• kindness
• creativity.

Parents could also discuss with their children the importance of discussing feelings rather than acting out of jealousy or anger, and that being too curious can sometimes have unfortunate consequences.