Monkeying Around With ‘Curious George 3’

It’s hard to believe that a third Curious George movie was needed, but here we are—and we are extremely glued.

Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle is out today and it’s as cute and cuddly as ever. Long gone are the voices of Will Ferrell and Drew Barrymore. However, our family is deeply involved with Frank Welker (George) and Jeff Bennett (The Man with the Yellow Hat), who have been voicing their respective characters since the PBS show launched back in 2006.

Despite the direct-to-video nature of this movie, Curious George 3 also includes the voices of John Goodman (who is extremely recognizable) and Angela Bassett (I was pleasantly surprised to see her in the credits!).

Although it took my son about 5 seconds to notice that the animation is a little different from the TV show, it didn’t seem to bother him. Curious George 3 is a fun little movie.

It’s really less about George being curious and more about him being in his natural habitat: the jungle. It’s hard to remember a time when George wasn’t flying kites, eating donuts, roller skating, and eating at Chef Pisghetti’s. However, in this 81-minute adventure, viewers get to see this good little monkey talk to animals (who aren’t Hundley) and swing from actual trees.

The Man with the Yellow Hat is the one who seems out of his element, riding a log flume and an ostrich. And spoiler alert, people: We actually learn the man’s name! Maybe I previously missed it, but I don’t ever remember it coming up before. I just always assumed that he didn’t have one.

It’s interesting how and why George ends up in the jungle due to a botched space mission. So you get the spacey atmosphere mixed in with the jungle for pretty complete adventure. It still isn’t as awesome as the first movie, but Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle is similar to an extended episode of the TV show. I can tell you that we were pretty riveted for the full runtime, with a request to watch the extras once the feature was over.

Speaking of which: The extras are pretty slim. It would have been cool if they put a few deleted scenes or even an episode of the PBS show on the disc, but there are four sing-along songs from the movie. This lineup includes “Welcome to Paradise” by the Plain White T’s. The full soundtrack should actually be available the same day as the movie.

And if your little one is still curious about Curious George, you can check out the clip and even work on some of the activity sheets listed below. There’s also a free Curious George photo app that’s now online, allowing you to photobomb George in scenes from the movie. Enjoy!

GeekMom received this item for review purposes.