Curious George is such a beloved character because he sees the world as children do: everything is new and exciting and waiting to be discovered. He learns about the world he lives in through experimentation, and while his adventures inevitably result in mishaps and pratfalls, his train of thought is relentlessly logical. He is not, as so many characters of children's entertainment are, a wacky personality whose only personality trait is a desperate compulsion to pull faces and fall over things. He's somebody we can all identify with, kids in particular.

I was pleasantly surprised that this movie gets it right. Sure, it has its share of slapstick action sequences and syrupy songs, but the character is exactly as he should be, and that makes the rest of the film work.