Curious George Comes to America: Sad, Sad, Sad

My son, Charlie, absolutely adores "Curious George". He dances to the theme song. He kisses and plays with the Curious George dolls that he has. One of the few words he says is "George". He loves watching the show on TV, and even the movie that we have.

Unfortunately, the only DVD of the "Curious George" television show that we have is "Curious George Goes Green". We have watched it so much that it pauses in the middle on its own. We haven't been able to find any other "Curious George" DVDs in the store or even online.

One day, my husband found Curious George Comes to America on DVD. He was so excited! He purchased it immediately. A few days after it arrived, I played it for my twins while I was doing some work in the kitchen. I didn't watch the program, and assumed it was like all of the other "Curious George" shows that we watch on television.

I will never, ever, ever assume something like that again. And I will certainly never allow my kids to watch a DVD or any other show before I screen it myself.

"Curious George Comes to America" starts out with The Man in the Yellow Hat visiting an exotic place, which I imagine is Africa. He notices this cute monkey, decides he wants him, and kidnaps him in a sack. To make matters worse, George cries as he is kidnapped and kept on a boat as they sail for America. In my humble opinion, this demonstrates that it is okay for children to take what doesn't belong to them-- including animals.

Throughout the short movie, George attempts to escape. He is caught and thrown in jail, and he cries some more. He eventually ends up back at the Man in the Yellow Hat's apartment, only to be tucked into bed and live happily ever after.

It may seem that my review of this claymation flick isn't in depth-- It is a 10 minute short film about a young monkey that gets kidnapped from his home, tries to escape, is recaptured, then assimilates to what his captor wants him to be. Not a happy movie.

There are two other short claymation movies on this DVD: "Frog and Toad Together" and "Frog and Toad are Friends". These short claymation films (about 10 minutes each) try to teach lessons about friendship and values, but fall short. The "lessons" are confusing, because the characters are very hard to follow as well as quite difficult to understand. My children lost interest in each of these flicks within a minute.

Do yourself a favor and pass "Curious George Comes to America" by. It isn't what you think it is, and will make you look at George in a whole new light.