Customer Reviews

Curious George (Collector's Edition)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Ever since my son saw Curious George at the theater, he's been into the whole George scene. He has a stuffed George, the PS2 game, several books (one based on the movie and two from H.A. Rey), etc.

When he saw this DVD at the store, he wanted it (of course). It was very affordable, so I bought it for him.

I was VERY surprised to find out that, despite the illustrations on the box, it is NOT an animated film or collection of animated stories. It's not even stills of the Rey books with voice actors reading the story.

No, what this Collector's Edition DVD is made up of is two Curious George stories done in stop motion with puppets. Although it's unusual to see at first, it has TOTALLY entranced my son. He watches it a least once a day...and this has been going on since before Easter.

However, there are only two actual Curious George stories on this DVD: Curious George Comes to America and Curious George Goes to the Hospital. The first story, created circa early 1980's, is about the Man in the Yellow Hat and his initial meeting with George...including his decision to bring George to the city. George's shipboard antics gets him in BIG trouble!

The second story has George going to the hospital when he swallows a puzzle piece. He's rushed to the emergency room (which is a rather odd storyline for young kids), but ends up forgetting his fears...instead cheering up other people.

The rest of the DVD includes four stop animation/claymation stories (NOT featuring George):

*Frog and Toad Together
*Frog and Toad Are Friends
*Mouse Soup
*Morris Has a Cold

There's also a "making of" at the end.

One of the episodes is absolutely hilarious. It features two rocks bemoaning how they don't have eyes and such. They break out in song "We don't have belly buttons..." and as they mention various body parts, the parts magically appear. It's clever and very funny...my husband and I make sure we're in front of the TV every time it's on! (You gotta see it to appreciate it, believe me...)

So if you're looking for 100% Curious George, you may be disappointed. But at this affordable price--and considering the length (almost 2 hours)--I think it's a good buy for something different for the youngsters.

John Clark Matthews is a rare talent and his "Curious George" creation is a true masterpiece. The attention to detail is impressive as is his use of music and voices. Take the scene when George is put in jail, for instance. This is truly touching, pure, innocent and beautiful.

These animations, here including the "Frog and Toad" series from the 1980s are a delight to children. Our daughter has watched them over and over and has brought joy to all of us. These make much of what is produced today look like banal rubbish.

Matthews must also be a modest person, it is difficult to find information on him today. The "makings of" on this DVD are also very interesting but be careful about letting the kids see him taking George's face off the puppet (might be a little upsetting!)

I advise any discerning parent to buy this for the mental health of your child... and the community at large! The world needs more of this kind of refined art.

She loves the one Curious George book we have. I bought it on a whim at the store. She cried the first time we watched it (she did like Frog & Toad). The second time, we couldn't make it past the first Curious George episode. Watching him nearly drown, him turning green on pipe smoke and then worried about the fire trucks. My tender-hearted girl who doesn't watch much TV (we do watch some Veggie Tales together) just couldn't get past that.

The title is misleading since there are only 2 Curious George stories. The claymation is charming in spite not being the cute computer animation that's on PBS. But all the other stories are terrific. Classic Frog and Toad are Friend stories are entertaining. The mouse soup is funny too. But the crickets singing are truly adult (ie sophisticated humor) funny -- the accent adds to the charm. And as noted below, the rocks are amusing as well. My 6yo really enjoys it and my 4yo finds it somewhat entertaining.

I love the animation in this video. It's like claymation, but of course it's modern computer graphics. Really cute.

There are also lots of other stories on this video besides the two Curious George ones. I was really impressed with this purchase.

My expectation was to receive a Curious George DVD. What I got was a DVD with very little of Curious George (that too not the normal cartoon style)...felt like 15 minutes.... with a more of other stuff like Frog & Toad tales. It was a surprise to have a sampling of Frog & Toad tales.

My daughter does not want to watch this DVD after the first time.

it is not worth the time better to get something from the libary then to purchase this it is not worth the money or time to watch it. poorly done and very old fashion and user unfreindly

My daughter just loves Curious George. This is a wonderful dvd but some of the scenes are outdated...I guess they were produced from old scenes since this is a 65th anniversary dvd. I still think it is wonderful entertainment for kids and teaches them good lessons.

My 2.5 yr old daughter loves this DVD. Featured on it are stop-motion animated versions of Curious George and Curious George Goes to the Hospital which follows those two books scene for scene. The production of the Curious George animation on this DVD was overseen by Curious George original author/creator Margret Rey. It also has several other animated shorts of classic books including Frog and Toad, which my daughter also really likes.

My family likes this, and the new PBS TV series Curious George: Monkey Collection, Vol. 1, WAY better than the 2006 movie Curious George (Widescreen Edition).

I can understand people getting a bit bent out of shape if, based on the cover, they assume these are cartoons. As other reviewers have noted, they're not. Rather, they are terrific stop-motion animations from the 1980s of two original Curious George books: Curious George Goes to the Hospital and Curious George. I love them, and my 2 year old, Curious George obsessed, daughter loves them too.

And while these are great, as far as I'm concerned the real treat on this DVD isn't Curious George, but stop-motion animations of two entire Frog and Toad books--narrated by Lobel himself: Frog and Toad are Friends and Frog and Toad Together. Man, these are great. I only wish they had done Frog and Toad All Year as well.

I can't stand the current Curious George cartoon--I think it's just generic, animation-mill junk. If you love Curious George (and/or Frog and Toad) and respect the art *and* craft of animation, totally seek this out. And if you know a kid who is obsessed with Curious George (and/or Frog and Toad), this DVD can be a great way to turn them on to thoughtful, artful animation. I love this disc! Shame it's not in print.

Oh--and if you're looking for something currently in print you can also get the Curious George and Frog and Toad stop-motion animations in Curious George Goes to the Hospital and Curious George Comes to America.