Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!

Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!
DVD cover
Directed by	Norton Virgien
Screenplay by	Chuck Tately
Story by	Chuck Tately Darrell Rooney
Based on	Characters by Margret Rey H.A. Rey Alan J. Shalleck
Produced by	Share Stallings
Starring	Tim Curry Clint Howard Jamie Kennedy Matt Lauer Jerry Lewis Frank Welker Jeff Bennett
Edited by	John Bryant
Music by	Heitor Pereira (score) Carbon Leaf (songs)
Production companies	Imagine Entertainment Toon City Animation Universal Animation Studios
Distributed by	Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Release date	July 10, 2009 (2009-07-10)
Running time	81 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$2.2 million

Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey! is a 2009 American animated comedy film based on the children's stories by H.A. Rey and Margret Rey. It is a sequel to the 2006 film Curious George. It was originally titled Curious George 2: Monkey on the Run. It was released straight to DVD in the United States and theatrically in Denmark, Sweden, and Iceland.

While Frank Welker and Ed O'Ross reprise their roles from the first film as George and Ivan respectively, several other roles were recast. Will Ferrell, the voice of Ted (The Man With Yellow Hat), was replaced by Jeff Bennett, reprising his role from the television series; Drew Barrymore, the voice of Maggie, was replaced by Nickie Bryar; Dick Van Dyke, the voice of Mr. Bloomsberry, was replaced by Fred Tatasciore. Clint Howard voices Balloon Man in the first film, but in the sequel, voices Farmer Dan. Tim Curry, Jamie Kennedy, Matt Lauer, and Jerry Lewis voice the new characters. Ron Howard, who is the producer of the 2006 film, returns as executive producer.

Plot

The film starts with George swinging around town, and he picks up the newspaper. He reads it when he gets home and finds out that the great magician Piccadilly is putting on an act with an elephant named Kayla. It sounds interesting to George so he wakes up Ted, and he tries to show Ted the news, but Ted is late for a meeting with Mr. Bloomsberry.

When Ted arrives at the museum, he prepares reasons as to why he would be a good candidate to take over the museum from Mr. Bloomsberry, who is retiring. Mr. Bloomsberry, however, says that Ted is the only candidate because he couldn't imagine leaving not even Junior (the main antagonist from the first film) to own the museum (he is now a cashier at a parking lot). The only stipulation is Ted has to write a presentation on what his vision of what the museum would look like; to be delivered in one week, to the Board of Directors. However, Ted is scared of the Board of Directors.

As Ted is in his office writing his charts, Maggie tells him that his loved ones need more attention than his career. George comes in and tries to show Ted the poster with Kayla (indicating Piccadilly's act). Ted says he understands what Maggie is saying and decided to take George to the magic show. During one of Piccadilly's magic tricks, Kayla disappears, and George goes looking for her. He finds Kayla in the basement of the theatre, starts playing with her and they stumble upon the exit for the building. Piccadilly comes in and can't find Kayla so he calls for security, the head of which is Danno Wolfe, who is assisted by Mrs. Fisher. Danno questions Ted and gets suspicious about him and George. Meanwhile, George and Kayla make their way to Ted's apartment where they see news coverage of Kayla's original home in California with her brother Tonga and her sister Layla.

Ted returns home to find George and Kayla in their apartment. He decides to return to the theatre with George and Kayla but along the way loses them when George sees a train advertisement for the "California Express". Ted reaches them at the train, but can't get them out of the boxcar before it leaves the station. They are headed west and Ted gets nervous when the train doesn't even stop in St. Louis and his cell phone's battery has died. Meanwhile, a cryptic message from a monkey Danno thinks speaks Chinese leads him to believe that George and Ted have kidnapped the elephant. He tries to find them. Back on the train, George opens the door of the boxcar, but Ted falls out while trying to catch the wind-blown pages of his presentation. Ted makes his way to a small train station with a stationmaster who offers to charge the cell phone (which broke when he fell). Ted uses what little change he has to call Piccadilly, but doesn't manage to complete the call which makes Danno even more certain that Ted and George have kidnapped Kayla. Ted uses the stationmaster's motorcycle to catch up with George and Kayla and reboards the train. He leaves his cell phone in Humbleton with the stationmaster who tries to use the phone to tell Piccadilly that Kayla is okay but the phone breaks.

Ted, George, and Kayla continue on the train for the next stop in Grand Junction with Danno on their heels. The movement of Kayla, however, causes the boxcar to separate from the rest of the train, and they head away from the rest of the train. It finally stops, and they get off in search of a road to find help. A man in a flatbed truck stops and picks them up. Ted thinks they are going east, but they continue to travel west once again. Meanwhile, Piccadilly is interviewed by Hark Hanson, and he reveals pictures of George and Ted as the kidnappers of Kayla. Ted wakes up after a night's sleep in the back of the truck and realizes they have been heading the wrong way. He gets them off the truck and attempts to head back east again.

They come across a farmer named Dan and his daughter Anna, with whom they spend the night. The next morning, Ted picks up the newspaper and finds out New York thinks they're kidnappers. He also reads about Kayla's family. Ted decides it's best to return Kayla to Piccadilly, but George disagrees, prompting him to walk off with Kayla. Ted changes his mind the next morning but before they leave for Kayla's home, Danno shows up in a helicopter. After the pig throws Danno into a rain barrel, Kayla scares the pilot into flying away. While they are thus distracted, George and company escape using a hollowed out school bus and finally make their way to the park where Tonga and Layla are happy to see her. Danno shows up again and arrests George and Ted and captures Kayla. They fly back to the city, but after George gets the handcuff keys from Danno, they all escape by jumping out of the plane. They make it back to Piccadilly and everything is fine, except that Danno has followed them once again. Kayla subdues him and throws him onto the stage's trapdoor which Piccadilly opens, dropping Danno onto the mattress below.

George and Maggie watch Ted give his report to the Board of Directors. He is initially flustered because the past week's adventures prevented him from preparing his presentation. Once George comes in the room, Ted improvises a speech saying that friends are more important than work and proposes several ideas for the museum based on that idea (Father/Son Day for example). The Board is impressed and approves his appointment. Sometime later, George, Ted, and Maggie are at the park setting up a picnic. Piccadilly and Tina arrive and reveal that Tonga and Layla have joined his act. Kayla and her family therefore are back together and everything goes back to where it’s supposed to belong again.

Voice cast

• Frank Welker - Curious George, Duck, Cow
• Jeff Bennett - Ted (The Man with the Yellow Hat) (Will Ferrell's replacement)
• Fred Tatasciore - Mr. Bloomsberry (Dick Van Dyke's replacement)
• Nickie Bryar - Maggie (Drew Barrymore's replacement), Teenage Boy
• Ed O'Ross - Ivan
• Amy Hill - Flower Pot Lady, Irate Woman
• Tim Curry - The Great Piccadilly
• Catherine Taber - Tina
• Jamie Kennedy - Mr. Wolfe
• Matt Lauer - Hark Hanson
• Jerry Lewis - The Humbleton Stationmaster
• Cree Summer - Mrs. Fisher, Cargo Pilot, Young Girl
• Jeff McNeal - Kayla, Hog, Tonga & Layla
• Clint Howard - Farmer Dan
• Trupti Potdukhe - Anna
• Phil LaMarr - California Animal Park Attendant
• Carlos Alazraqui - Train Conductor, Newspaper Vendor

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features the hit "California Sun" performed by Brian Wilson as well as all new songs by Carbon Leaf, a special title track recorded by 429 Records' artist Jackie Greene, and an original score by Heitor Pereira. The soundtrack was released on March 2, 2010.

Track listing

1. "Life Less Ordinary" – Carbon Leaf
2. "The Friendship Song" – Carbon Leaf
3. "California Sun" – Brian Wilson
4. "On A Roll" – Carbon Leaf
5. "Heart Of The Day" – Carbon Leaf
6. "Let Your Troubles Roll By" – Carbon Leaf
7. "Walking In The Sun" – Carbon Leaf
8. "Follow That Monkey" – Jackie Greene
9. "Moon Man" – Heitor Pereira
10. "Going East" – Heitor Pereira
11. "Giving A Hand" – Heitor Pereira
12. "Zoo" – Heitor Pereira
13. "The Friendship Song" – Heitor Pereira
14. "California Sun" – Carbon Leaf

Release

The film was released in the United States on March 2, 2010 as a direct-to-video release and received a theatrical release in select countries.

Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey grossed $2.2 million throughout its entire theatrical run in three countries. The film was theatrically released in Sweden, Iceland, and Denmark, with the latter generating the most revenue. The film opened in 50 theaters in Denmark and finished seventh for the weekend, grossing $64,158. The film stayed at ninth for its second and third weekends. The film closed its theatrical run in the country with $1.1 million in box office receipts. In Sweden, the film opened in 47 theaters and finished sixth for the weekend, grossing $59,500. The film did better in its second weekend, adding only one theater and staying at sixth but grossing $122,295 and going up 105.5%. The film closed out its theatrical run in the country with $1 million. In Iceland, the film only opened in three theaters and finished 12th, grossing $1,794 with an average of $598 per theater. The film closed out its run in the country with $12,946.

Reception

Joly Herman of Common Sense Media awarded the film 4 out of 5 stars, writing, "Cross-country caper with mild peril is OK for preschoolers."

Sequels

A sequel, titled Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle, was released directly to DVD on June 23, 2015. Curious George: Royal Monkey, the fourth film of the series, was released on DVD on September 10, 2019. Curious George: Go West, Go Wild, the fifth film of the series, was released on Peacock on September 8, 2020.

External links

• Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey! at IMDb
• Curious George 2 at The-Numbers.com
• Information on Curious George