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'Curious George' keeps it sweet and simple

Curious George is Harpo Marx minus the malice. His muteness amplifying his mischief, George airs his kiddie id with groping recklessness. He breaks things, tangles plans and ruffles everyone in his bungling path. George, a hunched baby chimp with a round head and a bitty "o" for a mouth, has the lyrical comic grace of a fine silent movie star. He's a speechless motion machine of accidental buffoonery, a perfect emblem of every childish impulse small humans are taught to muzzle.

Universal Pictures 'Curious George' 3 out of 5 stars The verdict: A timeless family film without an agenda. Director: Matt O'Callaghan Cast: Will Ferrell, Drew Barrymore, David Cross, Eugene Levy, Dick Van Dyke Run time: 77 minutes Release date: Feb. 10, 2006 Rating: G See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime [an error occurred while processing this directive]

George goes berserk, gleefully, in the animated "Curious George," a mild cream puff of family diversion sprung from the pages of the celebrated children's books by German emigres Margret and H.A. Rey. Drawn in unfashionable two-dimensional animation and staying true to the moral rudiments of the source, the G-rated confection plays like an oversized picture book, dispersing a refreshing innocence not seen in recent animated movies that sweat to be hiply to-the-minute. "Curious George" has a soothing timelessness and beguiling naiveté that could be mistaken for a poverty of ambition. But it's clear this sprightly little movie accomplishes just what it has set out to do. If not quite exhilarating, it gives you a lift.

Let the children speak. At a Saturday morning screening, gaggles of knee-high kids shrieked and laughed at George's bubbly antics — things as simple but touchingly executed as George stealing his future master The Man with the Yellow Hat's sombrero-sized headgear and running in circles, or being pulled skyward by a bouquet of balloons, or finger-painting the walls of a luxury apartment. When George started dipping his paws into the paint cans, a tiny girl in the theater yelped, "No!"

Which goes to show you how persnickety adults have brainwashed kids to behave, behave, behave. The Man in the Yellow Hat — who has a name in the movie, Ted, and is voiced by a droll Will Ferrell with self-effacing charm — represents put-upon parents who scramble to tame kids' rambunctious curiosity. But George can't be tamed, and the movie finally instructs viewers to "Let your curiosity lead you." It's kiddie catharsis, sweet and simple.

The only hip elements in this gentle cartoon are the vocal choices of Ferrell, Drew Barrymore and the reliably funny David Cross ("Arrested Development"), as well as the snappy soundtrack. Scenes of George's mischief are buoyed by jangly, anodyne ditties by Jack Johnson that make you sway your head and go doot-dooty-doo. At moments like that, it struck me that "Curious George" is probably the purest family movie in years.