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
Release date	July 10, 2009 (2009-07-10) (United States)
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 adventure comedy film based on the Curious George children's stories by H.A. Rey and Margret Rey. The sequel to the 2006 film Curious George, it was originally subtitled 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 the 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 who previously voiced Balloon Man in the first film, 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, along with his partner Brian Grazer.

Plot

George, now living with Ted (The Man with the Yellow Hat) in his apartment in New York City, hears in the newspaper that the great magician, Piccadilly, is putting on a magic show with an elephant named Kayla. George attempts to show Ted the news, but Ted is late for a meeting with Mr. Bloomsberry.

Mr. Bloomsberry is retiring as the owner of the museum, and tells Ted that he is the only candidate to replace him because he couldn’t imagine letting anyone else own the museum besides him, and his son, Junior (the main antagonist of the first film), is now working as a cashier at a parking lot. On condition that Ted write a presentation on his future vision of the museum, to be delivered in one week to the Board of Directors. As Ted is in his office busy writing his charts, George comes by and shows him the poster for the magic show, though Ted refuses to take him today as he is busy working. After Maggie tells Ted that his loved ones need more attention than his career, Ted decides to take George to the magic show, and Maggie joins them.

When Piccadilly makes Kayla disappear, George goes looking for her and finds her in the basement of the theater. When Kayla seems sad, George cheers her up and starts playing with her, and they wander out of the building. When Piccadilly finds Kayla missing, he calls security, led by Danno Wolfe, assisted by Ms. Fisher. However, Danno quickly gets suspicious of Ted and George.

George takes Kayla to him and Ted’s apartment, where they see TV coverage of Kayla’s original home at an animal park in California, with her brother Tonga and sister Layla. When Ted finds Kayla in the apartment, he calls the theater to inform Piccadilly they have his elephant, but when the theater is closed for the day, Ted decides to return Kayla personally and George goes with him. On their way back to return Kayla, believing they’re planning to return Kayla home to California rather than the theater, George sees an advertisement for the “California Express” train, and him and Kayla head to the train station and board a boxcar. Ted finds them, but can’t get them off the boxcar before the train departs the station.

As they head west, Ted gets anxious when the train doesn’t even stop anywhere. Later, while Ted is asleep, George plays with Ted’s cell phone and unintentionally leaves a voicemail to the theater (speaking in Chinese), leading Danno to believe that George and Ted have kidnapped Kayla. Sometime after Ted wakes up, he fails to open the boxcar door in an attempt to get out of the train, so George and Kayla open the boxcar door for him and Ted falls out while trying to catch the pages of his presentation, which are blown away by the wind. Ted comes across a small train station in Humbleton, and uses a payphone, as his cell phone broke when he fell, to call Piccadilly to tell her that Kayla is fine, though doesn’t manage to complete the call as he unknowingly yanks the phone wire apart, making Danno more certain that George and him kidnapped Kayla, and he begins searching for them. Ted then catches up to the train on the stationmaster’s motorcycle. As George, Ted and Kayla continue to Grand Junction, Kayla’s movement causes the boxcar to separate from the rest of the train.

When it stops, they hit the road and a man in a flatbed truck gives them a ride. The next morning, however, Ted realizes they went the wrong way and attempts to head back east again. Meanwhile, misinformation spreads around New York of Ted and George abducting Kayla. George, Ted and Kayla meet a farmer named Dan and his daughter, Anna, after they help them move their truck out of the mud, and they invite the trio to spend the night at their farm to return the favor. Later that day, Ted reads about Kayla’s family in the newspaper, understanding why George brought them to California, and that everyone in New York thinks they’re kidnappers. To fix the mess, Ted decides to return Kayla to Piccadilly, but George and Anna become upset with him.

The next morning, Ted changes his mind but before they leave for Kayla’s home, Danno shows up in a helicopter, planning to recapture Kayla, but a pig throws Danno into a rain barrel and Kayla scares the pilot into flying away. George and company escape using a hollowed out school bus and they reach the animal park, where Kayla happily reunites with Tonga and Layla. However, Danno shows up again and arrests George and Ted, recaptures Kayla, and flies them back to the city in his plane. George, Ted and Kayla then escape by skydiving out of the plane, and they make it back to Piccadilly, who joyfully reunites with Kayla. However, Danno shows up once again. Kayla subdues him and throws him onto the stage’s trapdoor, which Piccadilly opens, dropping Danno onto the mattress below.

Ted gives his report to the Board of Directors. Despite his previous adventures preventing him from finishing his presentation, George gives him the inspiration, and Ted improvises the speech by saying that loved ones are more important than work and proposes ideas for the museum based on that idea, such as a Father and Son Day. The board is impressed and approves his appointment. In the last scene, George, Ted and Maggie are setting up a picnic in the park. Piccadilly comes by and reveals that Tonga and Layla have joined Piccadilly’s act, so Kayla and her family are together again, and his act is twice better.

Voice cast

• Frank Welker as Curious George, Duck, Cow
• Jeff Bennett as Ted (The Man with the Yellow Hat)
• Fred Tatasciore as Mr. Bloomsberry
• Nickie Bryar as Maggie, Teenage Boy
• Ed O'Ross as Ivan
• Amy Hill as the Flower Pot Lady, Irate Woman
• Tim Curry as The Great Piccadilly
• Catherine Taber as Tina
• Jamie Kennedy as Mr. Wolfe
• Matt Lauer as Hark Hanson
• Jerry Lewis as The Humbleton Stationmaster
• Cree Summer as Mrs. Fisher, Cargo Pilot, Young Girl
• Jeff McNeal as Kayla, Hog, Tonga & Layla
• Clint Howard as Farmer Dan
• Trupti Potdukhe as Anna
• Phil LaMarr as California Animal Park Attendant
• Carlos Alazraqui as 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 including a re-working of one of their existing songs, "Life Less Ordinary" to fit the theme of the film, 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 that "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 and DVD in September and December 2020, respectively. A sixth film, Curious George: Cape Ahoy, was released on Peacock exclusively on September 30, 2021.

External links

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