There's a reason H.A. Rey's Curious George books are only 64 pages long, and half of those pages are given over to illustrations: The mischievous monkey whose insatiable curiosity always gets him into trouble is not exactly suited to long, intricate narratives. Thus the problem faced by the new Curious George feature film, which feels padded at only 82 minutes. George himself doesn't talk, so the film's plot shifts the focus to the monkey's caretaker, the Man in the Yellow Hat (voiced by Ferrell).
The Man is given a name (Ted) and a job at a museum that's going to be shut down to make way for a parking lot unless Ted can bring back a legendary African idol and increase business. Instead he ends up with George, who ends up in all sorts of lovable trouble before, of course, helping to save the museum and hooking Ted up with the cute teacher who's always bringing her class by.
It's nice to see a hand-drawn animated film, since American studios are steadily phasing out what they consider an outdated form. But George is mild, toothless and amusing only for the smallest children—and even they would probably be more riveted by Rey's simple and entertaining books.