Curious George 2: Follow That Monkey!

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.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It still retains the charm and cuteness of its predecessor.
 * 2) Despite the film's slightly darker tone, due to Danno, there are lots of funny moments and humor in it.
 * 3) While most of the voice actors have changed, they do still fit perfectly.
 * 4) The graphics have been massively improved, with more detail put on the characters.
 * 5) The plot has been originally made, instead of using the book plot. This is probably because the movie is a sequel
 * 6) Amazing musical score. Many great songs include "Let Your Troubles Roll By," "Follow That Monkey," and "Walking In The Sun."
 * 7) Great lines, such as, "You think this act of yours is foolin' anyone?", "Papa needs a new pair of bars.", and "I bet they have an internet request for that."
 * 8) Hilarious scenes, such as the one where Danno thinks that George speaks Chinese.



Bad Qualities

 * 1) Danno is a highly unlikable character in this film. This is because even after Ted tries to explain that Kayla is reunited with her brother and sister, he arrests them for the wrong reason. Fortunately, he never reappeared in the third movie.
 * 2) Ted is still a punching bag in this film.
 * 3) Some obnoxious scenes, where Danno grabs Ted's pants and pulls them off, showing Ted's underpants, and Kayla blowing air into Ted's nose. That can be disturbing for younger kids.



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." On Rotten Tomatoes, the film does not have a critic score, but does have an audience score of 49% based on 500+ ratings.

Trivia

 * This movie occasionally plays on the PBS Kids channel on Family Night, along with Curious George 3: Back to the Jungle.

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