The Magic of Curious George & Curious George: Royal Monkey on DVD now!

By Erin

  

Curious George who we all know and love is filled with delightful antics, gentle humor and heartfelt emotion that has captivated the hearts of families around the world, is featured in a majestic film that follows George as he trades places with the royal monkey of Simiana by mistake! Taking audiences on a colorful grand adventure with exciting new locations and a fresh cast of adorable characters, Curious George: Royal Monkey features returning voice cast Emmy Award® winners Frank Welker (Scooby-Doo! franchise) and Jeff Bennett (“Johnny Bravo” TV series) and showcases five original songs including a single by award-winning recording artist and songwriter Andy Grammer. For a limited time only, Curious George: Royal Monkey on DVD also comes with an exclusive sticker sheet, available at all retailers nationwide.

Join your favorite monkey as he takes on his most regal role yet in Curious George: Royal Monkey. After disrupting a meeting with a stuffy royal family, George accidentally trades places with the king’s snooty monkey, Philippe. While Philippe puzzles Ted with his flawless manners, George travels to the castle where his fun-loving antics raise eyebrows and bring shy Princess Isabel out of her shell. Featuring all-new music from Andy Grammer, this king-sized adventure reminds us all that doing what you love is the key to happiness.

Curious George is a timeless character that was first introduced to the world of children’s literacy over 75 years ago. Created by Margret and H.A. Rey in 1941, Curious George remains one of the most beloved classics in children’s literature, television and film with more than 108 episodes of the Emmy® award-winning animated series on PBS and over 80 million books in print worldwide in 26 languages. Nora LOVED reading her new Curious George books and looking at all the pictures.

Curious George: Royal Monkey is the first film in the Curious George franchise to be comprised of a predominantly female music team, with Germaine Franco, the first female composer, and Michele Brourman and Amanda McBoom, the first female songwriters. The whimsical and joyous soundtrack transports the listener between George’s world and the royal kingdom of Simiana.

Given that Curious George is such a remarkable figure in the world of children’s literature, Franco was honored to take on the task of scoring the film. She detailed her process of developing the score: “I was asked to create a whimsical world of music from George’s point of view. The story involves a case of mistaken identity between George and the Simiana royal monkey, Phillipe. I wrote distinct themes for each monkey. George’s theme has a signature sound of plucked stringed instruments, while Phillipe’s theme involves muted trumpets and snare drums, as if it were written for a toy solider. The score alternates between lively rhythm instruments with hand percussion to denote a Caribbean influence from the island of Simiana, mixed with chamber and orchestral instruments to establish a royal sound. I truly enjoyed collaborating with the Universal 1440 Entertainment team to write the score for the newest installment of the iconic family franchise.” –Composer, Germaine Franco

Songwriting-duo Amanda McBroom and Michele Brourman contributed 4 of the 5 original songs featured on the soundtrack: “We’ve written songs for baby dinosaurs, lunatic poodles, noble wolf-dogs, mythic heroes, and chipmunks – but George is our first monkey! We are thrilled to be a part of George‘s first female music team! In Curious George: Royal Monkey, we used songs to drive the action, and to express and heighten emotions during key moments. It was important to us to write songs that we felt could stand alone. We wanted to create tunes that we knew people could enjoy, dance, and sing to. Although we love them all, our favorite song is “Now You Know,” which is played during an exciting horse racing scene. It’s so joyous and really builds the action in the film.” –Songwriters, Amanda McBroom and Michele Brourman

There is so much to love about this new Curious George film, so make sure to get your copy of the DVD if you have not already! I think we have another Curious George fan here! 😉 She was clapping for her new friend on the TV!