THE PLOT THUS FAR
An adventure with the little monkey Curious George, written by H.A. and illustrated by Margaret Rey. There is also an extra version of the story in English. George is gifted with a new bicycle from the man in the yellow hat and decides to try it out. He soon finds himself downtown, helping deliver papers, sailing boats in a lake, and even being featured in a local circus. Plus, nine other adventures.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
Curious George, Sylvester and friends come together to teach kids a second language. The stuff with Harry the dirty dog plays better, as we’re getting shorter sentences that help to slow the pace and allow small children a chance to follow along. But, these shorts in rapid succession are going to help them more than just hoping something sticks.
Still, the push to teach kids Spanish comes across hap-hazard when you look at it. I’m a big fan of the effort, it’s just the execution is incredibly lacking. The design here can’t be faulted, and you are offered all possible options – you can listen to the story in English while subtitles highlight in time, word by word, and you can do the same thing in Spanish.
The DVD comes with ten features in Spanish designed to inform toddlers of their competition from the South. The narrations and read-alongs are included in the set similar to other Scholastic releases. But, there’s very few other special features. The A/V Quality is pretty strong, but it lacks the punch up that you’d expect from modern animation. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase.
RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW!
