Curious George is a 2006 American
traditionally animated adventure family comedy film based on the
book series by
H.A. and
Margret Rey. It stars
Will Ferrell,
Drew Barrymore,
Dick Van Dyke,
David Cross,
Eugene Levy,
Joan Plowright, and
Frank Welker as the title character. Matthew O'Callaghan directed (after replacing
Jun Falkenstein). It features new songs by
Jack Johnson. This project had been under development at
Imagine Entertainment for a long time, dating back at least as long ago as 1992 (and possibly many years before this). The screenplay was written by Ken Kaufman, with a story by Kaufman and Mike Werb. Although it is a traditionally animated film, about twenty percent of it takes place in 3D environments that were computer-generated. It was the first
Universal Pictures theatrically released feature-length animated film since
1995's
Balto, and
Imagine Entertainment's first animated film. Due to the success of the film, the franchise was adapted to
a TV series on
PBS Kids, with
Jeff Bennett replacing Ferrell as the voice of the Man with the Yellow Hat.