“He was a good little monkey and always very curious.”
We know these words to be those that describe the eternally-popular and timeless Curious George. In a special edition DVD, the clay-mation edition of the first story about Curious George, along with “Curious George Goes to the Hospital,” comes to life. It celebrates the 65th anniversary of the first “Curious George” book and the 40th anniversary of “Curious George Goes to the Hospital.” I believe this video was first released in the 80’s because I remember having it and watching it as a child. When I saw this DVD in Wal-Mart the other day, I was ecstatic. My daughter has not stopped asking for it since.
“Curious George Comes to America” is the title given on the video for the first story originally entitled simply “Curious George.” This story tells of how the Man in the Yellow Hat takes George from the jungle and brings him on a boat to America. In this clay-mation version, the book’s illustrations are brought to life. Everything that was in the book is in this animation, from George being captured in the jungle to George being put in jail for calling the fire department when there was no fire. The end even shows him at the zoo with balloons and his new friends.
“Curious George Goes to the Hospital” is the clay-mation version of the original book by the same name. When I used to watch this video, this episode was my favorite. I still love it to this day. This story is about George swallowing a piece to a jigsaw puzzle. The next day when George doesn’t feel well, the Man in the Yellow Hat takes him to the doctor. When the doctor can’t find anything wrong with him, he send George to the hospital to have an x-ray. After the doctor discovers the puzzle piece in George’s stomach, George has to stay in the hospital for an operation. In the children’s ward with a nurse named Carol and a little girl named Betsy, George learns not to be scared.
There are other clay-mation stories on this DVD as well. When I bought the DVD I was not paying attention to anything else on the box so I didn’t know that they were on there. There are some stories about Frog and Toad, as well as some others that I had never heard.
This DVD is a great addition to your child’s Curious George collection. Like I said, my daughter will not stop asking for it. If it were a VHS, it would probably be worn out already.
I bought this DVD at Wal-Mart, but I have seen no mention of it on Wal-Mart.com. I saw it on Shop PBS, but it was temporarily out of stock. If nothing else, I suppose you could always try eBay.