the audience applauded

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

My local theater plays this every weekend and the wifey and I just had to go and see it. We both want monkeys for Christmas and a Curious George cartoon will probably be the closest thing to monkeys we will probably ever get. Sadly, we saw both saw this and Chronicles of Narnia in one weekend and didn't bother taking the kids. Not only that, we rushed out to see it this morning. We need help.Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas is really about George's first Christmas. The Man in the Yellow Hat teaches George about how people spend their Christmas like baking cookies, going out looking for a tree (which George wreaks havoc yet no one seemed to be mad), singing Christmas Carols (unfortunately they sing in this one), and buying that special gift for someone.Of course, that's not all it's about as both The Man in the Yellow Hat and Curious George try to find out what each other wants for Christmas. When George writes his Christmas list, all he does is draw up circles and triangles yet somehow The Man in the Yellow Hat thinks this is some kind of clue. I don't know about you but if a monkey draws up some gibberish of various shapes, I would probably discard it as gibberish.I mention before about how George wreaks havoc. How come no one gets mad at this stupid monkey? There's one scene where George is trying to make tomato snowmen for The Man in the Yellow Hat. When The Man in the Yellow Hat comes home, he sees that George got tomato paste all over the kitchen. That's a big mess yet he never gets mad. Why is he so passive? Not only him, but the rest of the adults in his life seem to just laugh it off and treat George like his fingers on dial with 911 if they ever lay a hand on him. I want to choke that monkey!In the end, Curious George does something that suggests that "It's the thought that counts" while The Man in the Yellow Hat still tries to figure out that gibberish. This leads to some crazy "It's A Wonderful Life/Christmas Carol" segment that seems a little out of place, and somehow he just figures it out. When you finally discover it, you realize that stupid monkey is expensive! This Christmas Special is being shown for one reason and one reason only: For the Man in the Yellow Hat to shout, "I understand my monkey!"