"Curious George" Carries On

"Curious George" the movie opened today. For a list of reviews, see the Rotten Tomatoes compendium of criticism. Audrey Rock-Richardson, at the Tooele (Utah) Transcript Bulletin, writes, "It's the complete opposite of the pushy, loud-mouthed, smart-alecky stuff that dominates children's cinema."

Last year Louise Borden published her story of Curious George's creators'—Margret and H.A.  Rey's—harrowing escape from Europe during the Second World War. Titled The Journey That Saved Curious George, the book was a subject of a previous Chicken Spaghetti post.

Here's a neat article in the Concord Monitor about the Reys' life in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire, where they had a summer home after coming to the U.S. (Their main home was in Cambridge, Mass.) The Reys were well-known to the children of the Waterville Valley area. When Hans was working in his studio, he would hang out a picture of a man at his desk if he was receiving small visitors. The town of Waterville Valley now owns the Reys' cottage, which is open to the public, and the cottage maintains its own blog!

Then there's a sad corollary to the current Curious George news. Allan J. Shalleck, who collaborated with Margaret Rey on film shorts and books based on them (like Curious George Goes to an Ice Cream Shop), was murdered this week in Florida. The Palm Beach Post covers the gruesome story. (Link via GalleyCat)