Curious George is everyone's favorite monkey. From the classic books to the newer cartoons, the stories are always a hit for audiences of all ages. Although he is more commonly watched by young kids, as that is the target audience, I admit that I do enjoy a good "Curious George" episode every now and again. You might be thinking, "Why? It's a kids' show for little kids. Are you a little kid?" No, but I have my reasons. Here they are.
1. It's entertaining and funny
Even though this show is meant for kids, it still succeeds as making me and other semi-adults laugh or at least smile at the absurdity. Of all the kids shows this one is definitely the cleverest and most entertaining. So many adventures are had, and it's funny for so many reasons. From the silly, mischievous endeavors George gets into, to the man with the yellow hat's level of casualness about having a monkey for a son, this show can make just about anyone laugh.
2. Educates on real world topics, not just counting and the ABC's
Unlike Dora the Explorer, you aren't going to have Curious George turn to the camera and ask you to find something that is obviously right in front of his face. No, Curious George will find the answer himself by being his curious and intelligent self. This can inspire kids to be creative and to think outside the box, or the barrel since we're talking about monkeys. Kids are being exposed to interesting science topics such as how magnets work, and to math topics such as organizing different types of dogs into different rooms in the man's apartment, then counting and using multiplication to determine how many dogs George accidentally stole from a dog show. The important part is that the show isn't directly showing a child how to count, they are being shown a scenario in which counting is being utilized. This indirect teaching method proves to be very effective and also leads kids to think creatively.
3. It's a classic
Curious George stories have been around for ages and I don't believe they will ever get old. Also, the story possibilities are endless when you're working with a curious and smart monkey living in the city and sometimes country with a man dressed like a banana.
4. George is cute and he has cute friends
The animation style is great, George is cute, his best friends are cute animals such as a squirrel named Jumpy Squirrel, cat named Gnocchi, dog named Sparky, and a pigeon named Compass. They are like a little posse of adorable troublemakers. George is also friends with humans. One is a boy named Bill from who is very intelligent, but he refers to George as a "city kid" and doesn't know George is a monkey. In one episode, two actual city kids come with George to his country house, and when Bill finds out that the kids who look like him are from the same place as George, he is very confused. This is just one of the ironic and funny moments in this franchise.
One thing worth noting is that since George is very mischievous, at the end of the episodes when there is a short segment of human kids, they always say, "George is a monkey, so he can do things we can't do." That is important so your kids don't scale the outside of your 50-story apartment building.
Of the many children's shows on air nowadays, "Curious George" is definitely one of the best.