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This is a choice I do not understand for Jack Johnson.  While music is seemingly in an era of "white boys who play guitar while gazing earnestly at their audience" ushered in by John Mayer and Jason Mraz, Johnson takes a curious path by doing a soundtrack for a movie whose target audiences are five year olds and their parents. 

Johnson, in his trademark "I'm not Dave Matthews, but I could be" style of vocals, wends his way through thirteen songs that sound relatively alike.   They all have acoustic guitar, a pleasant (if boring) soundtrack, and lend themselves to singing along through repeated choruses.  Here's the problem: five year old aren't buying this music, and only the most devoted fans of Johnson will want this disc in order to complete their collections.   

"Upside Down", familiar to any parent with the TV station Noggin, is the radio hit.  "Brother" is the only standout musically, in that it explores some lower ranges for Johnson, in the area of Lou Reed or Mark Knopfler.   "The 3 R's" combines the old Schoolhouse Rock song "Three is a Magic Number" with an environmental message.  "With My Own Two Hands" features Ben Harper on guest vocals, but it's hard to tell, in that he sounds almost exactly like Johnson. 

This seems like a missed opportunity for Johnson.  Unless he simply loved the Curious George books as a child, and is doing this as a labor of love, one cannot fathom how this record will further his career in any way.   This is a record that won't offend a listener by its ineptitude, but rather will prove to be unmemorable by being pleasantly bland.

Brian A. Smith
3 April 2006