Curucuru and Friends

Curucuru and Friends
Promotional Poster for the series, featuring the 5 main characters.
Also known as	Tales of Greenery
Genre	Preschool Comedy Slice of Life
Based on	Stone Comics Entertainment characters
Developed by	Ffango Entertoyment
Written by	Yi Jeong-Geun Jang Eun-Ju (Season 1) Wáng Dìng Yī (Season 2)
Directed by	Jung Hye-On (Season 1) Wang Bo (Season 2)
Starring	Choe Mun-Ja Jeon Tae-Yeol Hong Yeong-Lan Choe Jeong-Ho Gim Ok-Gyeong
Opening theme	"Curucuru and Friends" by Ing Yeong-Hui, Yi Si-Nae and Lee Min-Jung
Composer(s)	Lee Sang-ho (Music Director) Gim Hui-Jip (Music)
Country of origin	South Korea China
Original language(s)	Korean Mandarin (Season 2 and 3)
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	65
Production
Producer(s)	Bak In-Sik Dale D. Yoon
Running time	24 Minutes (First Season. Each Segment: 12 Minutes) 11 Minutes (Second Season)
Production company(s)	Ffango Entertoyment (Season 1) Seoul Movie (Season 1) Beijing Pan Gaowen Media Ltd (Season 2-3) Zhejiang Chinese Cartoon Co. (Season 2-3) CJ ENM (Season 4) Stone Comics Entertainment (Season 4) SV Investment Corp (Season 4) Korea Creative Content Agency (Season 4)
Distributor	Iconix Entertainment (Worldwide)[1] Alpha Group Company (China, seasons 2 and 3) CJ ENM (South Korea, USA, Japan & Worldwide, seasons 4 and 5)
Release
Original network	KBS1
Picture format	SDTV (480i 4:3)
Original release	November 24, 2006 (2006-11-24) – 2016
External links
Website

Curucuru and Friends (Hangul: 꾸루꾸루와 친구들; RR: Kkurukkuruwa Chingudeul; also known as Tales of Greenery or The Family of Greenwood (Chinese: 绿树林家族; pinyin: Lǜ shù lín jiāzú)) is a 2006 Korean-Chinese Stop Motion series animated by Ffango Entertoyment (Now Comma Studios), primarily aimed for Preschoolers. It is officially Ffango's first original stop motion animated series,^[2] directed by Jung Hye-On and written by both Yi Jeong-Geun and Jang Eun-Ju with character designs by Jin Hyo-Jung.^[3]

The first season is aired KBS1 from November 24, 2006 to February 16, 2007, with a total of 13 episodes. A second season, made after the rights transfer, is then produced and aired in China, produced in a joint collaboration between Zhejiang Chinese Cartoon Co. and Beijing Pan Gaowen media Ltd from September 2013 to February 2014, with a total count of 26 episodes. A movie sequel titled Curucuru and Friends: The Rainbow Tree Forest (Hangul: 꾸루꾸루와 친구들: 무지개 나무의 비밀; RR: Kkurukkuruwa Chingudeul: mujigae namuui bimil) was released on Korean theaters on November 19, 2015.^[4] A third season of the series was released in 2016.

In 2017, based on the superheroes character series crossover were created in the original series, which are published by Stone Comics Entertainment - CJ ENM comic book and film franchise owner by CJ Group

Story

Cast

Curucuru (Hangul: 꾸루꾸루; RR: Kkurukkuru)

Voiced by: Choe Mun-Ja (Season 1), Jo Hyeon-jeong (Movie and Season 4)

The series's main protagonist, Curucuru is a brown bear boy who likes to cook but sometimes has tendencies to get hungry and eat anything. Despite being big, he's very lazy, sleepy and sometimes lack courage and tenacity but despite all of these, he is always supportive to all of his friends. He is also a very slow runner and has problems with his weight. He is best friends with Toto.

Koori (Hangul: 쿠리; RR: Kuri)

Voiced by: Jeon Tae-Yeol (Season 1), Bak Sin-hee (Movie and Season 4)

Koori is a brown raccoon boy who is well known as the town's aspiring inventor. Usually prideful, smart and always brags, his creations were a hit and miss when it comes to success. Somehow he never gives up on inventing and impressing his friends. He has a little sister named Haru and is also the oldest of the two siblings.

Lalla (Hangul: 랄라; RR: Lalla)

Voiced by: Hong Yeong-Lan (Season 1), Lee So-eun (Movie and Season 4)

Lalla is a pink Tabby cat girl and the only female member of the group, who is the village's aspiring singer. She likes to dance and perform but also doesn't want her private stuff to be touched. She's very posh, likes attention and likes to be pretty, but also very kind to her friends. She lives with her mother and shown to collect various types of dolls and cute stuff.

Pinpin (Hangul: 핀핀; RR: Pinpin)

Voiced by: Choe Jeong-Ho

Pinpin is a blue and white giant panda boy who likes to paint and draw, considered as the Picasso of the Greenery Forest. He likes to paint and draw, thought sometimes has a hard time finding inspiration. He is very clam and also has a kind heart to everyone, thought also gets rather scared and saddened easily. He lives with his parents and often seeks advise to his grandfather, who lives near the lake.

Toto (Hangul: 토토; RR: Toto)

Voiced by: Gim Ok-Gyeong (Season 1), Yuri Seo (Movie and Season 4)

Toto is a purple bat boy who wishes to fly and also likes to become a pilot. The youngest member of the group, he is very curious, inquisitive and also very adventurous. However, for these traits, he can be very mischievous and sometimes stubborn on things. Despite being a bat, he somehow can't fly due to the lack wings. He is best friends with Curucuru.

Archie (Chinese: 阿奇; pinyin: Ā qí)

Voiced by: N/A

One of the characters debuting in season 2, Archie is a light gray jackrabbit boy who causes trouble to the children in the Green Forest Village. He is always accompanied by Dandan on their schemes.

Dangdang (Chinese: 当当; pinyin: Dāng Dāng)

Voiced by: N/A

Also a character debuting in season 2, Dandan is a brown monkey boy who also causes trouble to the children in the Green Forest Village. He always adores Archie on building up schemes.

Episodes

Development

Originating as a pilot film in 2003, the series officially greenlited into an animated series in 2004 The series's development first began back in 2003 after the Ffango animation studio is renamed into Ffango Entertoyment. The series began as a pilot film selected by the Korea Creative Content Agency and Seoul Movie took interest in the series which got officially greenlited in 2004, with Government Donation and support by the Gyeonggi Digital Content Agency.^[5] In 2005, the series became one of KOCCA's Star Project and aired a year later on Korean Broadcasting System in November 24, 2006. The series was also broadcast in mainland China by China Central Television in 2008 under the name The Family of Greenwood. The second season is aired from September 2013 to February 2014^[6] with support from both the China Film Group and Guangdong Alpha Animation & Culture Co., Ltd.

The series is animated using customized ball jointed puppets created by Thinking Hand Creative Studio^[7] and Darak Workshop^[8] with several expression faces made for each characters. Production took about 3 years total, making the puppets, backgrounds and scripts for each episode. Each scene and episode were shot using 100 Canon EOS-1D Mark II Stop Motion Control Cameras.^[9]

An official musical is also made for the series, which run in 2007 to 2011. However, in 2009 due to financial issues and company restructuring, the series rights is sold to China Film Group. In 2011, KOCCA stated that a theatrical film is currently in development alongside the second season.^[10] JeDae Moon stated that "Investment for the season 2 is ongoing in China and more success is expected. We believe we stepped off on the right foot with KOCCA's support.".^[11] This is also the first time that KOCCA's OSMU (One Source Multi-Use) model has been taken up in a collaborative venture between Korea and China.^[12] A second season of the series was in the works in 2012 and aired between September 2013 to February 2014.

Iconix Entertainment currently handles the worldwide distribution rights of the series while Alpha Group Company distributes the series inside Mainland China after the rights transfer.

Officially developed back in 2016, the series was created to educate children about protection and preservation of the environment and encourages parents and their children to appreciate friendship, harmony, honesty and courage. Tales of Greenery (Curucuru & Friends) based on the stop-motion, toyline, and superheroes of the same name film franchise, produced by Korean comics book and animated publisher by Haksan Publishing and Ffango Entertoyment animated series was first published in December 2017 in six different magazines. A based on the superheroes character series crossover were created in the original series, which are published by Stone Comics Entertainment - CJ ENM comic book and film franchise owner by CJ Group now currently owns the license for the series's distribution in South Korea, Japan and America. CJ ENM Corporation currently handles the worldwide distribution rights of the series while under licensing by International Media Partners Development Company global distributes the series inside United States, UK, Canada, Brazil, France, Germany, Mexico, Belgium, Thailand, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Japan & Indonesia after the rights transfer. The series began as a pilot film selected by the Korea Creative Content Agency and Seoul Movie took interest in the series which got officially greenlited in 2014, with Government Donation and support by the Gyeonggi Digital Content Agency. In 2015, the series became one of KOCCA's Star Project and aired a year later on Korean Broadcasting System in November 24, 2016. IMPDC Licensing picked up the license to dub the first season with new distribution done by VIZ Media & Showcase Entertainment and flash-animation done Studio Vandal, nSac Film Partners, Sunwoo Entertainment, Sim-ei Entertainment, Magic Image Co., Ltd., and MICO Animation Studio. Ltd. It was English dubbing studio post-production Bang Zoom! Entertainment. The dub premiered on July 1, 2015 and ended on December 23, 2015 and received mostly mixed to negative reviews from critics.

In 2013, an edited English dub distributed by CJ ENM Tooniverse & Korean Broadcasting System aired on ABC3 & Disney XD in the United States started on July 7, 2014. In Epcot, Curucuru and Friends toys are on the Korean shop. On August 17, 2015, another English dubbed version distributed by Luk Internacional began broadcasting on Boomerang UK.

In 2015, based on the comic book & superheroes team media film franchise is the US English adaptation of the 2006 Korean stop-motion and animated children's television series that has been airing since July 7, 2014 and has aired a total of season 2, 54 episodes as of 2015. Since February 1, 2016 the US adaptation airs bilingually in South Korea on Disney Channel Korea. As of June 12, 2016, broadcasts of new episodes in the US are currently on hiatus according to Bang Zoom! Entertainment. However, Disney XD began to rerun the existing dubbed episodes in March 2017 as a lead-in to its new weekday afternoon animated block.

Production

Curucuru & Friends was stop-motion animated by Ffango Entertoyment and Seoul Movie for season 1, Zhejiang Chinese Cartoon Co. and Beijing Pan Gaowen media Ltd for season 2-3 and Flash-animated by Studio Vandal, nSac Film Partners, Sunwoo Entertainment, Sim-ei Entertainment, Magic Image Co., Ltd., and MICO Animation Studio. Ltd for season 4. The series lasted for four seasons and 41 episodes.

Reception

Total Licensing Magazine stated that the series "is not didactic in its approach but, through animation in conveys originality, sociality and propriety in a way to interest the children."^[13]

References

External links

• Official KBS Website (Korean)
• Curucuru and Friends in the Korean Movie Database