Theodore “Ted” Shackleford is a
tour guide who works at the Bloomsberry Museum in
New York City. One day he gives weekly presentations to schoolteacher Maggie Dunlop and her students until his boss, Mr. Bloomsberry, informs Ted that the museum will have to close due to dwindling funds. Bloomsberry's son, Junior, seeks to demolish the museum and replace it with a
parking garage. To save the museum, Ted impulsively volunteers to find a dazzling treasure called the Lost Shrine of Zagawa, a 40 ft. tall idol that could attract new visitors. Jealous of Ted's constant praise from Mr. Bloomsberry, Junior burns half the map to sabotage the exhibition. Ted is outfitted with a bright yellow suit and hat from a clothing store and boards a
cargo ship to the
jungle of Africa, only to find that the idol is just three inches tall. He sends a photograph of it to the museum, but the picture's angle leads Mr. Bloomsberry to believe that the idol is even larger than expected. Ted befriends
a curious monkey who follows him back to the city by stowing away on the ship. In Ted's apartment building, the monkey vandalizes the walls of opera singer Miss Plushbottom's
penthouse with paint, and Ted is evicted per the building's strict no-pet policy. Back at the museum, Ted reveals the idol's actual size to Mr. Bloomsberry and is exiled by Junior after the monkey accidentally destroys an
Apatosaurus skeleton. Thanks to a call to the
animal control service gone wrong, Ted and the monkey are forced to sleep outside in a park, where they start to bond. The next morning, Ted follows the monkey into a nearby zoo and they encounter Maggie and her students. Ted names the monkey George after a nearby statue of
George Washington and saves him after he floats away with
helium balloons. At the home of Clovis, an inventor, George discovers that an
overhead projector makes the idol appear huge, and that gives him an idea to make his entire body big as well. Ted and George take the projector to show to Mr. Bloomsberry, but Junior, still jealous, pours some of his
latte on the projector, causing it to explode, and frames George by giving him the rest. A defeated Ted informs the public that the museum is permanently closed, then allows animal control officers to capture George and return him to Africa. Worried and feeling sad about what he did to George, Ted speaks with Maggie, who helps him "see" what's really important in his life and inspires him to rescue him. Later that night, Ted sneaks onto the ship, just as it leaves the dock, and reunites with George in the cargo hold. Back in Africa, George notices that the idol reveals a
pictogram when turned to the light, and Ted realizes that it is a map leading to the
real idol, which they find in the jungle and is indeed 40 feet tall. Later, the idol is then displayed in the museum, which reopens and is back in business which make it more successful than ever when it becomes more hands--on because of the addition of Clovis' inventions, the interaction with Maggie, her young students and, of course, George. Junior manages to get his parking garage, but is upset that Ted now works at the museum. == Voice cast ==