The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

Starring: Kevin Clash (voice), Mandy Patinkin, Vanessa Williams, Sonia Manzano, Roscoe Orman, Carroll Spinney (voice), Frank Oz (voice)
Directed by: Gary Halvorson
Rating: G
Genre: Comedy
1999

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Elmo (Kevin Clash) ventures into Grouchland to retrieve his lost blanket.

Review:

Tim: 14 years after the first Sesame Street film, Follow That Bird, we got a second feature film. If you're interested in how much had changed over that time period, Elmo only makes a cameo appearance in the first film, as he wasn't even an established character yet. He certainly took over the top spot on the street, so it's not surprising that The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland puts the furry red monster front and center. While this movie certainly has some appealing aspects to it, I ultimately found it a tad disappointing.

One of the best aspects of Follow That Bird is that it got the characters out of Sesame Street and opened up the world. It was fun to see those familiar characters in an unfamiliar setting. This movie does the same, except instead of sending the characters out across America, they venture into the fantastical world of Grouchland. I have to admit this feels less exciting. Still, the change of setting from the norm is mostly positive.

I also appreciated the overall message of the film. It feels like it takes a while to get there, but the entire movie is all about sharing. That's a positive message for children and I appreciated that this movie at least tried to continue some of the learning for younger viewers. The villain of the film is an extreme non-sharer and Elmo himself reflects on how he was selfish as well. The combination of those two is fairly powerful and I thought the movie had a legitimately good message.

Although I was initially excited to see Mandy Patinkin as the antagonist, I wasn't a fan of his character of Huxley. His performance is way too over-the-top, to the point where it felt ludicrous. I understand playing things up for younger audiences, but Patinkin could have found a way to be larger than life while also being at least a tiny bit realistic. I give him credit for embracing the role gleefully, but it wasn't a great performance. I also thought that the character was a bit too harsh. My four year-old son wasn't a fan of any of his scenes and wanted to turn the movie off a couple of times (I just gently encouraged him to wait a minute or two until we got back to Elmo). My son's pretty tough, so it definitely felt like this character didn't hit the right notes. I firmly believe there was a way to present this bad guy as a classic selfish person without coming across as so frightening. It felt like that aspect of the movie was off.

The rest of the film is your typical adventure story. I suppose Elmo's adventure is mostly in good fun. The trash people scene was a little weird, but it did offer up a great scene of Vanessa Williams as the Queen of Trash. Again, a bit weird, but it was definitely one of the more entertaining aspects of the film. Still, it just felt like a bunch of weird decisions were made. When Elmo's friends arrive in Grouchland, they get thrown in jail. That was a lot of fun, trying to explain to my son why the Sesame Street people were in jail. It felt like a significantly better story could have been pulled together for Elmo's first movie.

While uneven and a little weird, this is still mostly an appropriate adventure for younger viewers. It does talk about the value of sharing, which is a critical life skill. I found the movie to be decent, although definitely a step back from Follow That Bird.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Follow That Bird