Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird

Starring: Carroll Spinney (voice), Jim Henson (voice), Frank Oz (voice), Richard Hunt (voice), Kathryn Mullen (voice), Jerry Nelson (voice), Sandra Bernhard, John Candy, Chevy Chase, Joe Flaherty, Waylon Jennings, Dave Thomas
Directed by: Ken Kwapis
Rating: G
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Family
1985

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A misguided social worker sends Big Bird to live with a bird family so he can be surrounded by his own kind. He misses his friends on Sesame Street and decides to walk home. His friends mount a cross-country search to find him.

Review:

Tim: It's entirely possible I knew about this movie as a kid and it's possible I even watched it. However, I have no memory of it. In fact, I didn't even know it existed until I happened to read about it in an article in 2019. I decided I needed to go back and watch the first Sesame Street movie ever (not that there's been very many). I found the film to be an entertaining movie that appeals to the Sesame Street demographic by using its characters, but will also appeal to older kids as this is an exciting road trip film.

In some ways, this movie is both unexpected and refreshing. Sesame Street is a national treasure and it's educated millions of children for decades. I watched the show when I was a kid and I've loved the times my own son watched and learned from it. It's funny and entertaining, but it always puts education first. So, it's a little unexpected and a little strange that this movie was made. Sure, there's some great lessons about what family means and how friends take care of each other. While young viewers will learn something by watching this film, education feels fairly low on the agenda for this movie. That's where the refreshing thing comes in. It's refreshing to see characters like Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster, and Grover actually get out of Sesame Street and go on an exciting adventure across the United States. The movie's story felt more appropriate for the Muppets, but I loved that the characters of Sesame Street got the opportunity to have a big adventure. The setting might have changed, but this is still a worthwhile story and as mentioned, there's positive lessons to take away. That being said, I feel like any episode of Sesame Street teaches my four year-old son something. I'm not sure what he learned from this film. He was entertained, however.

The set up is fine, but it did feel mostly like a convenient excuse to create this cross-country search for Big Bird. That's really the driving force of the story and it's fun to see these familiar characters setting out. Whether that's an impressive display of aerial maneuvering by Bert and Ernie, or Super Grover making obvious mistakes, or Oscar the Grouch being less than enthusiastic about the main mission, the movie gives us these humorous little side stories that you'd expect on a road trip movie. The main story is a little tough for younger viewers- how many of them want to see Big Bird locked in a cage? However, it's much more appropriate for slightly older viewers who will appreciate the exciting adventure of it all. I'd say my son felt somewhere in between there.

The human actors were solid. It was good to see a number of familiar faces from the Sesame Street of the 80s reprise their roles here. The unexpected cameos were fun, too. Chevy Chase on the television, John Candy as a police officer, Sandra Bernhard as a waitress. None of them were incredible or super memorable, but they did create a little "hey!" fun moment for older viewers. I will say that I loved the inclusion of Kermit the Frog here. That was unexpected but a great moment in the film.

While far from perfect, Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird feels like an oddity (in a good way) as it delivers an age-appropriate exciting road trip adventure. There's not a lot of movies like this for slightly older viewers. It was fun watching a non-animated movie with my son. The puppetry work is impressive and little cultural nods (like to North by Northwest) are fun. It's a shame that despite strong reviews, this film bombed at the box office (sounds like due to too much competition). It's a fun movie and it's unfortunate that it would take 14 years for Sesame Street to attempt another feature film. Still, this is a movie that's well worth checking out and it's a movie I enjoyed.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating- 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, The Muppet Movie