I used to watch pre-school children's television programme Sesame Street a few times as a child, when it was available on terrestrial TV, this was essentially the Sesame Street movie, with one of its most popular characters as the star, so I watched to relive my childhood a bit. Basically Elmo the furry red monster (Kevin Clash) loves his fuzzy blue blanket and would never let anything happen to it, however when Zoe the furry yellow-orange monster (Fran Brill) wants to play with it they get in a tug-of-war, and it rips, Elmo angry declares Zoe is no longer his friend. Suddenly Telly the furry red-violet monster (Martin P. Robinson) inadvertently causes the blanket to land in the hands of Oscar the Grouch (Caroll Spinney), and Elmo trying to retrieve it is teleported through the trashcan into Grouchland, a place full of grouchy creatures. Elmo has to muster up all the determination and courage he can to on an action mission to find his beloved blanket, and along the way he meets many grouchy characters, good and bad. The blanket has ended up in the hands of the villainous greedy man named Huxley (Homeland's Mandy Patinkin), who lives at the top of Mount Pickanose, he has collected many objects and treasures, but he never shares them with anybody. Elmo gets a little help from a girl named Grizzy (Stephanie D'Abruzzo) and he meets the Queen of Trash (Ugly Betty's Vanessa Williams), meanwhile the other Sesame Street residents are made aware that Elmo is missing and try to find a way to get him back, but some mean characters may be getting in their way. In the end Elmo eventually reaches Huxley, and he gets his treasured blanket back, in his journey he has learnt that things should be shared, he apologises to his friend Zoe and allows her to share his blanket. Throughout the film there is commentary from Bert (Frank Oz) and Ernie (Steve Whitmire), where they will often pause the film and act worried about what is going to happen next, but they will assure the audience that everything will be fine. Also starring Roscoe Orman as Gordon, Bob McGrath as Bob, Alison Bartlett-O'Reilly as Gina, Ruth Buzzi as Ruthie, Emilio Delgado as Luis, Loretta Long as Susan, Caroll Spinney as Big Bird, Frank Oz as Grover and Cookie Monster, Jerry Nelson as Count Von Count, Dave Goelz as Humongous Chicken and Steve Whitmire as Stuckweed. Elmo with his falcetto voice, referring to himself by name and naivety is cute, Bert and Ernie chipping in is amusing, and it was nice to see the other many Muppet characters I recognise, e.g. Big Bird, Grover, Count Von Count, Telly, but this film is definitely much more for the younger audience, they will enjoy the songs and learning some things, but the adults watching may find it perhaps silly, slightly predictable, partly annoying and overly mushy, but it is a family friendly film, a very average musical adventure. Adequate!
