TL;DR – While it is a film where you do need that nostalgic hook to get the most out of it, I do have to admit there is still a charm there.
Post-Credit Scene – There is no end-credit scene.
Disclosure – I paid to view this film.
The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland Review Introduction
Today I am looking at a film that was a direct request from one of my friends. Was that friend in an exhaustive haze at the end of a long convention? Probably. Will we need to dive back in time to before the Y2K bug? Yes. Have I ever watched this film before? Absolutely not.
So, to set the scene, Elmo (Kevin Clash) is looking for his blanket (it is behind him; the children yell), who is his best friend (I am not sure that is healthy). After a Blanket-Best Friend song, there is a segue to an impromptu percussion party in the laundromat. On the way home, Elmo is trying to comfort Zoe (Fran Brill) with animal impressions because she can’t go to the zoo. After a series of unfortunate events, the blanket ends up in Oscar the Grouch’s (Caroll Spinney) trashcan, and Elmo could not wait for Oscar to return home and gets accidentally sucked into Grouchland.
An Artifact of its Time
Watching this film, you can’t help but feel that this is from a profoundly different era of the
world. That 1990s optimism is still in full swing, we can break into song at any moment, and the world has not yet become the harder place it has become today. It is also a couple of years after Tickle-Me-Elmo was released, so we are in peak-Elmo season. The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland is also so confident about itself that it has two 4th wall breaks in the first five minutes alone. It is that odd place, much as Toy Story 5, where there are clearly favourites that have transcended, but then we still want to make sure that Big Bird (Caroll Spinney), Cookie Monster (Frank Oz), Count von Count (Jerry Nelson), and even Grover (Frank Oz) get at least some moments to shine.
Questions of Ownership
The narrative and moral quandary that The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland is exploring is the concept of ownership. Who owns what, what does it mean to share, and why you should always collectively bargain to unseat parasitic accumulators of unearned capital. The question at hand does get a bit muddled given that ‘Blanket’ is shown to be sort of sentient, which is never addressed in this moral play. Also, I am just going to come out and say it, but I think Elmo was right to ask Zoe to give his blanket back and then get annoyed when she didn’t. It ends in the place you expect it to end, though I don’t think you would expect Mandy Patinkin’s eyebrows, or indeed just when they would add the musical numbers.
Missed Opportunities
While the film clocks in at just over an hour, it does surprisingly feel like it is dragging in places. Mostly because Elmo is left to run the whole narrative on his own, and that does get grating after a while. I also couldn’t help but feel that the focus on Huxley (Mandy Patinkin) diminished what was actually a very interesting setting. The name Grouchland is in the title, but it felt as if they blasted out of there as quickly as possible. It also felt like a mistake not teaming Elmo up with Oscar the Grouch, because that would have been a fascinating two-person act. Though saying that, I just remembered the diminishing returns of the Bert (Frank Oz) and Ernie (Steve Whitmire) interludes, so maybe I would have been wrong.
Please Note: Vanessa Williams appearing in a cameo as the Queen of Trash, is not one of the missed opertunities.
Recommendation
In the end, do we recommend The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland? Look, I didn’t watch this as a kid, nor am I currently a kid, so this was always going to be a bit of a tough sell. It is hard to see past those not-quite-there visual effects. However, even though all of that, I did find moments when it shone, and I even liked some of the musical songs. Though if I had to pick the best moment of the film for me, it was the background character yelling “we need more fabric softener” after the laundry dance moment.
Have you watched The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland? Let us know what you thought in the comments below. If you liked The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, we would recommend The Princess Bride to you because, well, I don’t want to spoil it, but I think you will discover what they have in common.
By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Bluesky at @Tldrmovrev, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.
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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland
Directed by – Gary Halvorson
Story by – Mitchell Kriegman
Screenplay by – Mitchell Kriegman & Joey Mazzarino
Based on – Sesame Street by Joan Ganz Cooney & Lloyd Morrisett and Characters by Jim Henson
Music by – John Debney
Cinematography by – Alan Caso
Edited by – Alan Baumgarten
Production/Distribution Companies – Columbia Pictures, Jim Henson Pictures, Children’s Television Workshop, & Sony Pictures
Starring – Kevin Clash, Caroll Spinney, Fran Brill, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Jerry Nelson, David Rudman, Steve Whitmire, Joseph Mazzarino, Frank Oz, Vanessa Williams, & Mandy Patinkin
With –Bill Barretta, Dave Goelz, Brian Henson, Carmen Osbahr, Martin P. Robinson, Sonia Manzano, Roscoe Orman, Alison Bartlett-O’Reilly, Ruth Buzzi, Emilio Delgado, Loretta Long, & Bob McGrath
Rating – Australia: PG; Canada: PG; Germany: 12; New Zealand: PG; United Kingdom: PG; United States: PG
