I liked it a lot better when I first saw it (I've been thinking about a lot of Henson stuff I like less than I first did... I wonder if my opinions of "The Muppets" will lower ina few years.... Nahhh...). Of course, around the time it was announced, I was sort of on a Follow That Bird kick. Rented it for the first time in years when EIG was announced, was hoping for a lot of similarities between the two (heck, after The Lion King was released I was hoping for a Lion King 2 to be just as similar, so that the sequel video game would be near identical to the game adaptation). I was hoping for Kermit to report on the search for Elmo, for Elmo's Sesame Street friends to travel by car in search of Elmo, for many supporting and minor characters to be seen (yeah, I don't think FTB had anybody who was no longer on the show at the time, and there were a lot more characters on the show in 1985 compared to 1999, but it's still puzzling they didn't include Slimey, Grundgetta, Kermit, Herry, Snuffy, Barkley, Mumford, Natasha, Humphrey, Ingrid, or Hoots), and was hoping the set would be more realistic-looking, with us being able to see all parts of the street. And to an extent the last thing I hoped for was the only of those included.
Then a few years later I finally owned a copy of FTB and enjoyed watching that more.