Elmo in Grouchland: Kinda disappointing.

[frogboy4]

One Arena Not Suited For Elmo

An Elmo film was a bad idea because the limited number of kids that target age that can actually go to a theater and sit still that long. The furry fella doesn't have enough of a following from us nostalgic older Sesame fans to warrant a trip to the theater either. This Elmo film appears to have been made for Elmo. If only he could buy enough tickets. It only grossed $17M domestically.

Follow That Bird allowed the entire cast of characters to shine, however there was very little Oscar even - and in a story about Grouchland! Now they have made a limited release Abby-themed picture.

For a Sesame Film to work (and one really could) it needs to be an ensemble effort. And why take a trip far away for most of the film when it's the perfect chance to broaden the world of the street creating sets for nooks and alleys we haven't seen before?

A Sesame film centered on monsters would be good because it gets Grover, Cookie and many others in the mix along with Elmo, but my feeling is that the red guy would still push them aside. Films are for viewers a little older than the Sesame crowd and need to be made a little more appealing to that target in order to bank any sizeable box office.

Off the top of my head these are the types films I would green-light before Elmo in Grouchland…

Ernie and Bert’s Global Vacation (they can visit international Sesame casts while life goes on back home), Super Grover: Monster of Mystery, Oscar’s family reunion, Sesame Street’s Monster Movie (that focuses on all of the monsters).

 

[peyjenk]

Thanks, Jamie, for articulating everything I meant but could not find words for in my original post.

 

[Drtooth]

An Elmo film was a bad idea because the limited number of kids that target age that can actually go to a theater and sit still that long. The furry fella doesn't have enough of a following from us nostalgic older Sesame fans to warrant a trip to the theater either. This Elmo film appears to have been made for Elmo. If only he could buy enough tickets. It only grossed $17M domestically.

The problem is this... it was an idea that sounded so good, that it wasn't as good as it turned out to be. Think about it. Tickle Me Elmos were selling left and right. he was starting to have his own segment on SS... a film seemed like the next step, right? But what you stated is exactly the problem. Older fans were turned off by Elmo, and the younger audience would be running around the aisles. It's more of something that would have warrented a DTV type release. I wouldn't doubt it did much better in video sales than Theatrical box office reciepts.

Seems to me, if the film came out a couple years later, it may have been a slightly bigger success. You know, when the full fledged Elmo-centric SS was in full swing. Not to mention, this was a time before they recast any of Frank's roles. So we missed quite a few of his characters, and he just didn't record as much dialogue as he did in MFS (where he recorded Piggy, Fozzie, and Piggy all appearing onscreen at the same time).

Had, let's say, Grover followed Elmo into Grouchland (as Super Gorver, in some attempt to save him) I feel there would be a lot more to the script. And had they had scenes in SS where characters were waiting for Elmo to get rescued, all gathering around worrying about him, and the others that ventured into Grouchland (FTB style), there would have been the potential to see a lot more favorite faces.

I will say this... I think Mandy's performance as the villain in the picture holds up well to other villains in muppet movies... I'd say he fits right up there with Doc Hopper, Charles Grodin, Tim Curry as Long John Silver, the Sleeze Brothers, and Mrs. Finch (who isn't so much a villain, as an antagonist- there is a difference).

But Vannessa Whatever as the Queen of Trash seemed bookended in.