Elmo in Grouchland: Kinda disappointing.

[peyjenk]

So I watched The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland for the firstt time the other day, and I have to say that I was pretty disappointed. I grew up loving Follow That Bird, and so was expecting something like that; witty and mature but still cute and sweet. Instead, it was basically an hour-and-a-half Elmo's World segment.

In hindsight, I should have expected to be more disappointed. I wish they had included more of the other SS characters (human and Muppet). I was so excited with Maria, Gordon, Big Bird, et al went down the tube, but then they just got stuck in jail for the rest of the movie! All of the scenes with those characters really shone, but almost everything with Elmo just dragged. Elmo's a cute little guy, but I just don't think he's enough to hold together a whole movie.

I'd type more, but the library is about to close.

What did you guys think of it?

 

[BEAR]

Well, it isn't as great and sophisticated as Follow That Bird, but I will admit that it does have it's moments. Even with Elmo. I think we saw more emotional range in Grouchland than we had before then with him. He started to become more 3-demensional and there are some touching scenes. It also has a great lesson/message which Sesame Street has always been able to achieve in their scripts.

 

[Oscarfan]

I just watched it a gian recently and I thought it was pretty good. It was no FTB, but it was funny. My favorite part was Huxley's "Make It Mine" song.

 

[Drtooth]

Honestly, I can't see how people would be dissapointed by a movie called "Elmo in Grouchland." it does deliver on it's promise... Elmo going to Grouchland and having an adventure. If you're not expecting at least 75% of screen time of Elmo, then you really have to rethink your opinions about it.

Comparing this to Follow that Bird (what I call the ghost 4th Muppet Film, since technically it only counts as a Sesame Street Movie), is like comparing TMM to MFS.... well, okay, I suppose more like TMM to MTI. It's not a bad movie for what it is, but it was never meant to be quite another FTB.

Personally, the only thing I really felt disappointed with was SW not paying or whatever to get Kermit a brief cameo somewhere.

I feel the film, as an Elmo project is pretty good. I refuse to call it an Episode of Elmo's world, because... well... Elmo doesn't really do anything in EW but talk about subjects. We get no character emotion, no range of action, basically we don't get to know anything about Elmo.

In fact, I feel that we need more projects LIKE EIG, and less like EW. Here, we saw Elmo for what he really is. A little kid with character flaws (his "Mine" phase with the blanket). He learns a valuable lesson and becomes richer for the experiance.

Sure, we don't get nearly enough SS characters in it, focusing on new characters. But I feel that's basically because Frank was unable to do more than Grover's Cameo. And I'm guessing Jerry was busy at some point in the movie (you can tell, due to the voice change in Fat Blue). So, basically we get more of the SS only performers (I wonder if this was due to MFS being filmed... they seemed to come out just a season apart) like Carol, Marty, and Kevin.

Though Dave Golez's cameo as the giant Chicken monster was amazing. i really wish he'd work more with the SS characters on occassion.

 

[dabauckham]

I kinda liked "Elmo in Grouchland." Certainly a lot more than I thought I would. The concept of a "Grouchland" amused me, and I agree with everything DRtooth and others said about it. It's infinitely more interesting than Elmo's world, and has a lot more character development.

We would likely all agree that it can't hold a candle to FTB, but, all things considered...well, it was cute. At least they didn't make a movie focused on Oscar and slap a picture of Elmo on front of the DVD to sell more copies.

 

[Drtooth]

One other thing that was disappointing, the fact it didn't perform as well as they thought it would. I forget, didn't this movie just do fair at best? Since then, we haven't had a real Sesame Street Theatrical movie (not counting Kidtoons release of SSinosaurs or the upcoming Abby in Wonderland).

I have to say, SS looks gorgious on the big screen. A higher budget saw that SS is the big, busy street that they all intended. While not as impressive as the opening and ending shots of FTB, you really see SS more as a street than a staged TV show.

 

[BEAR]

I have to say, SS looks gorgious on the big screen. A higher budget saw that SS is the big, busy street that they all intended. While not as impressive as the opening and ending shots of FTB, you really see SS more as a street than a staged TV show.

I have to agree with you here.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

I thought is was okay. It was pretty good. Though they did a good job!

 

[peyjenk]

I have to say, SS looks gorgious on the big screen. A higher budget saw that SS is the big, busy street that they all intended. While not as impressive as the opening and ending shots of FTB, you really see SS more as a street than a staged TV show.

I completely agree. SS really works well on the big screen... the colors really pop and the whole neighborhood comes to life. I wish they would (could?) do more ventures into that medium.

 

[Drtooth]

I said it before... a movie focussing on Grover. A Super Grover superhero parody movie would be perfect this day and age (with Marvel diving into their more obscure reserves... and succeeding recently).