The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland
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| The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland | |
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 The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland movie poster |
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| Directed by | Gary Halvorson |
| Produced by | Alex Rockwell Marjorie Kalins |
| Written by | Mitchell Kriegman Joey Mazzarino |
| Starring | Kevin Clash Fran Brill Jerry Nelson Carmen Osbahr Martin P. Robinson David Rudman Caroll Spinney Steve Whitmire Frank Oz |
| Music by | John Debney Martin Erskine Michael A. Reagan |
| Cinematography | Alan Caso |
| Editing by | Alan Baumgarten |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures Jim Henson Pictures |
| Release date(s) |  September 16, 1999 October 1, 1999 |
| Running time | 73 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$26,000,000 (estimated) |
| Preceded by | Sesame Street presents Follow That Bird |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (sometimes referred to as Elmo in Grouchland) was the second theatrical feature-length film based on the characters of the children's television series Sesame Street (after 1985's Follow That Bird). It co-starred Mandy Patinkin and Vanessa L. Williams. This film was produced by Columbia Pictures and Jim Henson Pictures, and originally released to movie theatres in 1999. It was shot in Wilmington, North Carolina rather than New York City and had a soundtrack on CD and cassette with songs from the "wiggly big show".
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[edit] Plot
Elmo accidentally drops his special blanket into Oscar the Grouch's trash can and dives into the can to retrieve his blanket. But the two have gone through a door that takes them to Grouchland. There, a greedy man named Huxley steals anything in Grouchland and takes Elmo's blanket. Elmo is determined to rejoin his blanket and begins his journey. He asks a kind girl named Grizzy to help Elmo get back his blanket. However, Grizzy eventually decides to stop helping because Huxley's house is on the top of the faraway Mount Pickanose, leaving Elmo on his own. All the people from Sesame Street come to Grouchland to get Elmo back. When they seek assistance from a policeman, he arrests them and informs them that "It's against the law to ask for help in Grouchland!"
Huxley's pets trap Elmo in a tunnel using a trap door. However, he gets out with the help of fireflies. Then, he meets the Queen of Trash (Vanessa Williams). He leaves her dump by solving an ultimate challenge- giving the queen 100 raspberries in 30 seconds. Elmo succeeds and continues walking to Huxley's house. He is then attacked by a humongous chicken, but gets away. Soon night comes and he stops at a rock to rest, discouraged.
The Sesame Street muppets and the citizens of Grouchland then go to Huxley's house to fight for their trash.
A caterpillar wakes up Elmo during his nap on the rock. He tells Elmo to look inside his body and he'll see he will be brave. Soon Elmo gets his blanket back from Huxley. Huxley's pets try to stop Elmo, but the citizens and Sesame Street muppets defeat their efforts. Elmo, happy to get back his blanket, goes with the Sesame Street muppets back to his own town. Elmo apologizes to Zoe for not sharing his blanket and hurting her feelings earlier and let's her hold it.
[edit] Voice cast
- Kevin Clash as Elmo
- Fran Brill as Zoe, Prairie Dawn
- Jerry Nelson as Count von Count
- Carmen Osbahr as Rosita
- Martin P. Robinson as Telly Monster
- David Rudman as Baby Bear, Fat Blue
- Caroll Spinney as Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch
- Steve Whitmire as Ernie
- Frank Oz as Bert, Grover, Cookie Monster
[edit] Reception
This film received moderately positive reviews and did poorly theatrically, despite the popularity of Sesame Street and the Elmo character. The film faced stiff competition from mostly adult-oriented films, for at the time of its release, it was the only family film playing in most theaters. In total, The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland made a total of $11,634,458 (on a $26,000,000 budget) during its two-month theatrical run. Similarly, its companion piece Muppets From Space, released the same year, suffered the same fate and performed poorly theatrically as well.
[edit] Book series
The movie inspired a trilogy of children's books, published in 1999. These were: Happy Grouchy Day, The Grouchiest Lovey and Unwelcome to Grouchland. The book series was written by Suzanne Weyn and illustrated by Tom Brannon.
[edit] External links
The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland
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