''The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland'' is a 1999 American

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwo ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Gary Halvorson Gary S. Halvorson is an American director of television shows, series and film, best known for directing and producing the show, ''Friends''. Directing He was trained as a classical pianist at but is primarily noted as the director of situation ...

in his feature film debut. This was the second film to be based on the

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...

'', after '' Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird'' (1985). It stars

Mandy Patinkin Mandel Bruce Patinkin (; born November 30, 1952) is an American actor and singer, known for his work in musical theatre, television and film. He is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received three Tony Award nominations, winning ...

and

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, actress, and fashion designer. She gained recognition as the first African-American woman to receive the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She resign ...

alongside

Muppet The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses ...

performers Kevin Clash,

Jerry Nelson Jerry L. Nelson (July 10, 1934 – August 23, 2012) was an American puppeteer, best known for his work with The Muppets. Renowned for his wide range of characters and singing abilities, he performed Muppet characters on ''Sesame Street'', ' ...

Frank Oz Frank Oz (born Frank Richard Oznowicz; May 25, 1944) is an American actor, puppeteer, and filmmaker. He began his career as a puppeteer, performing the Muppet characters of Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle in ''The Muppet Show ...

, and

Steve Whitmire Steven Lawrence Whitmire (born September 24, 1959) is an American puppeteer, known primarily for his work on ''The Muppets'' and ''Sesame Street''. Beginning his involvement with the Muppets in 1978, Whitmire inherited the roles of Ernie and Kerm ...

. Produced by

Jim Henson Pictures Jim Henson Pictures was an American film studio owned by The Jim Henson Company and led by Brian and Lisa Henson. It was originally founded on July 21, 1995, by Brian Henson as a joint venture between Jim Henson Productions and Sony Pictures Enter ...

and

Children's Television Workshop Sesame Workshop (SW), originally known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American nonprofit organization that has been responsible for the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-know ...

, the film was released by

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

on October 1, 1999. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, but was a

box office bomb A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...

, grossing $12 million against a budget of more than $26 million. The film was one of the few ''Sesame Street'' productions directly produced by

The Jim Henson Company The Jim Henson Company (formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc.; commonly referred to as Henson) is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for ...

. Alongside '' Muppets from Space'' (which was released the same year), this was the final Muppet feature film to involve Oz, who retired from being a full-time puppeteer the following year. Also, in this movie it is the final theatrical Muppet film to feature

Caroll Spinney Caroll Edwin Spinney (December 26, 1933 – December 8, 2019) was an American puppeteer, cartoonist, author, artist and speaker, most famous for playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on ''Sesame Street'' from its inception in 1969 until 2018. ...

before he retired in 2018 and especially his death in 2019, as well as the final ''Sesame Street'' film with

Emilio Delgado Emilio Ernest Delgado (May 8, 1940 – March 10, 2022) was an American actor best known for his role as Luis, the Fix-it Shop owner, on the children's television series ''Sesame Street''. Delgado joined the cast of ''Sesame Street'' in 1971 and r ...

and Bob McGrath in it, before both of their deaths in 2022.

Plot

One day Elmo plays with his blanket in his bedroom. He spills

orange juice Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. As well as vari ...

on his blanket and takes it to the

laundromat A self-service laundry, coin laundry, laundromat, or coin wash is a facility where clothes are washed and dried without much personalized professional help. They are known in the United Kingdom as launderettes or laundrettes, and in the Unit ...

where he runs into his friend Zoe. Zoe wants to hold the blanket, but Elmo doesn’t consent to sharing it, resulting in a

tug of war Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport that pits two teams against each other in a test of strength: teams pull on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal being to bring the rope a certa ...

that causes it to rip.

Telly Monster The Muppets are a group of puppet characters created by Jim Henson, many for the purpose of appearing on the children's television program '' Sesame Street''. Some of the best known Muppets on ''Sesame Street'' include Big Bird, Oscar the Gr ...

, rollerskating out of control, comes and accidentally swipes the blanket leading to a chase around Sesame Street. Grover hears the chaos and turns into Super Grover in an attempt to help. The blanket falls into the hands of

Oscar the Grouch Oscar the Grouch is a Muppet character created by Jim Henson and Jon Stone for the PBS/ HBO children's television program ''Sesame Street''. He has a green body, no visible nose, and lives in a trash can. Oscar's favorite thing is trash, as e ...

, who sneezes on it and drops it in his

trash can A waste container, also known as a dustbin, garbage can, and trash can is a type of container that is usually made out of metal or plastic. The words "rubbish", "basket" and "bin" are more common in British English usage; "trash" and "can" a ...

, and Elmo, Grover, and Telly crash into one another. Elmo dives into the bottom of Oscar's trash can, where he finds his blanket snagged on a door. Attempting to retrieve it, he and his blanket are then teleported through a colorful swirling tunnel to Grouchland, a city filled with Grouches, trash, and Huxley, a greedy man who loves to steal anything he comes across, including Elmo's blanket. A kind Grouch girl named Grizzy tells Elmo that his blanket is in Huxley's castle at the top of the faraway Mount Pickanose. A plant named Stuckweed encourages Elmo that he will make it if he just takes his first step, so Elmo sets out on a quest to retrieve his blanket. With Oscar the Grouch's help, the Sesame Street residents go to Grouchland to find Elmo, but when they encounter a Grouch

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

for help, they end up arrested as they are informed that it is against the law to ask for help in Grouchland. Huxley has his sidekick, Bug the bug and his minions, the Pesties, trap Elmo in a tunnel. Elmo gets out with the help of fireflies. Huxley then has Bug and the Pesties misdirect Elmo into a garbage dump where he is brought before the Queen of Trash for trespassing. The Queen tests him, requesting that he blows 100 raspberries for her in 30 seconds. Elmo succeeds with some help from the audience and the Queen allows him to pass through. Huxley sends in a huge pet

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

to stop Elmo, who tosses Elmo far away. Elmo decides to give up on retrieving his blanket for the night. Meanwhile, Grizzy sneaks into the jail where she informs Elmo's friends that he has gone to Huxley's castle. After admitting that Elmo is his friend, Oscar convinces all the Grouches to cooperate, since it is the only way they can stop Huxley from stealing any more of their trash. The police officer releases the Sesame Street residents so they and the Grouches can go to Huxley's castle to fight for their trash and rescue Elmo. Early the next morning, a

caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sy ...

wakes Elmo up and convinces him that he has what it takes to be brave. Elmo then arrives at Huxley's castle and rescues his blanket as Huxley sends the Pesties to stop him. Elmo falls into a basket as Huxley decides to make him and his blanket both his property by using a claw to put them on his conveyor stamper. The Sesame Street and Grouchland citizens arrive and the Pesties flee in panic. Huxley tries to escape with Elmo's blanket, only to have Elmo's blanket sucked up with the vacuum cleaner nozzle on his helicopter. Elmo launches a basket over Huxley's shoulders, incapacitating him. Bug is revealed to be at the controls of the helicopter, and refuses Huxley's demand for the blanket, instead returning it to Elmo. Elmo returns to Sesame Street with his friends, where he apologizes to Zoe and allows her to hold his blanket. She accepts his apology, agreeing that they can resume their friendship. Elmo says goodbye to the audience, thanking them for helping. Throughout the movie,

Bert and Ernie Bert and Ernie are two Muppet characters who appear together in numerous skits on the long-running PBS/HBO children's television show, ''Sesame Street''. Originated by Frank Oz and Jim Henson, the characters are currently performed by puppeteer ...

serve as hosts, and interrupt the film at certain points to explain things to the audience.

Cast

Muppet performers

* Kevin Clash as Elmo, Lyle, The Grouch Jailer, The Grouch Taxicab Driver and Various Grouches *

Fran Brill Fran Brill (born September 30, 1946) is an American retired actress and puppeteer, best known for her roles on ''Sesame Street'', as well as playing Sally Hayes in the Hal Ashby film '' Being There'' (1979), Dana Mardukas in the Martin Brest fi ...

as Zoe, Tanya, Prairie Dawn and Various Grouches * Stephanie D'Abruzzo as Grizzy and M'Lady * Dave Goelz as the Humongous Chicken and the Mouse * Joseph Mazzarino as Bug and the Grouch Chef *

as the Count, Howard, Mayor Grouchberg, Grouch Cop and Mr. Johnson * Carmen Osbahr as Rosita *

Martin P. Robinson Martin P. Robinson (born March 9, 1954) is an American puppeteer who works for the Jim Henson Company. He is best known for his work on ''Sesame Street'', having performed the characters of Telly Monster, Mr. Snuffleupagus, Oscar the Grouch's p ...

as Telly, Little Ricky and the Laundromat Manager * David Rudman as Baby Bear, Caterpillar, Sydney, Colander Stenchman, The Grouch Customer, Mr. Johnson (Assistant), The Alarm Clock Bird and Various Grouches *

as Big Bird and Oscar *

Ernie Ernie is a masculine given name, frequently a short form (hypocorism) of Ernest, Ernald, Ernesto, or Verner. It may refer to: People * Ernie Accorsi (born 1941), American football executive * Ernie Adams (disambiguation) * Ernie Afaganis (born c ...

, Stuckweed, Football Stenchman, Bad Humor Man, Sharon Groan and the Parrot *

as Bert,

Cookie Monster Cookie Monster is a blue Muppet character on the long-running PBS/ HBO children's television show ''Sesame Street.'' In a song in 2004, and later in an interview in 2017, Cookie Monster revealed his real name as "Sid". He is best known for hi ...

and Grover Additional characters performed by: Drew Allison,

Bruce Lanoil Bruce Lanoil (born July 5, 1960) is an American puppeteer who works for The Jim Henson Company and for The Walt Disney Company. He frequently works with puppeteer David Alan Barclay. Early life Lanoil was born in Brooklyn, New York, on July 5, ...

, Bill Barretta, Bob Lynch, John Boone, Ed May, R. Lee Bryan, Tim Parati,

Leslie Carrara Leslie Carrara, sometimes credited as Leslie Carrara-Rudolph or the misspelling Leslie Carrera-Rudolph, is an American actress, performer, puppeteer, speaker, singer and artist. She is probably best known as a Muppet performer on ''Sesame Stre ...

, Annie Peterle, Lisa Consolo, Andy Stone, Jodi Eichelberger, Lisa Sturz, Rowell Gormon, Kirk Thatcher, Mary Harrison, Matt Vogel, Rob Killen and Matt Yates

Humans of Sesame Street

Sonia Manzano Sonia Manzano (born 1950) is an American actress, screenwriter, author, singer and songwriter. She is best known for playing Maria on ''Sesame Street'' from 1971 to 2015. She received a Lifetime Achievement Daytime Emmy Award in 2016. Her mem ...

as Maria Rodriguez * Roscoe Orman as Gordon Robinson *

Alison Bartlett-O'Reilly Alison may refer to: People * Alison (given name), including a list of people with the name * Alison (surname) Music * ''Alison'' (album), aka ''Excuse Me'', a 1975 album by Australian singer Alison MacCallum * "Alison" (song), song by Elvi ...

as Gina Jefferson *

Ruth Buzzi Ruth Ann Buzzi ( ; born July 24, 1936) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. She has appeared on stage, in films, and on television. She is best known for her performances on the comedy-variety show '' Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 196 ...

as Ruthie *

as Luis Rodriguez * Loretta Long as Susan Robinson * Bob McGrath as Bob Johnson

Other humans

as Huxley *

as the Queen of Trash

Production

Casting

All the puppeteers who performed the primary ''

'' characters (such as Kevin Clash,

and

) were called to

Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 census, it is the eighth most populous city in the state. Wilmington is t ...

for the table read on May 19, 1998. The regular puppets were used for the normal Sesame Street characters, and puppets for assorted Grouches (including Grizzy) were designed and built by Mark Zezsotek. Paul Andrejco, Muppet designer for ''

Bear in the Big Blue House ''Bear in the Big Blue House'' is an American children's television series created by Mitchell Kriegman and produced by Jim Henson Television for Disney Channel's Playhouse Disney preschool television block. Debuting on October 20, 1997, it aire ...

'', also designed Humungous Chicken.

reprised her role as Maria and Roscoe Orman reprised his role as Gordon.

was cast as the Queen of Trash and the hairstylist colored her hair green for the role.

was a last-minute replacement for the original actor hired to play Huxley. For the role, the makeup artist designed false eyebrows for Patinkin to wear to make him seem like he had bushier eyebrows than normal.

Filming

The film was shot over a 30-day period (starting May 26, 1998) at the

EUE/Screen Gems EUE/Screen Gems Ltd. is an American film and television studio production company that owns and operates facilities in Wilmington, North Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; and Miami, Florida. The company collaborates with other studios and producers fo ...

studio in Wilmington. The set was raised so that puppeteers would be able to stand up instead of squatting below street level like usual. Filming wrapped and

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action foota ...

by D.Rez were added during the following month, and the Ernie and Bert scenes were later shot in New York in 1999, with Matt Vogel assisting

in performing Ernie and

Eric Jacobson Eric Jacobson is an American puppeteer. He is best known for performing Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle for The Muppets Studio, as well as ''Sesame Street'' characters Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, and Guy Smiley—all role ...

assisting

with Bert.

Music

Songs

# "Together Forever" – Elmo, Blanket, Frazzle, Big Bird, Rosita, Prairie Dawn, Hoots The Owl, Count von Count, Baby Bear, Sock Quartet, Savin, Celina, Miles, Gabi, Gordon, Gina, Susan, Luis, Jamal, Angela, Bob (Written by Michael Silversher and Patty Silversher; produced by Jeff Elmassian and

Siedah Garrett Deborah Christine "Siedah" Garrett (born June 24, 1960) is an American singer and songwriter who has written songs and performed backing vocals for many recording artists in the music industry, such as Michael Jackson, the Pointer Sisters, Brand N ...

) # "Welcome to Grouchland" – The Grouchland Ensemble (Written by Martin Erskine and Seth Friedman; produced by Martin Erskine) # "Take the First Step" – Stuckweed (Written by Michael Reagan and Greg Matheson; produced by Jeff Elmassian and

) # "Make It Mine" – Mandy Patinkin, Fran Brill, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Kevin Clash, Ivy Austin (Written by Martin Erskine and Seth Friedman; produced by Martin Erskine) # "I See a Kingdom" – Vanessa Williams (Written by Siedah Garrett, Jeff Elmassian, and Andy Rehfeldt; produced by Jeff Elmassian and

) # "Precious Wings" –

Tatyana Ali Tatyana Marisol Ali is an American actress and singer best known for her role as Ashley Banks on the NBC sitcom ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' from 1990 to 1996. She starred as Tyana Jones on the TV One original series '' Love That Girl!'', a ...

(Written by Siedah Garrett, Jeff Elmassian, and Andy Rehfeldt; produced by Keith Thomas)

Soundtrack

This album, released in 1999, is the soundtrack to ''The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland''. This album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children in 2000. "Make It Mine" is excluded from the soundtrack.

= Track list

= # "Together Forever" # "Welcome to Grouchland" # "Take the First Step" # "I See a Kingdom" -

# "Precious Wings" -

# Elmo Tells His Grouchland Story (Spoken Word) # "The Grouch Song" - Elmo, Grizzy, Oscar the Grouch (Written by Jeff Moss) # "There's a Big Heap of Trash at the End of the Rainbow" - The Stenchmen (Written by

Tony Geiss Nicholas Anthony "Tony" Geiss (November 16, 1924 – January 21, 2011) was an American producer, screenwriter, songwriter and author, known principally for his children's work. Biography Geiss was born in The Bronx to Alexander Geiss and Ma ...

) # " I Love Trash" -

Steven Tyler Steven Victor Tallarico (born March 26, 1948), known professionally as Steven Tyler, is an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the Boston-based rock band Aerosmith, in which he also plays the harmonica, piano, and percussion. ...

Reception

Critical response

The film has a rating of 77% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 6.72/10. The film's consensus states, "This fun and moral tale entertains both first-time ''Sesame Street'' watchers and seasoned veterans." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses an average of critics' reviews, the film holds a 59/100, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Box office

''The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland'' was the only family film playing in most theaters at the time of its release. Sony had planned a scaled-back release, making it difficult to make its money back. The film opened at No. 8 with a weekend gross of $3,255,033 from 1,210 theaters, averaging $2,690 per venue. In total, ''The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland'' earned back less than half its $26 million budget, grossing $11,683,047 during its two-and-a-half-month theatrical run. It is currently the lowest-grossing Muppet film to date.

Home media

On December 21, 1999, the film was released on VHS and DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Video. In 2007, the film was released as part of a double feature with '' Thomas and the Magic Railroad''.

Book series

The film inspired a trilogy of children's books, published in 1999: ''Happy Grouchy Day,'' ''The Grouchiest Lovey,'' and ''Unwelcome to Grouchland''. The book series was written by Suzanne Weyn and illustrated by Tom Brannon.

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures Of Elmo In Grouchland, The 1999 films 1990s English-language films 1990s adventure comedy films 1990s children's comedy films 1990s fantasy adventure films 1990s musical comedy films 1990s children's films American adventure comedy films American children's adventure films American children's comedy films American children's fantasy films American fantasy adventure films American musical comedy films American musical fantasy films Puppet films Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City Films shot in North Carolina Films scored by John Debney Columbia Pictures films The Jim Henson Company films Sesame Street features 1999 directorial debut films 1999 comedy films 1990s American films