I think I've fallen in love with a Muppet! Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey is a very simple documentary about a child's captivation by Sesame Street, his passion for puppetry and where it took him. It's the most uplifting, engaging and compelling documentary I've seen in years and the most enjoyable since the completely bonkers Tabloid.The story: Once upon a time, Kevin Cash was a young boy in a poor household when a new TV show appeared on the family TV. Sesame Street changed his life, inspiring him to learn the craft of making and performing with puppets. He staged puppet shows in the local community and was rewarded with bullying at the hands of his peers for spending more time with his creations than humans. But the dream of working for the great man, Jim Henson, took him on an incredible journey… If you've read the title, you'll have a fairly clear idea of where the journey takes him but, oh boy, what a trip it's been for Cash! By the time the final credits roll, you'll see that it's not so much a linear trip, either, but a cycle that has been and will continue to be repeated. Inspiring, touching, effecting, rewarding… Being Elmo is a very brief portrayal of the puppeteer's personal development and growth as a person as well as a puppeteer. At just 80 minutes I was left wanting so much more but the treat director Constance Marks has given the world is a heart-warming, eye-moistening delight of triumph over adversity, determination in spite of criticism and other such clichés. However,the documentary is far from being a cliché itself. Marks is not afraid to show the flaws in Cash and the puppeteer himself admits to failing as a father at times as Elmo duties consume his life. What we see is an adult who understands the importance of never becoming a grown-up, that evil transmogrification that far too many children unconsciously suffer, but embraces the child we intrinsically were but so many forget to be.Retrospectives can often be dull affairs with stuffed cardigans reflecting on times gone by and corpses who were once influential. Being Elmo is anything but dull. Even the photographs are brought to life, given another dimension; not so much a window to the past but a tunnel from the past into your own present.Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey is a story about love. How would you react if your child introduced your coat to a pair of scissors to make a puppet and then left the result in your bedroom as a gift? If your reaction is anything other than Mr. Cash Senior's then shame on you. The Cash household embraced Kevin's passion and nurtured his talent even if they didn't fully understand it. Is it any wonder, then, that he transformed a Muppet without a direction into the most loving, lovable, huggable, reliable, inspiring Muppet of them all? Elmo is alive and he brings smile and happiness to those in need and he gives love freely and unconditionally to all he meets. Just as it is impossible to eat cake and remain miserable, it is impossible to resist the charms of that little, scruffy ball of scrawny, red Muppet.Yes, I knew him before, but today I think Elmo melted my heart all over again and before you write me off, there's one VERY good reason you should watch Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey: Elmo loves you, too!For more reviews and insights subscribe to my blog: www.thesquiss.co.uk

There's an impulse within some people to create that becomes a single-minded passion. Kevin Clash remembers when the itch to create puppets first struck him. At a young age, he laid eyes on the perfect fabric and was propelled to start cutting, shaping and molding until he had created the image that was in his head. The problem, he remembered, was that the fabric came off of his father's coat. Awaiting a horrendous response, his father came home and told him. "Next time . . . ask".In a way this was a desire never left him. Brought up in a middle-class family in Baltimore, Clash had a shy personality and learned that creating puppets seemed like a means of expression. He designed puppets in his bedroom and put on shows for the kids in his mother's daycare. The creative impulse to design puppets was with him, he confesses, even before he knew what a Muppet was, although it didn't exactly make him a social prize. Kids around him accused him of playing with dolls. The teasing stopped when he was given a chance to work on a local television show while he was still in high school.Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey is a proper title because it carries us along on Clash's journey from a shy kid in Baltimore to not only a successful career as a puppeteer, but also as the producer and director of "Sesame Street." His journey seems to have been divided into equal parts determination and luck that eventually put him in contact with Jim Henson, whom Clash seems to have regarded the same way most kids look as sports heroes or Superman. So great was his love for puppeteering and of the Muppets that he seemed to have regarded Henson, Frank Oz and Muppet designer Kermit Love as some sort of Holy Trinity. Clash describes the heartrending task of having to turn down Henson's offer to work on The Dark Crystal because he was working on two local kids shows back home. He would later accept a small part in Labyrinth.The encounter with Henson would lead him to "Sesame Street" and to his biggest success. One day, puppeteer Richard Hunt became frustrated while operating a small red monster whose deep caveman voice made it sound like a junior-league Cookie Monster. During the break he threw the puppet at Clash, who rethought the voice into a falsetto and ultimately brought Elmo to life. By taking away the caveman voice and giving him a gentler manner, Clash was able to endear Elmo to preschoolers in a way that few creations ever have. Elmo had the dimensions of a child that little kids could relate to. What Clash was able to bring out in Elmo would make him a global phenomenon, culminating in riots over the Tickle-Me-Elmo dolls in the mid-90s which had parents literally fighting one another in the aisles of toy stores.Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey is focused almost exclusively on Kevin Clash's work. His personal life, outside of his upbringing, remains only in faint glimmers on the edges of the journey. He mentions his ex-wife but mainly talk about his daughter. Discussing his creative instincts, he is realistic on the point that he can create any kind of Muppet but nothing compares to creating a child. There is mention of his ex-wife and we are left only to surmise that the relationship ended because of Clash's total dedication to his work. We see a guy who is loving, happy, good-hearted and hard-working, but we only see faint images of his life now. He is able to give his daughter a massive sweet-sixteen party with birthday wishes from Jack Black and L.L. Cool J, but little of his current life is actually covered.The movie culminates with the death of Jim Henson, and this – based on the film - seems to be his only dark chapter. Realizing his dream of working with his hero, he remembers going on The Arsenio Hall Show and afterwards, noticing that Jim was coughing. The next phone call he got delivered the bad news.What is special about Kevin Clash is not only his skill at creating Muppets but his skill at bringing them to life. We see him in action as he explains that even when the Muppets aren't talking, you have to keep them moving so they won't seem immobile. Most Muppets don't have eyes that move independently, and their clam-like mouths don't do anything more than just open and close, but Clash is able to work around that. One moment in particular explains that clenching his fist while operating Elmo will give the character a bashful look. A twist of the fingers and Elmo looks confused. It is those details that make the Muppets so enduring.

The super-sweet story of Kevin Clash, the puppeteer behind Elmo and a variety of other characters, which doubles as a heartwarming look back at the attitudes and atmosphere behind the scenes with Jim Henson's troupe in the glory days. Clash is a master at his craft, a by-product of spending every afternoon since childhood with an arm inside a furry marionette, and when he's not on the air with the cast of Sesame Street, he's contentedly passing that knowledge on to the next generation. It's an attitude he inherited from Henson and his close associate Kermit Love, who took Kevin under their wing and showed him the ropes without any pretense or hesitation. Too often we're too concerned with job security to share the intimate details of our craft with others, least of all the rising young stars, but Love and Henson adopted Clash with selfless warmth and care, a lesson he hasn't forgotten and continues to roll forward to others today. They're a perfect embodiment of everything the Muppets have stood for, complete with a contagious smile that didn't leave my face for hours.

From the opening shot of Elmo's eyes and nose pressed up to the screen, it is clear to the audience that this film will be warm and fuzzy (pun intended). Kevin Clash's journey from a quiet kid with an unusual passion, to one of the most legendary and well-respected puppeteers in the world, is downright inspirational. Walking out of the movie theater, I nearly decided to quit my job and pursue my childhood dream of being the first singing ballet dancer in space (then I remembered my rent check dues in two days... alas...).Being Elmo is not just a screen adaptation of Mr.Clash's incredible book, "My Life as a Furry Red Monster." It is a cinematic adventure that takes you through Kevin's journey and introduces you to a world of puppeteers who live and breathe to create childhood magic. You see and hear stories about the legendary Jim Henson, who is not just the name sake of a major company, but a real person whom Kevin Clash admired tremendously. You observe clips of the television shows that filled Kevin's childhood, and gain a true sense of gratitude for the wonder and excitement muppets once brought, and for many people, continue to bring, into our lives. Not only is the arch of Kevin's career inspirationally depicted, but the film is a cinematic collection of amazing footage. The amount of work that went obtaining rare footage of Jim Henson interviews, old television shows, and Kevin Clash's audition tapes, as well as the way in which the creative team re-created memories where footage does not exist, makes every last moment as visually relevant and exciting as Kevin's story is touching and fascinating. That is not to say that you leave the film wanting to work on Sesame Street. To the contrary, you realize that Being Elmo, or any other muppet for that matter, means holding your arms up for long stretches of time, contorting your body into strange positions to stay out of frame, and not getting personal recognition by the public even when you are the heart and soul of a character who is loved by millions. It is a tough job, and the people who do it make huge sacrifices. But you do leave the theater with a true appreciation for the people who dedicate their lives to teaching and inspiring children through the hand-y-work (pun intended again) of their furry friends. For anyone who has a heart, dream, child, or was a child, do yourself a favor, and let this film restore some of your magical-wide eyed wonder. And never forget, Elmo loves you!!!