I used to watch pre-school children's television programme Sesame Street a few times as a child, when it was available on terrestrial TV, this was essentially the Sesame Street movie, with one of its most popular characters as the star, so I watched to relive my childhood a bit. Basically Elmo the furry red monster (Kevin Clash) loves his fuzzy blue blanket and would never let anything happen to it, however when Zoe the furry yellow-orange monster (Fran Brill) wants to play with it they get in a tug-of-war, and it rips, Elmo angry declares Zoe is no longer his friend. Suddenly Telly the furry red-violet monster (Martin P. Robinson) inadvertently causes the blanket to land in the hands of Oscar the Grouch (Caroll Spinney), and Elmo trying to retrieve it is teleported through the trashcan into Grouchland, a place full of grouchy creatures. Elmo has to muster up all the determination and courage he can to on an action mission to find his beloved blanket, and along the way he meets many grouchy characters, good and bad. The blanket has ended up in the hands of the villainous greedy man named Huxley (Homeland's Mandy Patinkin), who lives at the top of Mount Pickanose, he has collected many objects and treasures, but he never shares them with anybody. Elmo gets a little help from a girl named Grizzy (Stephanie D'Abruzzo) and he meets the Queen of Trash (Ugly Betty's Vanessa Williams), meanwhile the other Sesame Street residents are made aware that Elmo is missing and try to find a way to get him back, but some mean characters may be getting in their way. In the end Elmo eventually reaches Huxley, and he gets his treasured blanket back, in his journey he has learnt that things should be shared, he apologises to his friend Zoe and allows her to share his blanket. Throughout the film there is commentary from Bert (Frank Oz) and Ernie (Steve Whitmire), where they will often pause the film and act worried about what is going to happen next, but they will assure the audience that everything will be fine. Also starring Roscoe Orman as Gordon, Bob McGrath as Bob, Alison Bartlett-O'Reilly as Gina, Ruth Buzzi as Ruthie, Emilio Delgado as Luis, Loretta Long as Susan, Caroll Spinney as Big Bird, Frank Oz as Grover and Cookie Monster, Jerry Nelson as Count Von Count, Dave Goelz as Humongous Chicken and Steve Whitmire as Stuckweed. Elmo with his falcetto voice, referring to himself by name and naivety is cute, Bert and Ernie chipping in is amusing, and it was nice to see the other many Muppet characters I recognise, e.g. Big Bird, Grover, Count Von Count, Telly, but this film is definitely much more for the younger audience, they will enjoy the songs and learning some things, but the adults watching may find it perhaps silly, slightly predictable, partly annoying and overly mushy, but it is a family friendly film, a very average musical adventure. Adequate!

Director Gary Halvorson gives us the second Sesame Street Movie The Adventures Of Elmo In Grouchland. The film follows Elmo who after losing his special blanket winds up in an interesting place called Grouchland, a place where everyone is mean to each other. Elmos blanket is stolen by Huxley played by Mandy Patinkin who wants everything to be his to keep. The films story is nice for young viewers, Vanessa Williams and Mandy Patinkin's performances are lovely, and Jim Hensons Workshop does a great job as always with the puppets. This is a wonderful family film that I certainly recommend.Rated G.1hr 13min/73min.****/****

This gets a pretty good rating from me...I bought this movie thinking we'd see it once and it would get stored in our videos forever. But we watch it constantly. Even if my son watches it back to back, he's still captivated by it. It's a good movie...not bad for Sesame Street. The songs are good, except the one by Vanessa Williams - it's a bit bland, but of course, it would get stuck in our heads all day long. Mandy Patinkin is GREAT in this movie, just awesome. Perfect guy for the part. Good singing voice too.It's a cute movie. It does have lots of funny parts that only a kid will find funny and a parent will roll their eyes when the kid is not looking, but on the whole, it's amusing. The interruptions from Ernie and Bert are actually kind of cute, but any more of them would have been annoying.We like it. Good, clean, wholesome entertainment.

In 1996, the Tickle-Me-Elmo doll was released and it was an immediate success. This resulted into Elmomania that swept the nation. A TV special, a 20-minute segment on "Sesame Street", many appearances on "The Rosie O'Donnel Show" and a movie.This film does have some good aspects however. There are some very funny bits with Ernie and Bert every 15 or minutes to help settle down intense or sad scenes for the children. These are the lead-in to some very funny jokes:ERNIE: No movie has a sad ending, Bert. BERT: Titanic. ERNIE: Hmmm?BERT: Titanic had a sad ending. ERNIE: Oh, come on, Bert! Roll film!BERT: Gone With The Wind had a sad ending.Huxey is also a very interesting character. Mandy Patakin can be a funny actor in this film. Especially when he talks about a velvet painting of Elvis Presly and "West Side Story".Also, the sets are amazing. Grouchland looks like something that would come right out of a cartoon and almost reminds me of "Ren & Stimpy" or one of those new Looney Tunes shorts Chuck Jones did in the 90's.And then, there are the bad parts. I can spend about 30 minutes of Elmo, maybe 40 minutes. But 70 minutes! It's crazy talk! And the plot is just coo-coo. Elmo goes into Oscar's can (he is illegally going on private property) because his blanket fell in it and then some guy takes it. Who cares if some guy lost his blanket? Who cares about some guy who won't share? And the absence of Ernie and Bert an the street is kind of unsettling.Overall rating: 6/10, was good but could have been better.