The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (My Version)

The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland is a 1999 American musical adventure comedy film directed by Gary Halvorson in his feature film debut. It is the second film to be based on the children's television series Sesame Street, after Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird (1985); the film stars Mandy Patinkin and Vanessa Williams alongside Muppet performers Kevin Clash, Jerry Nelson, Frank Oz, Joe Alaskey and Steve Whitmire.

Produced by Jim Henson Pictures and Children's Television Workshop, the film was released by Columbia Pictures on October 1, 1999. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, but was a box office bomb, grossing $12 million against a budget of more than $26 million.

The film is one of the few Sesame Street productions directly produced by The Jim Henson Company. Alongside Muppets from Space (which was released the same year), this is the final Muppet feature film to involve Oz, who retired from being a full-time puppeteer the following year. This was also the final theatrical Muppet film to feature Caroll Spinney and Joe Alaskey before both deaths in 2019 and 2016.

Plot
Elmo plays with his blanket in his bedroom. He spills juice on his blanket and takes it to the laundromat where he encounters his friend Zoe. Zoe wants to hold the blanket, but Elmo does not consent to share it resulting in a tug of war that rips it. Telly Monster, rollerskating out of control, accidentally swipes the blanket leading to a chase around Sesame Street. The blanket falls into the hands of Oscar the Grouch, who sneezes on it and drops it in his trash can. 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 teleported through a colorful swirling tunnel to Grouchland, a city filled with Grouches, trash, and Huxley, a greedy man who steals anything he can grab, including Elmo's blanket. A kind Grouch girl named Grizzy tells Elmo that his blanket is in Huxley's house 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's help, the Sesame Street residents go to Grouchland to find Elmo, but when they ask a Grouch Police Officer 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 blow 100 raspberries for her in 30 seconds. Elmo succeeds with some help from the audience & the Queen allows him to pass through. Huxley sends his huge chicken 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 decided to travel all the way to Huxley's house on top of Mount Pickanose. 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 decides to release the Sesame Street residents and the Grouches so that they can to go to Huxley's house to fight for their trash and rescue Elmo.

A caterpillar wakes Elmo the next morning. He convinces Elmo that he has what it takes to be brave. Elmo then arrives at Huxley's house and rescues his blanket as Huxley sends the Pesties to stop him. But 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 and thanks them for helping and goes to dance with his friends.

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

Muppet performers

 * Kevin Clash as Elmo, Lyle, Grouch Jailer and Grouch Taxicab Driver
 * Fran Brill as Zoe, Tanya, Abby Cadabby and Prairie Dawn
 * Caroll Spinney as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch
 * Martin P. Robinson as Telly Monster and Little Ricky
 * Joe Alaskey as Migo
 * Stephanie D'Abruzzo as Grizzy and M'Lady
 * Joseph Mazzarino as Bug
 * Jerry Nelson as Howard, Count von Count, Mr. Johnson, Grouch Mayor and Grouch Cop
 * David Rudman as Sydney, Baby Bear, Collander Stenchman, Caterpillar, Grouch Customer, Grouch Prisoner and Alarm Clock Bird
 * Dave Goelz as Humongous Chicken
 * Steve Whitmire as Ernie, Murray Monster, Stuckweed, Football Stenchman, Grouch Ice Cream Vendor and Grouch Bird
 * Frank Oz as Bert, Cookie Monster and Grover
 * Carmen Osbahr as Rosita

Additional characters performed by: Drew Allison, Bruce Lanoil, Bill Barretta, Bob Lynch, John Boone, Ed May, R. Lee Bryan, Tim Parati, Leslie Carrera, Annie Peterle, Lisa Consolo, Andy Stone, Jodi Eichelberger, Lisa Sturz, Rowell Gormon, Kirk Thatcher, Mary Harrison, Matt Vogel, Rob Killen and Matt Yates

Background Muppets
Anything Muppets, Mr. Honker, Dinger, AM Monsters, Herry Monster, Two-Headed Monster

Humans of Sesame Street

 * Sonia Manzano as Maria Rodriguez
 * Roscoe Orman as Gordon Robinson
 * Alison Bartlett-O'Reilly as Gina Jefferson
 * Loretta Long as Susan Robinson
 * Bob McGrath as Bob Johnson
 * Emilio Delgado as Luis Rodriguez
 * Ruth Buzzi as Ruthie

Other humans

 * Mandy Patinkin as Huxley
 * Vanessa Williams as Queen of Trash

Casting
All the puppeteers who performed the primary Sesame Street characters (such as Kevin Clash, Jerry Nelson, Caroll Spinney and Fran Brill) were called to Wilmington, North Carolina 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, also designed Humungous Chicken. Sonia Manzano reprised her role as Maria and Roscoe Orman reprised his role as Gordon. Vanessa Williams was cast as the Queen of Trash and the hairstylist colored her hair green for the role. Mandy Patinkin 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 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 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 Steve Whitmire in performing Ernie and Eric Jacobson assisting Frank Oz on Bert.

Songs

 * 1) "Together Forever" – Elmo, Blanket, Frazzle, Big Bird, Rosita, Prairie Dawn, Hoots The Owl, Count von Count, Abby Cadabby, Migo, 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)
 * 2) "Welcome to Grouchland" – The Grouchland Ensemble (Written by Martin Erskine and Seth Friedman; produced by Martin Erskine)
 * 3) "Take the First Step" – Stuckweed (Written by Michael Reagan and Greg Matheson; produced by Jeff Elmassian and Siedah Garrett)
 * 4) "Make It Mine" – Mandy Patinkin, Fran Brill, Stephanie D’Abruzzo (Written by Martin Erskine and Seth Friedman; produced by Martin Erskine)
 * 5) "I See a Kingdom" – Vanessa Williams (Written by Siedah Garrett, Jeff Elmassian, and Andy Rehfeldt; produced by Jeff Elmassian and Siedah Garrett)
 * 6) "Precious Wings" – Tatyana Ali (Written by Siedah Garrett, Jeff Elmassian, and Andy Rehfeldt; produced by Keith Thomas)

Critical response
The film has a rating of 77% on Rotten Tomatoes 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 Streetwatchers and seasoned veterans." On Metacritic, 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 #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.