The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999)

Excellent, a Must See

Crappy film

An absolute waste of money

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

I really dreaded this when it came to my daughter via my mother, but it is well done, turns out, and quite amusing in that something-for-everyone Sesame Street way. There are all the usual messages here - sharing, sticking up for yourself/fighting for a cause, being a friend, etc. And if you like Oscar, you will undoubtedly love Grouchland - Oscar seems conservatively grouchy and gritty in comparison with these citizens (perhaps this is why Oscar has chosen to be a Grouchland ex-pat and live on Sesame Street). The songs are quite good - I especially like the song the plant sings to Elmo. I have probably seen it with my daughter at least 6 times, but I still laugh at sight gags and funny lines and continue to find it hilariously funny how sexy Vanessa Williams' character is especially for a pre-school kid's movie! Even if you are not particularly impressed with Vanessa Williams in general, brace yourself!

There's lots to love about this Sesame Treat of a family film. Little kids will love seeing their best buddy Elmo in this great big adventure. Parents will love the clever writing (some of which is just for them!) and the message of sharing and respecting other people's belongings. Everyone will love the catchy songs (I guarantee you'll go home singing the opening number) and the audience interaction, as all of your favorite characters directly address the audience and ask for their help. And be sure to listen to the "ad lib" filler dialog in the various scenes, there are a lot of funny jokes tucked in there in true Muppet fashion.The dialog is clever, the laughs are in plenty and the fun doesn't stop. This is children's entertainment with a brain!

I've seen Elmo in Grouchland only once, and I realised in the first scene that the next 73 minutes of my life would be wasted watching this trash (mind you, no offence to Oscar).Obviously done at a time when Elmo suddenly became the over-cute star of Sesame Street (or should that be "Elmo Street" now?), it lacks the originality of what Sesame Street was really like before the 90s (compared with "Follow That Bird" done fourteen years earlier).I wonder why the Children's Television Workshop (sorry, the SESAME Workshop <sarcasm>) had even bothered to do a movie for such a stupid character.I'm so frustrated, I have no choice but to give it a big fat ZERO out of ten.

When Elmo has an argument with his friend over his blanket, the blanket ends up falling into Oscar the Grouch's trashcan. When Elmo goes to get it back he gets sucked into Grouchland where he has his blanket taken by the greedy and selfish Huxley. Elmo goes after Huxley while his friends from Sesame Street venture into Grouchland to find him.As the rest of the world do, I love little Elmo. The cuddliest and cutest of the Sesame Street gang, Elmo is hard to dislike and it is fun to spend 60 minutes in his company. The plot has a nice moral behind it, one of not being selfish with one's possessions, and it delivers it without ramming it down your throat - in fact younger children won't even see it!What the children will see is a collection of colourful characters who are pretty funny and encourage audience interaction all the way (which I think would have annoyed me in a cinema - but not on video). The action is all very bright and fun and has dialogue that will please both kids and adults, but without having stuff going low and high - it's all down the middle and easy to watch. The musical numbers are all very catchy and mostly quite fun. The Trash Queen's song is catchy but has a touch of the divas about it that seems out of place, but other than that there isn't really a bum note among them.The Sesame Street characters are all as fun as usual. Ernie and Bert could have got a little irritating with their interruptions but they carry it off well enough. The film is Elmo's of course and he is so sweet it's easy to go along with him. Patinkin is a great villain and I enjoyed him immensely. Williams has a brief role and does OK but doesn't have too much to do with herself other than look FABULOUS in a clingy outfit that shouldn't be allowed in a kids' movie!Overall this is a colourful and fun movie, which is easy to watch for both adults and children. The songs are like the characters - fun and colourful. It's all a bit short but it is amusing and well worth seeing if you've got young children to keep happy.