I have to admit I was tickled with Elmo in this film. The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland is pretty much what you�d expect from Sesame Street, but if you have small children that's not a bad thing. Other then a few laughs (and Vanessa Williams, hubba, hubba) it doesn�t have a lot to recommend it for adults, but, and this is something of a novelty these days, it is absolutely perfect for very young children. Elmo refuses to share his beloved blanket with Zoe resulting in the blanket falling into Oscar the Grouch's trashcan and from there into Grouchland. Grouchland is filled with grouches like Oscar plus one even worse individual, Huxley, who steals from everyone in Grouchland and refuses to share. Huxley steals Elmo's blanket, but Elmo's going to get it back and while he may be small, he's determined. And, with a little help from his friends, both old and new, well�Huxley had just better watch out!The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland is a very sweet movie with messages about the virtues of sharing, perseverance and friendship told on a level that pre-schoolers can understand. Pretty much all of the Sesame Street gang, human and monster, are here and while some of the characters only have walk on roles they still gave the movie a sense of familiarity for its young viewers. Mandy Patinkin and Vanessa Williams do wonderful jobs playing the two new Sesame Street characters of greedy, bad guy Huxley and the Queen of Trash. And the suspense level was just right for pre-schoolers, just enough to keep them involved in the story, but not enough to upset them. All through the movie my four-year-old daughter Ashley kept asking me with real concern, but no fear "Will Elmo get his blankie back, Dad?"
On the minus side, some of the songs felt like they could�ve been very catchy if a little more work had been put into them, but instead the producers seemed to settle for what I consider Sesame Street level quality, cute, but not really memorable. Two other problems with this film were that Bert and Ernie, two of Sesame Street�s best characters, only appeared in walk on roles as they narrated the film and, worse, when they did their narration the movie was stopped, or freeze framed, while the two friends discussed what had occurred. As an adult viewer I found these constant stops and starts annoying, but as a kid Ashley didn�t seem to mind a bit. And finally, of course, if your child has aged out of enjoying Sesame Street then they probably wouldn�t care much for this film, but if they�re still young enough to care about Elmo then they�ll think this film is magical.
Average Grade: B+
