The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

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 "" (1985); the film stars Mandy Patinkin and Vanessa Williams alongside Muppet performers Kevin Clash, Jerry Nelson, Frank Oz, and Steve Whitmire.
Produced by Jim Henson Pictures and the 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 before his death in 2019.
Plot.
Ernie and Bert open the movie, and Elmo welcomes viewers, finds his blanket and plays with it in his bedroom. He spills juice on his blanket and takes it to the laundromat where he encounters his friend Zoe. Elmo refuses to share his blanket resulting in a tug of war that rips it. Telly Monster, rollerskating uncontrollably, accidentally swipes the blanket leading to a chase around Sesame Street. The blanket falls into the hands of Oscar the Grouch, who 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, Elmo and his blanket are teleported through a colorful swirling portal to Grouchland, a city filled with Grouches, garbage, and Huxley, a greedy man and a thief 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 atop 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 to retrieve his blanket.
With Oscar's help, the Sesame Street residents go to Grouchland to find Elmo. They ask a Grouch police officer for help but are arrested and imprisoned because asking for help is outlawed in Grouchland, as the Grouch police officer explains. 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 tells Bug and the Pesties to misdirect Elmo into a garbage dump of the Queen of Trash.
Bug and the Pesties misdirect Elmo to the 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 the help of the audience and the Queen allows him to pass through. 
Huxley sends his huge chicken named Tiny to stop Elmo, who tosses Elmo far away. Elmo gives up on retrieving his blanket for the night. Later, Grizzy sneaks into the jail where she informs Elmo's friends that he went to Huxley's house. Oscar convinces all of the Grouches to cooperate, as it is the only way they can stop Huxley from stealing any more of their trash. The police officer releases the Sesame Street residents and the Grouches aid them into the night to go to Huxley's house to fight for their trash and rescue Elmo.
A caterpillar wakes Elmo the next morning, convincing him that he has what it takes to be brave. Elmo arrives at Huxley's house as Huxley sends the Pesties to stop him. The Sesame Street and Grouchland citizens arrive and the Pesties panickedly flee. Huxley sucks up Elmo's blanket with the vacuum cleaner nozzle on his helicopter. Elmo launches a basket over Huxley's shoulders, incapacitating him. Bug is revealed to be controlling 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 as Ernie and Bert congratulate the audience for playing along and head home, closing the movie before the credits begin to roll.
Cast.
Muppet performers.
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, Matt Yates
Background Muppets.
Anything Muppets, Mr. Honker, Dinger, AM Monsters, Herry Monster, Two-Headed Monster
Production.
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.
Music.
Soundtrack.
This album, released in 1999, is the soundtrack to "The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland".
This album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Album for Children in 2000.
"Make It Mine" is excluded from the soundtrack.
Reception.
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 Street" watchers 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".
Book series.
The film inspired a trilogy of children's books, published in 1999: "Happy Grouchy Day," "The Grouchiest Lovey," and "Unwelcome to Grouchland". The book series was written by Suzanne Weyn and illustrated by Tom Brannon.