The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999) on Netflix
G19991h 13mAdventureComedyFamily
Elmo refuses to let Zoe hold his fuzzy blue blanket, and their tug-of-war sends it into Oscar's trash can. Elmo follows it to Grouchland, where the greedy Huxley takes it.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb5.9/104,049 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes77%
Trailer
Plot summary
Elmo is playing with his blanket in his room when orange juice stains it, so he carries it to the laundromat. On the way he finds his friend Zoe upset and tries to cheer her up, but he will not let her hold the blanket, and the tug-of-war that follows tears it. Telly Monster skates wildly past and sweeps the blanket away in a chase along Sesame Street. It reaches Oscar the Grouch, who drops it down his trash can. Elmo dives in, and he and the blanket are carried to Grouchland, a city of grouches and garbage, where Huxley, a man who takes whatever he sees, claims the blanket. Grizzy, a kind grouch girl, tells Elmo the blanket sits in Huxley's castle atop Mount Pickanose, and he sets out for it.
Cast
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Mandy Patinkin was a last-minute replacement in the role of Huxley; Harland Williams had originally been cast to play the villain before Patinkin took over.
- For filming, the set was built raised off the ground so the puppeteers could work standing upright instead of having to squat below street level as they normally would on a Sesame Street shoot.
- A song called "All Alone," meant to be sung by Elmo alone on the cliffside of Mount Pickanose, was fully filmed and then cut from the finished movie because it upset children during test screenings.
- The production marked the end of an era for several Muppet performers: it was the last Muppet feature to involve Fran Brill and Frank Oz before they retired from full-time puppeteering, and the last to feature Caroll Spinney before his 2018 retirement and 2019 death.
- Despite recouping less than half its $26 million budget, the film's box-office failure gave it a lasting distinction: it remains the lowest-grossing Muppet film ever made.
- A song called "All Alone", which Elmo was to sing while spending the night on the cliffside of Mount Pickanose, was fully filmed but cut after it upset children during test screenings.
- Mandy Patinkin was a last-minute replacement for Harland Williams, who had originally been cast to play the greedy Huxley.
- It was the last Muppet feature film for Fran Brill and Frank Oz as full-time puppeteers, and the last Muppet film for Caroll Spinney before his 2018 retirement and 2019 death.
