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Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird

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Sesame Street Presents:
Follow That Bird
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKen Kwapis
Written byJudy Freudberg
Tony Geiss
Produced byTony Garnett
StarringCaroll Spinney
Jim Henson
Frank Oz
Sandra Bernhard
John Candy
Chevy Chase
Joe Flaherty
Waylon Jennings
Dave Thomas
CinematographyCurtis Clark
Edited byEvan Landis
Music byLennie Niehaus
Van Dyke Parks
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Bros. Pictures
Release date
  • August 2, 1985 (1985-08-02)
Running time
88 minutes
CountriesUnited States
(filmed in Canada)
LanguageEnglish
Box office$13,961,370

Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird (commonly shortened to Follow That Bird) is a 1985 American road film directed by Ken Kwapis, starring many Sesame Street characters (both puppets and live actors). This was the first of two Sesame Street feature films, followed in 1999 by The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. The film was produced by the Children's Television Workshop and Warner Bros. Pictures, and filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at the Toronto International Studios, and on location in the Greater Toronto Area. This is also the final Muppet film to be released before the death of Jim Henson.

Plot

Big Bird is sent to the fictional town of Oceanview, Illinois, to live with a family of dodos by Miss Finch (performed by Cheryl Wagner and voiced by Sally Kellerman), a social worker who thinks he needs to be with his own kind upon being sent to him by the feathered friends. The Dodos thinks exactly the same, even saying he should have a bird as a best friend instead of Mr. Snuffleupagus. This causes Big Bird much distress.

When Big Bird runs away from his new home which ends up on the news, Miss Finch tells Kermit the Frog that she will reclaim him. Big Bird's friends on Sesame Street also see the news and band together to find him. In a Volkswagen Beetle is the group of Gordon, Olivia, Linda, and Cookie Monster. Count von Count departs in his Countmobile. Bert and Ernie go out to search in an airplane. Grover flies as Super Grover (later falling into the Volkswagen). Maria leaves with Oscar the Grouch, Telly Monster, and Homer Honker in Oscar's Sloppy Jalopy. They all head out across America in search for their beloved Big Bird.

Big Bird has various adventures in his attempt to get home. First, he hitches a ride with a turkey truck driver (Waylon Jennings) who tells him not to give up trying to get to his goal. He then meets two kids named Ruthie and Floyd (Alyson Court and Benjamin Barrett) at a farm and stays with them for a while. Big Bird ends up having to leave the farm because of Miss Finch's arrival.

While out in a cornfield, Big Bird is spotted by Ernie and Bert in their plane. But Big Bird doesn't know that Bert and Ernie are in it and thinks it's Miss Finch wanting to take him back to the Dodos. When Ernie steers the plane towards Big Bird, Big Bird flees in fright. Ernie turns the plane upside down to get Big Bird's attention and begins singing "Upside Down World", with Bert beginning to join in singing, but when they turn the plane back up, Big Bird is gone, and Ernie blames it all on Bert.

Big Bird is also sought by two scam artists named Sid and Sam Sleaze (Joe Flaherty and Dave Thomas) who operate a lousy carnival The Sleaze Brothers Funfair. They want to capture him to put him on display. Eventually, Big Bird arrives in Toadstool (dubbed "The Mushroom City"). Shortly after arriving, Miss Finch finds him there and gives chase through the city. On the outskirts of Toadstool, the Sleaze Brothers have set up their funfair, and Big Bird shows up asking if they have a place to hide him from Miss Finch. The two brothers then put him in their "hiding cage." Shortly afterwards, they decide to paint him blue and tout him as "The Bluebird of Happiness." However, his performance is not one of happiness but of sadness as he sings a song about wishing to be back home with his friends.

After the show, two kids sneak backstage to see him. Upon noticing them, he asks them to call Sesame Street to tell his friends where he is. The children do so and the next day, his friends sneak into the circus tent to try to free him. However, the Sleaze Brothers quietly wake up and attempt to drive off with Big Bird in tow. Eventually, Gordon and Olivia give chase and succeed in rescuing him from the truck. Shortly afterwards, the Sleaze Brothers are pulled over by a police officer (John Candy) and arrested on charges of counterfeiting, extortion, fraud, impersonating a dentist, and even stealing a kid's apple at their funfair (as seen earlier in the film).

Back on Sesame Street, Big Bird is happy to be back but then looks on as Miss Finch arrives to announce that she has found another bird family for him. Maria convinces Miss Finch that Big Bird can be, and is, happy there on Sesame Street—that it does not make any difference that his family consists of humans, monsters, cows, Grouches, Honkers, and the other varieties of eclectic species on Sesame Street. What matters is that they are family. After considering what she's heard and realizing how far his friends went to try to bring him back, Miss Finch declares that Sesame Street is Big Bird's home. Big Bird is also reunited with Snuffy, who watched his nest while he was away. Gordon brings his car (which was partially eaten by Cookie Monster) to Luis to see if he can fix it. As Sesame Street goes back to normal, Oscar the Grouch is carried around the block in his can by Bruno the Trashman in order to get the happiness of Big Bird being back on Sesame Street out of him.

At the beginning of the end credits, Count von Count begins to count the movie credits (in a nod to the original series, Count calls Joan Ganz Cooney, the co-creator of Sesame Street, "mom" when her name is credited as one of the executive producers). By the end of the credits in a brief "bonus scene" Count announces 278 credits and does his trademark laugh accompanied by a thunderclap (no lightning flash was present as was in his usual running gag).

Cast

Sandra Bernhard appears in a cameo role as a Grouch Diner Waitress. Chevy Chase appears as a newscaster. Paul Bartel appears as a Grouch Diner Cook. John Candy appears as a police officer. Waylon Jennings portrays a Turkey truck driver.

Humans of Sesame Street

Muppet performers

Board of Birds Members are performed by Terry Angus, Kevin Clash, Tim Gosley, Trish Leeper, Rob Mills, John Pattison, Martin P. Robinson, Bob Stutt, and Nikki Tilroe

Musical numbers

  1. "The Grouch Anthem" - Oscar, Grouch chorus
  2. "Ain't No Road Too Long" - Turkey truck driver, Gordon, Olivia, Cookie Monster, Count von Count, Grover, Bert, Ernie, Big Bird
  3. "One Little Star" - Big Bird, Olivia, Mr. Snuffleupagus
  4. "Easy Goin' Day" - Big Bird, Ruthie
  5. "Upside-Down World" - Ernie, Bert
  6. "I'm So Blue" - Big Bird

Trivia

  1. Alyson Court who played Ruthie later became known as Loonette the clown in The Big Comfy Couch, which like Sesame Street aired on PBS Kids in the United States.

Reception

The film was a critical success upon its release.[2] [3] [4] On Rotten Tomatoes.com Follow That Bird currently has a "Certified Fresh" rating of 91%.[5]

Box office

The film grossed only $2,415,626 on its opening weekend. By the end of its theatrical run, its total gross was $13,961,370.

Video release

The film was released on VHSa in 1986. a laserdisc release was also released in 1986, A DVD release followed in 2002, which was later re-issued as a special "25th Anniversary Edition" in 2009 with new bonus features and cover art.[6]

While there has yet to be a Blu-ray release of the film, it is currently available for streaming on Netflix, though sporadically.

References

  1. ^ "Real Big Bird Hopes Film Can Break The G-rated Curse". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
  2. ^ "Except For Wit, Wisdom, Big Bird Film Is All Heart". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
  3. ^ "FILM: BIG BIRD ON THE BIG SCREEN WITH THE 'SESAME STREET' GANG". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-04-28.
  4. ^ "Except For Wit, Wisdom, Big Bird Film Is All Heart". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2012-06-01.
  5. ^ "Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2011-04-28.
  6. ^ "Follow That Bird". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2012-06-01.

Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird on Muppet Wiki

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