The Trials and Tribulations of Elmo

The Trials and Tribulations of Elmo is a 2020 American CGI-Puppetry-Hand Drawn-Digitally Animated Film based off of Sesame Street, produced by Sesame Workshop. The film is often regarded as the best Sesame Street film, with an "A+" on CinemaScore and a "98%" on Rotten Tomatoes. It also won Best Sesame Street Film at the Oscars 2021.

The Trials and Tribulations of Elmo is about Elmo and the gang when they run out of money and are faced with a conflict- kill for money, or starve to death.

Plot
Elmo and the gang find themselves hungry, nearly starving to death, after their houses were set alight by a rival gang that Cookie Monster stole cookies from to feed his addiction. They are soon confronted by a gang, and asked to join their gang, the Sesame's. They begin at the bottom of the gang, delivering cookies. Most of Elmo's friends disagree with the practice and want to leave the gang, but Elmo threatens to kill them if they quit. A month or so later, he is confronted by the leader of the Sesame's, who asks him to kill a member of a rival gang, the Poppyseed's. He goes to their house and as he's about to set it on fire, he decides this is bad. He runs away, bomb in hand, when forty members of the Poppyseed's start chasing them. Elmo gets shot in the leg, but throws the bomb towards the Poppyseed's killing thirty-nine of them. He stumbles away, crying, knowing he's a horrible person. Suddenly, a cry from the rubble. A final person in the group of forty Poppyseed's cries for help, and Elmo helps her. He takes her to his house and heals her, before calling the group of his friends and apologises for his actions. They decide to leave the gang. Next morning, there is a load rumble outside the house of Elmo and the healing Poppyseed who had both fallen in love with each other. Hundreds of cars of Poppyseed's on one side, and hundreds of Sesame cars on the other. The two sides begin shooting as the house in the middle, Elmo's, begins being destroyed by the gunshots misfired at the house. Elmo and the unnamed Poppyseed hold hands as the battle rages, and they run upstairs. Elmo grabs a gun and begins shooting the Muppets who shot their house to defend their selves. Suddenly, a bomb is thrown into the house with the Poppyseed girl in it. Elmo, already outside and fighting to defend the house, turns round to see it explode and the rubble blankets him. Eventually, he wakes up and crawls out of the rubble. Next to him is the burnt skeleton of the Poppyseed girl. Shots fire at both sides, and Elmo, tears in his eyes, goes crazy. He kills as many muppets as he can, shooting 29 of them dead. A Sesame throws a bomb towards Elmo, thinking he's a Poppyseed and Elmo throws it back towards them, killing 481 of the Sesames. By now, there are only 56 Sesames left and 392 Poppyseeds. All of a sudden, a poppyseed pulls out a bomb, and Elmo shoots it whilst it's in the poppyseed's hand, and the entire poppyseed team gets blown up. Sesames, thinking they won, starting cheering, but Elmo finishes them off in a rage. He is put in prison for fourteen years.

1869 muppets, dead in the timespan of a two weeks.

Cast
Ryan Dillon as Elmo

Matt Vogel as Big Bird

Eric Jacobson as Oscar The Grouch, Bert, Grover, Male Sesame's and Poppyseed's

Peter Linz as Ernie

David Rudman as Cookie Monster

Jennifer Barnhart as Zoe and Female Sesame's and Poppyseed's

Leslie Cararra-Rudolph as Abby

Miley Cyrus as Unnamed Poppyseed

Production
The film was announced in September 2018 when Sesame Workshop announced that they were introducing new "perspectives" into Sesame Street, making a film for more mature audiences, making this film the first PG-13 rated Sesame Street film. Clues were later found, such as hidden posters in Sesame Street merchandise. It was revealed in February 2019 that the film would be called "The Trials and Tribulations of Elmo" and it would be "reimagining" the population that litters areas surrounding Sesame Street. In May 2019 the plot was revealed and it was announced that Miley Cyrus was joining the cast, as well as the opposite "tribe" being named "Poppyseed Park".

Critical Responce
The movie was met with VERY positive reviews, and won best Sesame Street movie at the 2021 Oscars. CinemaScore gave it an "A+" while Rotten Tomatoes gave it a "98%"