Plot[]
Elmo (voiced by Kevin Clash) is playing with his blanket in his house. After he bumps his blanket on a juice cup and after drying off his blanket at the laundromat, Elmo sees Zoe (voiced by Fran Brill) feeling depressed because her father cannot take her to the zoo, so he decides to make Zoe happy again by imitating certain zoo animals (a lion, a monkey, and a pig). When Zoe sees his blanket, Elmo refuses to share, resulting in a tug-of-war that has Elmo's blanket ripped slightly. Elmo is furious and declares that he and Zoe are no longer friends.
Suddenly, Telly Monster inadvertently takes away the blanket while rollerskating out of control. They go around Finders Keepers and knock over a tray of vases Ruthie is carrying. Telly hits Cookie Monster at the revolving door of Furry Arms hotel. The blanket accidentally lands in the hands of Oscar the Grouch (voiced by Caroll Spinney), who drops it in his trash can after sneezing on it.
Elmo, angry that Oscar is not home, is very distraught that he would have to wait for him to give his blanket back. But instead of waiting too long, Elmo drops into the bottom of Oscar's trash can, where he finds the blanket nailed to a door. But when the door opens, it sucks Elmo and his blanket right through, teleporting them to Grouchland USA, a world filled with Grouches where a greedy man named Huxley (Mandy Patinkin) steals anything he can grab, including Elmo's blanket.
Determined to find his blanket, Elmo begins a journey through Grouchland. He asks a kind girl named Grizzy (voiced by Stephanie D'Abruzzo) to help in his quest, but she later abandons him when Elmo discovers that Huxley's house is on the top of the faraway Mount Pickanose. Elmo sadly notices that Huxley's house is so far away and has never taken such a long walk alone.
Meanwhile, the Sesame Street residents are informed of Elmo's absence and go to Grouchland to find him, with help from Oscar. When Big Bird (voiced by Matt Vogel) and Zoe find a Grouch Police Officer and Big Bird asks him for help, the entire group ends up arrested as the Grouch Police Officer informs them that it is against Grouchland's laws to ask a police officer for help and that they have the right to scream their heads off.
Hoping to stop Elmo from rescuing his blanket, Huxley's sidekick Bug (voiced by Joey Mazzarino) and the Pesties trap Elmo in a tunnel using a trap door. However, he gets out with the help of fireflies. Then he meets the Queen of Trash (Vanessa L. Williams) in a garbage dump area. After she notices that he is a "Huxley" spy, Elmo begins to have a flashback of when he did not share his blanket with Zoe. So the Queen of Trash tells him that he would have to prove he could share and says that Huxley can never give people anything. Elmo gladly leaves her dump by giving the queen 100 raspberries in 30 seconds. Elmo succeeds and continues walking to Huxley's house.
But suddenly, Huxley sends a humongous chicken named "Tiny" (voiced by Dave Goelz) to eat Elmo as a fuzzy red worm. Before he can swallow him whole, the chicken mistakes him for a teapot and tosses Elmo onto a tree on the side of the mountain. When night comes, Elmo then stops at a rock to rest, upset that he has never slept without his blanket before.
Grizzy, learning of the Sesame Street friends being arrested, runs to jail and then tells them of Elmo's location in Huxley's house. Oscar the Grouch is convinced to help set things right as well as admitting that Elmo is his friend. He then convinces the Grouch Police Officer and all of the Grouches of Grouchland that even though Grouches hate cooperation, just for once they have to take a stand against Huxley from stealing any more of their stuff. Taking light to this problem, the Grouch Police Officer releases the Sesame Street residents and aids them to go to Huxley's house to fight for their trash and rescue Elmo.
The next morning, a caterpillar (voiced by David Rudman) wakes up Elmo on the rock. He gives Elmo advice to look inside his body and he'll see that he'll be brave. He then makes it to Huxley's before he could make Elmo's blanket his blanket. However, Huxley prevents Elmo from escaping by grabbing him with a claw and deciding to label them "MINE".
Just as Elmo is about to face the fate of never seeing his friends again, the Sesame Street and the Grouchland citizens appear in time to rescue Elmo and confront Huxley as the Pesties flee. Bug takes Elmo's blanket from Huxley and turns against him as Elmo catapults a basket over his shoulders. Bug then gives Elmo his blanket back. Elmo is hailed a hero by the Sesame Street and Grouchland citizens.
When Huxley tries to change his mind about his selfishness, Bug refuses to believe him, saying that he is a greedy selfish villain and their friendship falls apart. Happy to get his blanket back, Elmo goes with his friends back to Sesame Street and apologizes to Zoe for not sharing his blanket and hurting her feelings. Elmo says goodbye to the audience when Ernie and Bert tell them to give around an applause and then head home as the film ends.
Cast[]
- Mandy Patinkin as Huxley
- Vanessa L. Williams as the Queen of Trash
- Alison Bartlett-O'Reilly as Gina
- Ruth Buzzi as Ruthie
- Emilio Delgado as Luis
- Loretta Long as Susan
- Sonia Manzano as Maria
- Bob McGrath as Bob
- Roscoe Orman as Gordon
Voices[]
- Kevin Clash as Elmo, Pestie, Grouch Jailer, Grouch Taxicab Driver
- Fran Brill as Zoe, Pestie, Prairie Dawn
- Stephanie D'Abruzzo as Grizzy, Pestie
- Dave Goelz as Humongous Chicken
- Steve Whitmire as Ernie, Kermit the Frog, Stuckweed, Sharon Groan, Football Stenchman, Bad Humor Man, Parrot
- Eric Jacobson as Bert, Grover
- Jerry Nelson as Count von Count, Pestie, Grouch Mayor, Grouch Police Officer, Voice of Mr. Johnson
- Caroll Spinney as Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch
- Martin P. Robinson as Laundromat Manager, Pestie, Telly Monster
- Matt Vogel as Big Bird (puppetry in some scenes)
- David Rudman as Baby Bear, Cookie Monster, Alarm Clock Bird, Fat Blue Anything Muppet, Caterpillar, Pestie, Collander Stenchman, Grouch Ice Cream Customer, Puppeteer of Mr. Johnson, Various Grouches
- Joey Mazzarino as Bug
- Carmen Osbahr as Rosita