The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

Elmo, the cute little monster from TV's Sesame Street, gets a movie of his own, and charming it is too, for the first reel or so. We discover him snuggling up in the morning with his very favourite blanket, soft and fleecy, and quite a little groover in the first musical number. Clearly, this is one covetable 'blankie', since Elmo's soon tussling over it with pal Chloe, landing it inside the trashcan Oscar the Grouch calls home. Venturing within to retrieve it, Elmo is sucked into another dimension - Grouchland! All good messy fun, but then this Jim Henson production spoils it by introducing a fatally dull villain - Patinkin's acquisitive megalomaniac Huxley - and a fifth-rate Wizard Of Oz narrative. Bert and Ernie are on hand to explain the plot, but it's disappointing to see Grover and The Cookie Monster so offhandedly sidelined.