Follow That Bird

I like Sesame Street a lot, and this is the first time that they have made a real movie, not a television show, and I think they should make another one soon. [02 Aug 1985, p.C5]

This first film from Sesame Street is this summer's sweetest surprise, a wholly good-natured children's comedy with enough wit and whimsy left over to win parents' hearts, too. Like the TV series, it's not violent, not threatening and not to be missed. [02 Aug 1985, p.23]

While kids will and have enjoyed the film as a sweet-and-occasionally-exciting road trip with all their favorite Sesame Street friends, parents are presented with far deeper themes to consider.

Simple premise has the slightly goofy yellow, eight-foot fowl Big Bird taken away from Sesame Street by the officious Miss Finch so he can grow up among his own kind, a bird family named the Dodos, in Oceanview, Ill.

The teaching of letters and numbers, for which Sesame Street is famous, is played down here in favor of messages about getting along.

The script of Follow That Bird simply plays like a TV vignette blown up to movie size, failing to fill both the screen and our imagination. [06 Aug 1985, p.5C]

Naturally, Big Bird meets some intriguing people going East. Lots of cameos are here to delight parents who take the kids to see this movie.