The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland

Elmo is devoted to his blue blanket and refuses to share it with his friend Zoe. When a tug-of-war sends the blanket flying, it disappears into the trash, which turns out to be a gateway to Grouchland, a squalid realm ruled over by the greedy Huxley and the Queen of Trash. Elmo sets off after his blanket, and his friends from Sesame Street follow him into this grim territory to help him get it back.

The film is a musical family adventure directed by Gary Halvorson, who had made Piaf in 1984 and would go on to direct Metropolitan Opera broadcasts decades later, making this an early theatrical feature in his filmography. Joey Mazzarino and Mitchell Kriegman wrote the screenplay, with Alex Rockwell and Marjorie Kalins producing for Jim Henson Pictures and the Children's Television Workshop. Kevin Clash voices Elmo, and Mandy Patinkin and Vanessa Williams play Huxley and the Queen of Trash; Sonia Manzano and Roscoe Orman appear as Maria and Gordon among a credited cast of 41.

Released in October 1999, the film runs 73 minutes and cost 26 million dollars, but took only 12 million worldwide, so it did not recoup its budget in cinemas. On IMDb it holds 5.8/10 from over 3,600 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.2/10 from a much smaller number of votes, a modest reception from audiences.