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STUDIO: Warner Home Video
MSRP: $19.98
RATED: G
RUNNING TIME: 88 min
SPECIAL FEATURES:

  • New Interviews with Carroll Spinney
  • Jump to a Song (7 Songs total)
  • Singalong
  • DVD-Rom enhanced features

The Pitch

Sunny days can’t keep the clouds away when you’re an adult.

The Humans

Caroll Spinney, Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Richard Hunt, Kathryn Mullen, John Candy and Chevy Chase

The Nutshell

Big Bird is being forced in an adoption scheme that takes him off of Sesame Street. Therefore, he’s got to work out a way to return home. The problem is that he gets lost and it’s up to the Sesame Street gang to save him. It’s up to a deaf chick, some ethnics and a gay white guy to save the day. Luckily, we have the Muppets to even up the odds.

Oscar the Grouch didn’t get any TARP funds.

The Lowdown

Sesame Street is such a pop culture phenomenon. When Follow that Bird was released, it was a smash hit. Children loves puppets. Children love learning when they don’t know they’re being taught. More importantly, children understand the power of the properly used celebrity cameo.

The bulk of Chewers under 30 will have a wildly varied memory of this film. Some see it as a beloved touchstone to a childhood that they should have outgrown. Others will swoon over the music and try to rehash quick bits of nostalgia for the sake of nothingness. Others will remember being dragged to the flick against their will.

Just like that, Treadstone deployed The Big Bird against Bourne.

The film is simplistic and should be used as a mirror. You don’t care about a seven foot bird trying to find his way home. You want to see Grover do something stupid. You want to see the old familiars do the same ol’ shit on the big screen. This is the filmed equivalent of a fast food menu.

A lot of people are going to have a hard time accepting that. They want to treat every little item from their childhood as some sacred relic that belongs in a museum. I’ve got a little something to tell you. Your childhood was made up of the same homogenized crap that composed the bulk of your contemporaries’ existence. Well, unless you got sodomized by Jim Henson or something. Then, you’ve probably got a book deal in the works.

Follow that Bird stands as proof that you can give children nothing and they can make a big deal out of it. I’ve watched the film twice in the last four days and I can barely remember any details. All that matters is that Warner Brothers finally released the film in its original aspect ratio. It’s a shame that getting a widescreen transfer is such an issue in this day and age. I thought we moved on from that sticking point.

Furry pimp.

The Package

New Interviews with Caroll Spinney – It’s fun to see the elderly Caroll Spinney reflect on his work at Children’s Television Workshop. He remembers about meeting Henson and developing the Grouch and Big Bird. It’s great work all around and it stands up over the years.

Jump to a Song (7 Songs Total) – Seven songs are included in the special supplemental that allows you to jump to a forgettable song.

Singalong – You get to get your kids, your elderly relatives or you goofy ass to sing along to a piece of felt.

DVD-Rom enhanced features – The DVD has special DVD-Rom features that include downloadable coloring sheets and the theatrical trailer.

Doesn’t that look like George Lucas in the background? I’m talking about a pre-jowled Lucas.

7.0 out of 10