Customer Reviews

Sesame Street Presents Follow that Bird [VHS]

5 star:		(86)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I would like to recommend this movie to anyone who knows what it is to sit through 20 sequential showings of the same film because of a 5-year-old's obsession. This movie is the only one that none of us mind seeing over and over again. The story is genuinely funny and moving (Big Bird is taken away from Sesame Street and adopted by Dodos) and wants to go home. Meanwhile, the folks on Sesame Street are trying to find him to bring him home. And finally, a very funny couple of "Sleaze Brothers" have kidnapped him to turn him into the Blue Bird of Happiness for their 10-rate carnival. This is very well done and performed with genuine love by a very talented set of actors. See it -- enjoy!

I loved this movie as a kid and still enjoy it even today! I remember watching this movie with my Mom and Dad and we all loved it!
The movie is geared towards children, but I can honestly say that adults will love it, too! There's a lot of funny moments in this video that my younger sisters and I still love! (And we're all older)!
For instance, the Dodo family that Big Bird goes to stay with say some hilarious things, such as, "You've got to come home before you can leave", and the two men who try to find Big Bird for their fun fare are really funny, too! They kind of remind me of the two villians in 101 dalmations because one comes up with all the ideas and the other one sort of follows along.
Kids who love Big Bird will love this movie! Big Bird, Snuffy, the count, Oscar, Bert and Ernie, Cookie, and many other memorable characters, including Bob, Maria, Linda, and Gordon come together in this delightful movie! Ernie and Bert make me laugh in this film, especially since Ernie is up to his old tricks by bugging Bert in this movie! I love how he tries to get him to fly an airplane! The songs are great, too, and it's truly a winner for the whole family!

I can't believe I'm the first one reviewing this! The first Sesame Street Movie is about a meddling social worker, Miss Finch, who is convinced that Big Bird would be happier with his "own kind." After she convinces Big Bird of this, he travels to Oceanview, Illinois, to meet his new family, "The Dodos." But Big Bird doesn't seem to fit in, and is so lonesome and homesick, he sets off on foot for Sesame Street. That's when all of his friends from Sesame Street jump in, and start searching for Big Bird, who is also being chased by Miss Finch, and the Sleeze Brothers, who are just what their names suggest! Just when his friends almost find him, the Sleeze Brothers kidnap Big Bird, and Big Bird's friends show up to rescue him, in an exciting climax! I saw this at the theater when I was very little, loved it, and have owned three copies since! All your old Sesame Street pals, memorable music, and guest star cameos by John Candy, Chevy Chase, and Sandra Bernhard, make this movie a sensation!

P.S. Maybe now that I've broken the ice, it'll make some of you other fans come forward too.

I admit I'm 27 not a parent & still ove this movie. I saw it with my best friend when I was little. So it could be sentiment of that. You get to see the classic Charictors in some of their great momments! Including that it starts with the grouch national anthem sung by Oscar.
Its good humor, good songs ok quite corny at times but also quite sweet. It shows the whole gang out to help their friend find his way home. With a few embedded lessons like bad things can happen if you accept rides from strangers. Without terrifying them. Showing that family is not just who you look like but who you love. Especially good lesson for adopted children. that friends are valuable family too.
quite frankly I think that No elmo is a major plus! Remember when Kermit the frog was a big hit? Mr Sniffaluffagus & my personal favorite cookie monster. Those who remember those good old days will love this film.

Without question, this is vintage Sesame Street of the highest quality! As a child of the 80's, maybe I'm a little biased, but this is definitely a movie for parents and all fans of Sesame Street and/or Jim Henson and/or anything from the 80's!
This has been one of my favotite movies ever since I was five years old, and I still love it! (I am now 19.) I still feel so sad for Big Bird when he and the others sing "One Little Star", and I still tap my feet and sing along to "Ain't No Road Too Long."
This is a timeless movie with a sweet message that is still relevant almost twenty years later. It is also absolutely hilarious! Fans of Sesame Street will love the "inside" jokes peppered throughout the film.
Buy this movie! You won't regret it!

In my book, this movie ranks right up there with "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", "E.T" and "The Breakfast Club". It is a majorly great 80s film that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. The basic plot is that Big Bird moves away from Sesame Street to live with a foster family in Oceanview, Illinois (one of the film's many jokes for the adults). He doesn't like it there, so he goes on a cross-country adventure back home, pursued by 2 evil circus owners (played by SCTV's Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty) and a welfare agent (voiced by Sally Kellerman). There are also cameos by Chevy Chase (spoofing his role as Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" anchor), Sandra Bernhard (as a grouchy waitress), Waylon Jennings (playing a singing trucker), and the late John Candy as a cop. The songs are great, and there are many pop-culture references, including references to "North By Northwest", Donny & Marie, and Michael Jackson. Sesame Street fans and parents, if you don't have this movie, then get it! I'm 16 years old, and I still enjoy this movie! It's great fun!

A Blast from the Past: Follow That Bird!

I came across this video at a thrift shop and snapped it up for nostalgia's sake. It was Sesame Street's first full-length movie, "Follow That Bird".

I remember going to see the live drama production for my sister's birthday when we must have been somewhere between 4 and 8. We were so dazzled by it that I still remember it pretty well all these years later, after seeing it just once.

Often I find that movies I remember fondly from my childhood just don't stand up to rewatching years later, but this one is a noteable exception. I found that the story was well-told and interesting even this many years later. Of course, it helped that I was watching it with my own two- and three-year olds, who were glued to it and wanted to watch it again as soon as it ended.

One thing to note is that my 3 1/2 year-old gets very emotionally involved and gets a bit upset and scared if she watches this movie without an adult. So if you are watching it with young children, you will want to watch it with them and be sensitive to how they are responding. It is a rather emotionally intense movie for a young child, although I would still recommend it for all ages.

The girls and I really enjoyed this video. The basic premise is that the interfering Feathered Friends Society of birds decides to place Big Bird in a home with a bird family, since he "belongs with his own kind" and "can't possibly be happy" in a different kind of home.

Spoilers:

Big Bird misses Sesame Street, and when his new bird family won't allow Big Bird's best friend Snuffy to come and visit him because Snuffalupagus is not a bird, Big Bird decides to go home to Sesame Street.

He takes off walking across several states toward home, with Miss Finch from the FFS chasing after him to try to make him return to the bird family, The Dodos. Along the way he also ends up being chased by a pair of cheating carnival masters, who want to display him in a sideshow to make money.

Meanwhile, Big Bird's friends from Sesame Street head out in three or four different directions, determined to find him before Miss Finch does. Bert and Ernie in an airplane, Oscar the Grouch and Maria in the grouchmobile, and other amusing combinations of characters make for a fun and humorous ride.

End of spoiler

Admittedly, the movie is geared toward the under-ten crowd and a lot of the songs and jokes are a bit corny, but I enjoyed it immensely. For any adult who enjoyed Sesame Street as a kid, this is a movie you will enjoy reminiscing with. I laughed at the jokes, enjoyed the music and got a bit teary-eyed at the sad parts even as a "grown-up".

The message that sometimes interfering social agencies try to fix what's not broken and would be better off staying out of many situations is not lost, either.

I watched this movie as a kid, over and over again. I finally wore out the first tape, then my parents bought me another. When i was younger, it would keep my occupied, the singing, the laughs, and different lifestyles of the characters in the movie. I was fascinated with the farm the little boy and girl live on. This movie didn't just last during my childhood, but i'm 17 now and i still love to watch the movie. It has meanings and morals all through the movie. And when you're older and watch the movie, you regroup with your inner child and it's is when you realize what the movie is telling you, that happiness is right in your neighborhood. I finally learned that after watching the movie for 17 years...

This is one of the finest Muppet productions of the mid 1980's. The films songs, "Upside Down World", "Easy Goin' Day", "Ain't No Road Too Long" and Big Birds lament "I'm a Blue Bird", are songs which have stayed alive for many children the world over.

Sesame Street's Follow that Bird, as I recall, was the first film to tell a story about the streets characters and we were invited to see more of their world ... the street itself was rebuilt and expanded and had a rich realistic feel and artistically the look was very credible and contrasted the Muppet characters more imaginatively.

Everything about the production was inspiring, the story was clear and tight, characters were very well performed, the puppetry as you might expect was first rate and parents enjoyed seeing the comic talents from John Candy and Chevy Chase who cameo ... Kermit even makes an appearance as his role as Muppet Reporter and if you look carefully you can see Elmo sometimes in the background, but you have to remember, this was all before he became a big star.

Follow that Bird is really Big Birds story and for a generation who remember Sesames early years it is about time the big yellow chap got some cheers again for being such an inspiring figure. The production naturally has the Henson stamp on it but this is a film which once again supports the goals and aspirations of The Children's Television Workshop and if you haven't seen this film yet or you are thinking of showing it to your children for the first time, then do purchase a copy as this film does not play down to kids at all ... as with all the early Henson productions and related projects the Henson troop found themselves involved in, they always conveyed what they felt they would want their children to understand about the world and what they created was first rate entertainment which had something real in the offering.

This edition is presented in it's original theatrical format.

I saw this movie for the first time when I was about 8 years old, and even though I thought I had outgrown Sesame Street by that time, I was absolutely wrong.

The story line for this movie is pretty simple: Big Bird feeling as though he has nobody (meaning other birds) to really talk to on Sesame Street decides to move out and live with a bird family called the "Dodos". However, once settled in with the Dodos, Big Bird decides that they are even too "brainless" for him. In the middle of the night, Big Bird sneaks out of the Dodos home and begins a kind of "lost" roadtrip. While Big Bird is out on the road, the rest of the Sesame Street gang, having received a rather sad home sick letter from Big Bird, set out on their own to try to find and bring back home their beloved friend. Eventually, the rest of the gang do find Big Bird being held captive by a couple of greedy exhibitionists. Of course, in the end they manage to free our giant feathered friend, the bad guys are caught, and everybody lives happily ever after.

Even though not as good as the Muppet series of films (the first 3 Muppet films anyway), "Follow That Bird" truly is a magical film for all ages, and can be enjoyed by anyone who has an imagination and wants to relive some of their childhood memories. Seeing as how I am one of those people, I'm sure that I will be purchasing my copy of this video sometime in the near future.

Thank you, Jim Henson.