Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird

Friday, May 1 - Saturday, May 2, 2015

30th anniversary! DCP projection

“The bird of the title is none other than sweet-natured Big Bird. He falls victim to the attentions of a misguided do-gooder named Miss Finch, who addresses him as ‘Big’ and tells him that he ought to be ‘with his own kind.’ So Big Bird goes off to live with the Dodo family in darkest Illinois. Daddy, Mommy, Donny and Marie Dodo aren’t bad birds, but they are prodigiously klutzy and absolutely devoid of imagination; they don’t know how to pretend. They spend most of their time digging for worms. They are definitely not Big Bird’s kind, so he decides to walk back home to his nonfeathered friends in New York, and the adventures begin.

“Big Bird, played, as it were, by Caroll Spinney, gets lost in Middle America, with Miss Finch in pursuit and his friends speeding, skidding and sliding to the rescue. Out to capture him for their own mercenary purposes are the Sleaze Brothers, operators of a Funfair (whose capital ‘F’ naturally falls off its sign). They are the sort of guys who extort nickels from little kids and steal their apples, and they want to turn Big Bird, 8 feet tall and bright yellow, into a star attraction, ‘The Bluebird of Happiness.’

“Although all the ”Sesame Street” humans are on hand and on camera and perform in their agreeable low-key manner, they are as usual upstaged by the Muppets. Oscar and a chorus of Grouches begin the show with the Grouch Anthem – ”Don’t let the sunshine spoil your rain/Just stand up and complain” – and Count von Count ends it by counting up the credits with fiendish pleasure. In between, the Cookie Monster manages to devour most of a Volkswagen.” – The New York Times

• Country USA
• Rating G
• Year 1985
• Running Time 88 minutes
• Director Ken Kwapis

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.