Elmo loves his fuzzy, blue blanket. And I have to admit, as a child I had my own funky, blue blanket. Somewhere along the line of growing up, my mother decided to get rid of it, because you just don't take your cute little blue blanket along to high school. For Elmo, worse things are about to happen.

One day Elmo is taking a stroll through town when he meets his friend Zoe. When Zoe wants to hold Elmo's blanket, he gets quite possessive and events follow that sends Elmo's blanket into Grouchland. Now Elmo has to go after his blanket into Grouchland, where he encounters the unfriendly Grouches, makes peace with the Trash Queen (Vanessa L. Williams) and beats the evil Huxley (Mandy Patinkin).

Luckily Elmo is not alone in his quest; with friends who stand by him and even the villain's sidekick, Bug, who finds it more and more difficult to be Elmo's enemy. It seems like THE ADVENTURES OF ELMO IN GROUCHLAND will have another beautiful happy ending.

The same reason I clung onto that blue blanket of mine must be the same reason why I still enjoy the Muppets. Whenever they are on TV, I'll stop doing whatever I'm doing and plunge onto the sofa to enjoy these wacky creatures. Somewhere though I got confused about who Elmo is and where he fits in the bigger Muppets picture. Only until the end of the movie, I remembered that Elmo is part of the cast in "Sesame Street". And what they basically do in "Sesame Street" is to count the whole time and learn about colours and stuff. You know what I mean when I say stuff: the things toddlers are interested in.

Know therefore who your target audience is for this movie -- it is the little ones and not for adults. In fact, it is a great movie for them, with a happy ending, more than enough optimism, learning about sharing and great sing-a- long songs. So mom, dad, take the young ones out to see how this little red monster named Elmo makes his way in the world and become your children's instant hero!

-- Jean-Pierre Pellissier