Follow That Bird
Follow That Bird
G | 02 August 1985 (USA)
Follow That Bird Trailers

Big Bird is sent to live far from Sesame Street by a pesky social worker, who thinks it would be better for him to live with other birds. Unhappy, Big Bird runs away from his foster home, prompting the rest of the Sesame Street gang to go on a cross-country journey to find him.

Reviews
KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?
Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%
Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.
Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
B.J. Rice This is a really cute kids movie with some really great cameos (was that John Candy?) If your kids like Sesame Street and/or the Muppets they will love this movie. Great stuff. Can't recommend it any more highly, almost as good as the original Muppets!
richspenc "Follow that bird" is a great film, just like the Seseme street show of the 70s and 80s. I always loved them both. Big Bird gets taken to the dodos in Illinois, he does not like it there, so he starts walking all the way back to Seseme Street. Along the way, he meets a singing trucker who gives him a ride while singing "ain't no road too long", and then he meets a couple of farm kids, who let him sleep in their barn, and then send him down the road while singing " easygoing ". They also help Bigbird hide from Mrs. Finch, who's been after him to take him back to the Dodos. He even hides out in a hayfield while Mrs. Finch actually gets out of her car to go look for him. Lol. At one point Bigbird, while in the middle of a wheatfield whines " l'll never get home! There's nothing around but amber waves of grain". Directly after that, he has a nice imagination sequence of seeing Snuffy. Several of our familiar Seseme Street members drive out to look for him. Maria and Oscar, while together, stop at an actual grouch style restaurant which literally gives you tossed salad. Gordon and Susan go with Cookie Monster, who bit by bit, keeps eating parts of their car. And Ernie and Bert, who fly a plane, and at one point sing an upside-down song while flying their plane upside-down. Then Super Gover flies to go look for him then flies right into Gordon and Susan's car. " Grover!", Gordan and Maria both exclaim. "That's Super Grover", Grover retorts. Then there are the two bad guys who run a carnival, steal apples from kids, and kidnap Bigbird, paint him blue, call him the " bluebird of happiness", and have him sing for a group of kids " to be back home again". But he can't get away, they have him locked up. My very favorite part of the film is when a cop (John Candy) pulls the two baddies over. He tells them that they are indeed in trouble for all that they've done, and then one of the bad guys actually starts crying. The cop says to him 'be a man". And the crying bad guy says "I don't wanna be a man". OMG. That's all I can say. OMG. Well, that and that I don't think that I've ever laughed so hard in my entire life. No matter how many times I've seen that.
js325482 There was a time when I think I was in 3rd-4th grade where I would watch the tape I had this and The Muppet Movie on over and over before I went to school.I practically grew up watching the movie. I watched it over and over again, quote the movie, and sing the songs (especially "Ain't no road too long", one of the best songs from the movie with "One Little Star") A few months ago, I was exploring Wikipedia and for the heck of it, I looked up "Follow that Bird" and figured "What the heck" and dug out my old VCR tape with the movie on it, made up some dinner, sat down, and watched it.This movie almost made a 20 year old girl cry. I felt sorry for poor Big Bird being convinced by Miss Finch into living with the Dodo's and leaving all of his friends, including his bestest friend Snuffy. Being older than I was the last time I saw the movie, I caught onto a hidden message and the moral of the story about racism and sometimes someone can be more happier living with people that aren't the same in shape, color, race, or species. (Check it on the Follow that Bird Wikipedia page) Maria said it best when she told Miss Finch at the end that everyone is happy and there are a lot of different characters living on Sesame Street: People, Kids, Cows, Dogs, Birds, "Bert and Ernie", Monsters, Honkers and Grouches.The one scene that really gets to me, besides the whole "Blue Bird of Happiness" scene is at the end when Big Bird returns to his nest and reunites with Snuffy, who he asked to watch over his nest. Such a sweet scene, especially when Big Bird, while hugging his friend, sighs "Home at Last".One of my favorite Childhood movies and one I was lucky enough to get on DVD for X-Mas.
tiana_hayden I have this movie recorded on an old video tape some where but the image is distorted now so I was so happy to see it available again. It reminds me when I was 6 and saw this with my grandma and it amazed me how I remembered the songs and all the cameos in it to this day. My son loves the movie now and it's cute to see him singing the same songs I used to sing when I was his age. It's also fun to see all the different characters all together and it sends a good message to your kids about family and to learn to love differences in everybody. In my opinion this is a good family movie and if you enjoy just sitting down with your kids and watching something where you don't have to worry about cussing, nudity or blood but still be entertained... then this movie's for you!