Reviews of Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey 2011
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The Muppets ride into town this week on the crest of a nostalgic wave, as kids everywhere try to get their heads around the idea of watching puppets instead of CGI and seeing their parents return to their childhoods.
Part of the larger Henson family is Elmo from Sesame Street, perhaps the most loveable of the lot known for his cute high pitch voice and cuddle addiction. Everyone has their favourite Muppet but have you ever heard anyone say they…
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If you don't love Elmo, you can't love anybody!
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Being Elmo is a yet another charming release from Dogwoof. It’s a portrait of Kevin Clash the man with his hand up Emlo’s arse for 30 years. It’s a simple man with dream/rags to riches tale. The young Clash watches Sesame Street, makes his own puppets, puts on his own show, gets a job before the end of school, and ends up working with Jim Henson. His rise in the world of puppetry is swift and largely unimpeded thanks to…
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There are 2 types of people in this world: those who love the Muppets and those who HAVE NO SOUL
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NOTE: Saw this before the scandal about him came out, so my rating/review doesn't take those facts into account.
Watching this movie made me feel like a kid again. It's magical.
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A pretty standard (but real-life) rags to riches tale albeit a bit of a hagiography.
The personal controversy that engulfed Kevin Clash happened after this film was made and its shadow looms over it. You're left wishing the documentary covered some of that material, and I'd be interested to see the story of Jim Henson, who's torch it had seemed had passed to Clash.
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It's nice to see a film that presents one creative man's pursuit of his dream. Through a commitment to his puppets, Clash has made the world a better place, bringing love and kindness to the lives of children all over the world. The moment that slayed me: when the "make a wish" girl visited, Clash playing Elmo, and the camera shifting the reveal his eyes welling with tears. Just a warm, enjoyable film.
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So it turns out Kevin Clash was outed as a pervert and quit the show
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It's more of a long-form promotional reel of this individual's work than a documentary on his artistic path. The film approaches tough questions and then leapfrogs over them (why does this guy prefer to entertain children he doesn't know over spending time with his own daughter?). Whoopi's narration (which sounds like she is reading a Little Golden Book to a class of first-graders) does not help.
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I’ve got an 8½-month-old daughter. I’m going to be watching plenty of Sesame Street soon enough. I grew up on the show and with the characters, sure, but I’ve had no reason keep up with it since I left kindergarten. In fact the only things that have kept Sesame Street on my radar over the last 22 years have been Cookie Monster’s unforgivable diet and the phenomenon that is Elmo.
Being a sucker for any and all things pop culture,…
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I've never really been a fan of Elmo. I'm not really a fan afterwards. For a movie that does very little besides saying how great a character is it kind of fails.