Film / Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird

"I love wild goose chases!"

Floyd: You're the biggest chicken I've ever seen.
Big Bird: Oh, I'm not a chicken actually. I'm a bird on the run.
Ruthie: Oh yeah. Floyd, he's the bird on TV who ran away.
Big Bird: Oh, I didn't run away. I'm going back to my real home on Sesame Street where I belong.”

Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird is a 1985 family adventure film directed by Ken Kwapis and released by Warner Bros., bringing the beloved Edutainment series Sesame Street to the big screen for the first time.

Big Bird is sent to live with a bird family, at the insistence of Miss Finch, an agent working for The Feathered Friends, an organization that places "stray birds" into foster families. Big Bird is keen on the idea of having his own bird family at first, but when he sees that he's not really fitting in with the Dodo family (their disapproval of his friendship with Mr. Snuffleupagus being the final straw), Big Bird runs away to return to his real home on Sesame Street. When the news of this spreads, the Sesame Street gang sets out in search of him.

Along the way, however, Big Bird is also being pursued by Miss Finch, who is determined to send Big Bird back to the Dodos, and Sam and Sid Sleaze, a pair of brothers who run a crooked circus. Sam, the more corrupt of the two, decides to capture Big Bird and make him their main attraction.

Follow That Bird is one of several travel/road comedy movies of the 1980s, but proves to be a favorite among Muppet fans and families alike, with its engaging plot, fun songs, and classic character antics from favorites like Ernie and Bert, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster, and even Kermit the Frog, among others. However, the movie was a Box Office Bomb, making a little less than $14 million, and led to another movie not being made until 1999's The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland.

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This film provides examples of:

• Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: When the anchorman (Chevy Chase) is reporting about Big Bird running away, he mispronounces Sesame Street as "Se-SAYME Street" before he's promptly corrected.
• Accentuate the Negative: The message of the grouch anthem Oscar sings at the beginning.
• Air Voyance: Mr. Snuffleupagus waves his trunk up at Big Bird's airplane in an overhead shot—even though later, when Bert points out Big Bird from the vantage of a much lower-flying biplane, he has to use binoculars.
• The Alleged Car: The Volkswagen transporting Gordon, Olivia and Cookie Monster is this by the end of the movie, due to Cookie Monster's extreme appetite. You could also say the same about the Sloppy Jalopy.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When the Sleaze brothers are pulled over by a state trooper.
  Sam: What seems to be the problem, Officer? What's the charge?
  Trooper: (Whips out list) What about counterfeiting? Extortion? Fraud? Impersonating a dentist? Stealing an apple from a kid?
  Sam: Oh, about that apple, Officer, I can explain that... we was just holdin' for a friend.
  Sid: Yeah, for a friend!
  Trooper: You can tell that... to the judge.
• Big Budget Beef-Up: Rather than film the movie in the actual studio where the series was taped in New York, a newer, more realistic version of Sesame Street was built on location in Toronto (so a lot of the crew from Fraggle Rock worked on the film - they also taped in the Toronto area); this new version of Sesame Street had a considerable amount of scope, in that it not only included the locales of the Fix-It Shop, Hooper's Store, and 123 Sesame Street, but we also saw what was across the street, as well as what was at the ends of the street, including a TV repair shop, a family clinic, and an auto garage.
• Artistic License – Cars: The turkey truck driver's rig sure has an odd-looking cab, with a really high ceiling and a huge windshield. It doesn't seem like it would be very practical to drive in, but it comes in handy if you're ever in a situation where a seven-foot-tall bird would need to ride shotgun with you.
• As You Know: Lampshaded during the Feathered Friends meeting.
  Madam Chairbird: And I need NOT to remind you of our purpose...
  Member: Oh, remind me!
• Big Bad: Miss Finch. Although, given the nature of the work, she is more a big Well-Intentioned Extremist than a traditional big bad, seeking to only give Big Bird a "proper" home and family with birds of his kind, not realizing until the end that he already has a home and family in Sesame Street.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Miss Finch and the Sleaze Brothers.
• Big Damn Movie: Things had never gotten this dark on TV. In the Season 40 premiere, someone else tries to talk Big Bird into moving, with the same result.
• Bluebird of Happiness: Once the Sleaze brothers capture Big Bird for their carnival, they paint him blue (to stop people from recognizing him as his disappearance is big news) and call him the "Bluebird of Happiness"... although Big Bird is far from happy.
• The Bore: The Dodos are an obviously silly mix of being both ditzes and incredibly dull, having no interest in culture, imagination or broadening their minds, and content to stay in their suburban class, bird-brained bubble. The scene of Big Bird trying to convince Donny and Marie to play pretend with him says it all: they tell him he's yellow when he says he can pretend to be Snow White, and then they "pretend" to be who they are.
• Celebrity Star: Considering this is mostly a Muppet movie, it's to be expected. The likes of Sandra Bernhard, Chevy Chase, Waylon Jennings, and John Candy all have parts in the movie. Actress Sally Kellerman even dubbed the voice of the movie's Muppet antagonist, Miss Finch.
• Central Theme: Family of Choice, specifically the freedom to keep company with those who make you happy.
• Chekhov's Gag: Cookie Monster eating the Volkswagen, including the hood. In the end this allowed Gordon to get out onto the eaten hood and instruct Big Bird to jump from the truck, even having plenty of room for Big Bird to land.
• Chronically Crashed Car: Although it's less "crashed" and more "eaten", a Running Gag throughout the movie is Cookie Monster eating parts of Gordon's Volkswagen Beetle. By the last scene, the car is reduced to just a frame.
• Cloudcuckoolander: The Dodos. They don't recognize Big Bird as a bird when he arrives, asking if he's seen a "big yellow bird" on the plane (when he's the only one) and then think he'd be on the next plane. They're frequently crashing and bumping into each other, and spend the day looking for worms on their manicured lawn even though they never find any. Daddy Dodo doesn't know how to work a riding lawnmower and lets it run away freely across the lawn. The children, Donny and Marie, don't understand the concept of imaginary play—they instead "pretend" to be who they already are. And when Big Bird laments that he wants to go home after being told Snuffy can't visit because he's not a bird, Mommy says without realizing how offensive she's being that Big Bird is home—then laughs at him dismissively and leaves for outside. Then, after Big Bird has ran away and Kermit the Frog is interviewing them, they realize they're on TV—and decide they should all go inside and watch themselves. As Kermit describes them: "They certainly are [dodos]."
• Cold Opening: The Grouch Anthem; the WB logo doesn't even run until the segment is over.
• Color Me Black: To avoid getting caught for having Big Bird in their captivity the Sleaze brothers paint him blue, and pass him off as their "Blue Bird of Happiness".
• Cool Car: Oscar's Sloppy Jalopy and Count's Countmobile.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: After Big Bird is locked in a cage, he asks two kids to call Sesame Street and tell somebody where he is. Too bad he didn't think of this sooner. It's somewhat justified in that he a) is a child, and b) initially thought it would only be a three hour walk back. But as soon as he learned it would more likely be three weeks, he should have called somebody. Even if it's an issue of needing to stay put somewhere while waiting (over a day at least), he could have done this during the time he spent with the kids.
• Covers Always Lie:
  • Despite the film being made several years before he became a major character, and him only appears in a crowd scene towards the very end (and with a completely different voice and personality no less), Elmo is featured prominently on the DVD cover, in place of Telly. Later prints have since fixed this and now have Big Bird only on the front cover, though Elmo still appears on the back cover in both variants.
  • On the official movie poster, Snuffy can be seen riding in the Sloppy Jalopy with Oscar, when in the actual flick, Snuffy does not come with the others and stays behind on Sesame Street; this movie was made before Season 17, where Big Bird was the only one who could interact with him and the adults thought he was his imaginary friend.
• Credits Gag: The Count literally counts the closing credits.
• Darker and Edgier: Than the TV series itself, but not by much, really; it's still pretty much family friendly.
• Determinator:
  • Miss Finch, who's "going to find Big Bird wherever he is, and bring him back to the Dodos!"^note Fortunately Big Bird saw the news and knows he'll have to watch out for her.
  • Big Bird himself could also count as this. After all, he was determined to get home to Sesame Street, see Mr. Snuffleupagus and evade Miss Finch at the same time so that she couldn't return him to the Dodos or relocate him to a new home, no matter how long it would take him. Gordon and most of the denizens of Sesame Street that were relentlessly pursuing Big Bird to bring him back home would also qualify.
• Desperate Plea for Home: After being placed with the Dodo Family by social services, Big Bird pleads to go home (to Sesame Street), to which the Dodos, confused, say that he is home.
• Didn't Think This Through: Big Bird honestly thought that, since it took him 2 hours to fly from Sesame Street to Oceanview, Illinois, where the Dodo family resides, it would take him 3 hours to get back home to Sesame Street on foot. Later, a turkey truck driver tells Big Bird it would take a much longer time than that on foot, around 3 weeks. However, Big Bird isn't exactly the best at measuring distance from one place to another, given that he is technically a child and has never really been outside the realm of Sesame Street.
• The Dinnermobile: In an extremely bizarre inversion of the trope, the film has Cookie Monster riding along in a car that in no way resembles a cookie or any other food item...and yet he spends the entire film snacking on the car, much to the rest of his party's bewilderment. By the end of their journey, Cookie has eaten so much of the car that Gordon has to push it back to Sesame Street.
• Distant Duet:
  • "Ain't No Road Too Long" is a Distant Quartet; first by Big Bird and the truck driver, second by Gordon and Olivia, third by Grover, and fourth by the Count.
  • "One Little Star" is a Distant Trio.
• Distinction Without a Difference: Big Bird tells Snuffy that he's not leaving, just "going away".
• The Dog Bites Back: The same boy who had his apple stolen later helps a state trooper catch the Sleaze brothers. Sam's apple theft is one of the charges they face.
• Don't Wake the Sleeper: Near the end of the film, Big Bird's friends find him locked in a cage at the Sleaze Brothers' Funfair, and they have to get the keys and unlock the cage without waking up Sam and Sid (and to a lesser extent, Cookie Monster is trying to steal a box of cookies from Sid). Due to a combination of Big Bird not keeping quiet about what key Maria should use, the Count counting the keys, Super Grover attempting to bend the bars of the cage, and Cookie Monster stealing and eating Sid's cookies, the Sleaze Brothers wake up and start up their truck just as Maria unlocks the cage.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Sid actually thinks of a good idea in changing Big Bird's appearance since everyone's looking for a big yellow bird. Sam tells him to be quiet, then has the "idea" to disguise Big Bird.
  Sid: I just thought of something: everyone's looking for a big yellow bird! He's hot!
  Sam: Keep your pants on! [Big Bird continues to plead with them to let him out] I got an idea.
• Dysfunctional Family: The Dodos pretty much crank it up to 11.
• Early-Bird Cameo:
  • Hoots the Owl, as a member of the Board of Birds (he's the only one who is skeptical of Big Bird's supposed sadness). He also has a British accent, as opposed to the Louis Armstrong-influenced one.
  • Elmo is seen at a window in a scene with some nondescript Muppets and gets no audible lines. This was before Elmo became the more prominent character on the TV show.
• Enemy Eats Your Lunch: At the Sleaze Brothers' Funfair, Sam steals an apple from the lunchbox of a little boy who rides the ferris wheel, who is not happy with him when he finds out. Near the end of the film, when the Sleaze Brothers get arrested by the State Trooper, one of their criminal charges is stealing an apple from a kid.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Even Big Bird has his limits when it comes to a Dysfunctional Family. He could put up with their lack of love and imagination, but it is their ill-treatment of Snuffy that causes him to snap.
  • The waitress at the Grouch restaurant, while human, seems as grouchy as the species (though it's not known if she's that way off-duty), but asks Maria "what are you, a wacko?" when Maria checks to make sure the tossed salad doesn't have any weird ingredients like candied yam.
• Evil-Detecting Dog: The normally-friendly Barkley audibly growls at Miss Finch.
• Evil Laugh: Mommy Dodo cracks one when she tells Big Bird that "you are home" after the Dodos deny Snuffy a visit due to their Fantastic Racism.
• Exact Eavesdropping: When Big Bird get interested in Miss Finch's "feathered" family idea, Maria, Olivia, and Telly all happen to be overhearing him when he says "When can I leave? I can't wait!", they are slightly shocked at what they heard and gather some their friends in Sesame Street to say goodbye to him.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Big Bird sees a road sign that reads, "No Thru Road"... figuring that's the road he needs to take to head back to Sesame Street.
  Big Bird: Boy, No Thru Road sure is awful long...
• Extreme Omnivore: A famous Running Gag turned Chekhov's Gag is Cookie Monster eating the Volkswagen until it's nothing more than a frame. Susan even admits the insurance man won't believe her if she told him that "a monster ate my car".
• Face on the Cover: Elmo was included on the DVD cover art when the movie was released on DVD, despite only appearing in a very brief cameo toward the end of the movie—and when Richard Hunt was performing Elmo instead of Kevin Clash.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • The Dodos speak ill (although they don't really mean to) of anyone who isn't a bird, and say that Big Bird should find his own kind—birds like himself—rather than be friends or family with others. The final reason why Big Bird runs away from them is because of their refusal to allow Mr. Snuffleupagus to visit; he's not a bird and Big Bird should only associate with birds—his own kind.
  • The Board of Birds are too, in the belief that Big Bird must be unhappy having no other birds around on Sesame Street—minus Hoots the Owl. which is probably why he gets to be a bigger character later on the TV show.
• Flag Drop: The movie opens with Oscar the Grouch singing the "Grouch Anthem" in front of an American flag background.
• Fly in the Soup: Inverted when Oscar and Maria stop for dinner at the Don't Drop Inn; among all the chattering that goes on in the diner, one grouch patron can be heard yelling, "Hey, waitress! There's no fly in my soup!" "It's comin'!" the waitress yells back.
• Food Fight: The scene at the "Don't Drop Inn" descends into this.
• For Your Own Good: Miss Finch strongly believes that Big Bird needs to grow up with other birds for this reason, despite the fact that Big Bird was already happy at his original home with people that love and adore him much like a real family would. However, Finch later changes her mind and officially declares Sesame Street Big Bird's home when the denizens of Sesame Street convince her that Big Bird and the others were happy.
• Freak Out:
  • Right after Big Bird's "Easy Goin' Day" number with Ruthie and Floyd, he spots Miss Finch's car coming up the road and promptly panics.
  • Big Bird has an even bigger one when he realizes the Sleaze brothers tricked him and he's trapped as their circus attraction.
• Glad I Thought of It: After being convinced by Maria and the others that Big Bird is happiest on Sesame Street, Miss Finch congratulates herself for finding him the perfect home.
• Good-Times Montage: Big Bird helping Ruthie and Floyd in their farm duties while showing them how to have fun, all while set to his song, "Easy Goin' Day".
• Greasy Spoon: The Don't Drop Inn is this trope taken to the next level, which is exactly how grouches like it. It says "Bad Eats" right on the sign! A customer complains about a lack of a fly in their soup, and when another asks for a glass, the waitress hollers back, "Broken or dirty?"
• Heel–Face Turn: Miss Finch has one at the end when she realizes that everyone on Sesame Street genuinely cares for Big Bird, and agrees to let him stay there.
• Homesickness Hymn: Near the end of the film, Big Bird meets up with Sam and Sid Sleaze, a pair of wicked carnival owners who paint him blue and make him the star attraction of their carnival, "The Bluebird of Happiness". The song Big Bird sings, "I'm So Blue", is anything but happy, as he just wants to be back home on Sesame Street. It even moves Sid to tears.
• Howl of Sorrow: With Big Bird gone, Barkley howls in grief, showing how much he misses Big Bird as much as everyone on the whole street.
• Imagine Spot: Big Bird imagines what it'll be like living with a bird family in an animated sequence, showing him living with a father bird, a mother bird, a brother bird, and a sister bird that all resemble him.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Arguably, Sid Sleaze. While he is just as eager to profit off of Big Bird, he does seem to have more of a conscience and empathy when compared to Sam- even bursting into tears at Big Bird's performance of "I'm So Blue"'.
• Justice by Other Legal Means: The fate of the Sleaze Brothers when they are arrested by the state trooper. He reads off a list of charges they are wanted for, none of which actually include kidnapping Big Bird.
• Key Confusion: Near the end of the film, Big Bird's friends find him being held prisoner in a cage at the Sleaze Brothers' Funfair. Maria manages to snatch the Sleaze Brothers' key ring from a sleeping Sam and goes through every key on it, trying to find one that will fit the lock on Big Bird's cage without waking up Sam and Sid. Because Big Bird can't keep quiet about what key she should use and the Count counts each key that Maria uses, this results in the Sleaze Brothers waking up and starting up their truck just as Maria finds the right key and unlocks the cage.
• Kick the Dog: Sam charges an extra 5¢ to a boy to get off a Ferris Wheel, and just as he gets down, he steals the poor boy's apple.
• Let's Duet:
  • The turkey truck driver starts out singing "Ain't No Road Too Long" as a Pep-Talk Song to encourage Big Bird to not give up on his journey. The final verse has Big Bird singing along with him, having realized the message.
  • Ruthie sings along with Big Bird several times during "Easy Goin' Day" as they do chores on the farm.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: When Gordon tries to get Big Bird to jump from the Sleaze Brothers' truck.
• Logo Joke: The start of the film has an animated Big Bird pumping up a "W"-shaped inflatable, which becomes the "W" in the WB shield.
  Big Bird: Sesame Street is brought to you today by the letters "W", and "B".
• Lost Food Grievance: The boy on the Ferris Wheel didn't take the theft of his apple by Sam Sleaze very well...
• Lying Finger Cross: Floyd and Ruthie do this when they're asked by Miss Finch where Big Bird went.
• Meaningful Name:
  • The shady and corruptive brothers Sam and Sid Sleaze.
  • Big Bird is forced to be their "Bluebird of Happiness"—instead, he clearly displays blue emotions when in their captivity, even for paying audiences.
  • The Dodo family is clearly a family of, well, dodos.
• Medium-Shift Gag: While not so much a "gag", the brief animation illustrating Big Bird's fantasies of living with his own kind, as well as the opening logo animation, are basically this.
• Men Don't Cry: When Sid Sleaze starts bawling in front of the cop, the cop tells him "Be a man." To which Sid responds: "I don't wanna be a man!"
• Missed Him by That Much:
  • Pretty much each of the Sleaze brothers' attempts at nabbing Big Bird, such as them about to catch him in a giant butterfly net, only for Big Bird to coincidentally bend over, missing the net by inches^note Big Bird: "My aching feet.", or when they spot a walking haystack in the field they're driving by, but it's actually Big Bird in disguise to flee from Miss Finch.
  • Occasionally, some of the Sesame Street gang sees Big Bird, but circumstances leave him just out of reach. For example, Bert and Ernie see him, but he thinks it's Miss Finch, and they lose him when they start getting fancy with their flying. Later, the Count, Gordon and Olivia, and Maria all see him at the parade, but the parade itself keeps them from reuniting.
• Mobile Shrubbery: Big Bird hides and walks around in a haystack so Miss Finch won't see him.
• Mood Whiplash: Big Bird's "Easy Goin' Day" number is suddenly followed by Miss Finch following him up the No Thru Road, causing him to Freak Out.
• Money, Dear Boy: In-universe, the Sleaze brothers' motivation of capturing Big Bird for their circus is purely for money.
  Sam: That 8-foot bird is still on the lam. You know Sid, people would pay good money to see this bird.
  Sid: Nah, I wouldn't pay to see no bird.
  Sam: No, people would pay us to see that bird. Us. Us! US!!
• Never My Fault: When Ernie and Bert's plane catches up to Big Bird, Ernie ends up passing by him and spends a lot of time singing about being upside down. Despite trying to get him to turn around at first, Bert gets caught up into it and starts singing along, which ends up allowing Big Bird time to get away. Ernie tells Bert if he hadn't started singing they wouldn't have lost Big Bird, causing Bert to remind Ernie that he was the one who started singing and goofing up by flying upside down in the first place.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Entertaining as they are, the other Muppets of Sesame Street are more hindrance than help in getting Big Bird out of the cage without waking the Sleaze brothers. Cookie Monster not-so-stealthily steals a box of cookies from under Sid's chin, the Count compulsively counts out how many keys are remaining, and Grover tries to break the bars as Super Grover, which is what wakes the brothers. Not to mention Big Bird keeps talking, despite his friends telling him to be quiet while they go through the keys.
• No Fourth Wall: Surprisingly, despite the show itself, this movie actually subverts it; with the exception of Oscar's introduction and Count reading the end credits, there are only three scenes where the fourth wall is broken: when Miss Finch, upon meeting Big Bird, declares, "This is worse than I thought."; when Big Bird looks at the camera when he meets the Dodos, and says to the audience "Big Dodo!?", and when he thinks the chickens will invite him to dinner upon finding a farm to rest in.
• No Peripheral Vision: As the Sleaze Brothers drive Big Bird's cage into a tent, Miss Finch can be seen driving down the road—while Big Bird is in clear sight—yet she doesn't seem to see him from that far (though earlier, when she first found Big Bird, she initially didn't notice Big Bird among the kids walking down the road as well).
• Oh, Crap!:
  • When Big Bird realizes he's been trapped:
  Sam Sleaze: What's the matter, don't you like your cage?
  Big Bird: My cage? My— My— MY CAGE?!
  • Big Bird seeing Miss Finch when she's hunting for him:
  Big Bird: Look, There's a...why...It's Miss Finch!
  • And when he spots Miss Finch at first:
  Big Bird: Oh, hi, Miss Finch! *gasps* Miss Finch!
  • When Big Bird watches the news about his running away, he hears Miss Finch's determination of finding him and is upset.
• One Phone Call: After Big Bird realizes the Sleaze brothers will not let him out of his cage and protests, he can be heard asking "Don't I even get a phone call?"
• Opening Shout-Out: In the opening of the film—upon hearing that Big Bird has no legal guardians—Miss Finch goes off to find him, asking one of the fellow executives at the foster care board "Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?". This is then followed by a shot of the street set built for the film, accompanied by an orchestral version of the iconic theme song.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: The Sleaze brothers end up painting Big Bird blue because "everybody's looking for a yellow bird, he's hot!" Of course, Big Bird's friends don't have any trouble recognizing him even while he's dyed blue.
• Parental Bonus: Bert and Ernie's plane narrowly missing Big Bird is a parody of North By Northwest.
• Pep-Talk Song: Big Bird and the truck driver sing "Ain't No Road Too Long" to encourage the former to not give up on himself and keep moving forward.
• Pet the Dog: Sid Sleaze crying for Big Bird during the latter's Bluebird performance.
• Police Are Useless: While no police officer is shown specifically to be useless, it's a wonder that Big Bird's friends didn't call the cops when they found out Big Bird was locked in a cage.
• Prone to Tears: Sid. The slightest upset is enough to have him bawling like a baby.
  Trooper: Be a man!
  Sid: (Crying) But I don't wanna be a man!
• Road Trip Plot: The plot of the movie—pretty much a trend in the 1980s. It's a road trip back home for Big Bird, but out and about for everyone trying to get him back to home (regardless of how it's being defined).
• Running Gag:
  • During the scene at the Don't Drop Inn, a grouch patron can heard constantly inquiring about the Jell-O he ordered. This goes on up till the end of the scene.
  "WHEEERRREEE'S MYYYY JELLL-OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!?"
  • Cookie Monster eating parts of the Volkswagen.
• Serious Business: The Board of Birds take pride in finding lonely birds bird families to be with, as birds should "flock together". Miss Finch is firs determined to have Big Bird live with a good bird family, then determined to find Big Bird and bring him back to the Dodos (or to another bird family). She doesn't understand why Big Bird would run away from the Dodos in the first place, and refuses to believe that he wasn't happy there.
• Schmuck Bait: When Big Bird encounters the Sleaze brothers while running from Miss Finch, they trick him into sitting in a cage which they claim is a "hiding cage" while Miss Finch passes. It's not until Miss Finch leaves does Big Bird realize it's a trap.
• Shoo Out the Clowns: With the obvious exception of Big Bird, none of the Muppets are involved in the car chase at the end, apparently staying behind at the fun fair (justified a little, as Oscar was asleep at his car and Telly had trouble waking him up).
• Shout-Out:
  • While Big Bird's friends are watching the news in Hooper's Store, the anchorman (played by Chevy Chase) gives the weather report:
    Anchorman: It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood... a beautiful day for a neighbor... would you be mine? "More on that later."
  • During the Count's credit reading he comes across the executive producer, Joan Ganz Cooney, to which he turns to the camera, waves, and says, "Hi, Mom."
  • The two young Dodos are named Donny and Marie after the most famous members of the Osmond family.
  • "Oh, look! Is that a bird?" "No, it's a plane."
  • As mentioned under Parental Bonus, the "Upside Down World" scene is a homage to North By Northwest. There's even a well-done mashup of both films.
  • Just as the Sloppy Jalopy reaches the "Don't Drop Inn", Maria wants them to go somewhere else for dinner:
    Oscar: No way, we had lunch at Friendly's, now it's my turn.^note Friendly's is a mainly New England-based chain of restaurants.
  • The plane Big Bird takes to Oceanview is announced as CTW^note for Children's Television Workshop 1138.
  • A really oblique example: Ken Kwapis says that as a young filmmaker he wanted to flex his artistic muscles, so he originally approached the movie as sort of a Paris, Texas for kids, right down to imitating some of the shots, though after a while that idea faded.
  • The "Grouch Anthem" at the start of the film is a parody of Patton.
• Single Tear: Big Bird sheds this following his "I'm So Blue" number, which gives some of the spectators the proof he's a real bird and not an artificial circus prop.
• Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Neither Miss Finch or the Dodos appear in the original theatrical trailer. Any mention of Big Bird running from Oceanview, Illinois to return to Sesame Street is removed as to not spoil the whole plot.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: It's easy to miss, but Big Bird is able to translate the turkeys' gobbling to "talk to the driver".
• Staggered Zoom: When Big Bird turns to notice Miss Finch's truck immediately following the "Easy Goin' Day" montage, the screen jumps closer towards his face between pauses.
• Stalker Shot: When Big Bird is convinced by Miss Finch to move in with a bird family, it's shown that Maria, Olivia, and Telly happen to be leaning towards Big Bird's wall and overhearing the conversation. They are shocked when they hear Big Bird say "When can I leave? I can't wait!"
• Storefront Television Display: After Big Bird runs away from the Dodos' home to return to Sesame Street, he catches a news report about his escape in a storefront, particularly the part where Miss Finch vows to hunt him down.
• Stepford Smilers: The Dodos. They smile continuously and expect Big Bird to fit in with them, regardless of how unhappy he is, because they're all birds.
• The Stinger: The Count comes in and announces that he counted 278 closing credits.
• Tempting Fate:
  • While still riding with the turkey truck driver, just after the "Ain't No Road Too Long" number
  Big Bird: You're right. If I keep on going, everything will turn out fine.
  [The turkey truck passes Sam Sleaze reading a newspaper article on Big Bird] "Big Bird flies coop".
  • When Susan learns that the Volkswagen is damaged, she proudly proclaims she can fix it. Cut to what's left of the car being towed into Sesame Street, with Gordon pointing Cookie Monster out as the culprit.
• Theme Naming: The Dodo children are named Donny and Marie after the two most famous Osmonds.
• Theme Tuneless Episode: The film doesn't open with the normal Sesame Street theme, but rather with an original song, "The Grouch Anthem".
• This Is Gonna Suck: Big Bird's first reaction to the Dodos renaming him is to look at the camera and say "Big Dodo!?", clearly not looking forward to being part of their Dysfunctional Family.
• This Just In!: A newscaster says this as he announce Big Bird running away back to Sesame Street.
• Time-Passes Montage: A shot of Big Bird's feet marching across the street as he sings cheerfully, which gradually gets slower and slower as he gets more tired, complete with his singing wearing out.
• Title Drop:
  Gordon: Alright, let's follow that bird.
• Travel Montage: Big Bird's flight to Ocean View is shown as an Indiana Jones-style red line on a map, making a couple loop-the-loops as well as passing several fictional cities.
• Unknown Rival: Neither Big Bird, Miss Finch, or Big Bird's friends from Sesame Street are aware of the Sleaze Brothers' plan to capture Big Bird until after they trick Big Bird into his cage.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
  • While on the road, Sid notices a haystack (actually Big Bird hiding from Miss Finch) running and casually points it out to Sam, who just remarks, "We're not looking for any haystacks, you chowderhead!" Justified in that Sam was driving and not looking in the direction of the haystack, and Sid doesn't actually say that the haystack was moving.
  • During the final chase, when Sam asks Sid to see if anybody is following them.
  Sid: Just a yellow Volkswagen with a hole in the roof and no hood.
  Sam: Fine, keep a look out for anything suspicious.
• Vanity License Plate: There are several.
  • The Count's Countmobile has a huge one reading "12345678910".
  • Oscar's Sloppy Jalopy says "SCRAM".
  • The Dodo family car reads "DODO".
  • The turkey farmer's truck has one that says "GOBBLE".
  • The Sleaze Brothers' truck has one that says "SLEAZE".
• Voiceover Letter: Maria reads Big Bird's letter to everyone in Sesame Street, about his new life with the Dodos. At first it seems he's enjoying being with his new bird family, all while we see in the cutaways that he's anything but. Though they guess how much Big Bird misses them when he ends the letter with "I should be happy here. What's wrong with me?"
  Maria: "Love, Big Dodo"?
  [Everyone mutters in confusion]
  Maria: "Big Bird to you."
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Miss Finch. She finds Big Bird living alone without any other birds around him on Sesamse Street and thinks it's in his best interest to live with birds. She persuades him to go away from a loving community and puts him with a family he has a very difficult time getting along with—then insists on finding him after he runs away.
• Wolverine Publicity: Elmo was featured prominently on the DVD cover, despite only being in a crowd scene at the end of the film (or even voiced by Kevin Clash). This may be because the next movie—The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland—had since come out and Elmo was now the more popular character.

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