Just like adorable Muppet, doc is gentle, warm, fuzzy

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This article was published 03/02/2012 (5362 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The term “educational film” may generate queasy middle-school flashbacks of boring old celluloid on subjects such as The Magnificent Niagara Fruit Belt or Your Hormones and You.

But educational value is alive and lively in Being Elmo, a documentary on the life and career of Muppet puppeteer Kevin Clash. I can’t imagine a child who wouldn’t benefit from seeing this movie.

The lessons learned here sound like a motivational speaker’s playbook: Work hard. Follow your dreams. Take chances. Be yourself. Pay no attention to the naysayers. Be loyal.

In his career, Clash has demonstrated all those qualities, and it took him to Elmo, one of the most popular (not to say lucrative) Muppet characters on all of Sesame Street.

Co-directors Constance Marks and Philip Shane uncovered some great footage in detailing Clash’s career, beginning in his youth in Baltimore, where his early fascination with puppets compelled the young Clash to cut up one of his father’s old coats to make a puppet of his own. (Fortunately, his father was an understanding man who admonished his son thus: “Next time, ask.”)

Some of the other kids in the neighbourhood mocked young Kevin’s penchant for “playing with dolls.” But his family had his back. He went from staging backyard puppet shows to performing on Baltimore TV kid shows when he was still in the 10th grade. His subsequent path that led circuitously from Captain Kangaroo to the Muppets’ Jim Henson, the Bodhisattva of felt and googly eyes. (The movie employs videotape footage of Clash’s first visit to the Muppet workshop as broadcast on a ’70s kids show. The directors rescued the video just days before it was scheduled to be destroyed. The documentary gods were watching over this movie.)

Interestingly, though it was Clash’s dream to work in Henson’s workshop, he initially refused his first opportunity because he had committed to a previous gig. At times, the man seems too good to be true, a paragon who exists to counter every cliché you ever heard about ruthless showbiz types.

This may be to the doc’s detriment. Clash does have a failed marriage, and the film does make the point that his career success may have levied painful dues in his personal life.

But the directors can be excused for avoiding some of the gory details of Clash’s private affairs, given that he clearly feels the full responsibility of being Elmo, whether meeting and greeting sick kids through the Make-A-Wish Foundation or receiving the baton of mentorship and offering a tour of the Muppet workshop to a new and promising young puppeteer.

The story is told how the puppet Elmo was originally assigned to another Sesame Street puppeteer, who, in frustration, passed it to Clash with the suggestion: “Here, you try it.”

If nothing else, this film convincingly makes the case that exchange was a great moment in late 20th century culture.

randall.king@freepress.mb.ca

 

Other voices

Selected excerpts from reviews of Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey:

 

It serves as an object lesson in the ultimate power of believing in oneself and persevering against long odds and ridicule from others.

— Mark Savlov, Austin Chronicle

 

The Muppeteer is almost as lovable as the Muppets.

— Chris Hewitt, St. Paul Pioneer Press

 

The most interesting part of this lively, likable documentary is the journey.

— Mark Feeney, Boston Globe

 

A documentary as gentle as its subject: the story of a boy who realized his dream and, on the film’s evidence, received a lot of encouragement and support along the way.

— Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times

 

You’d have to be a true Grouch not to be moved.

— Sara Stewart, New York Post

 

A winning tale of the persistence and creativity behind one of the most famous and fuzziest faces in the world.

— Neil Genzlinger, New York Times

 

Profile of exceptional performer charms with unexpected delights.

— Justin Lowe, Hollywood Reporter

 

Compiled by Shane Minkin

Movie review

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey

Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg

Cinematheque

G

80 minutes

Four stars out of five