Fan Casting

This film begins with Oscar the Grouch singing an opening tune around the flag of the United States of America. After his anthem, he reminds the audience to sit back and relax. Big Bird announces the sponsors as the WB logo appears. The Feathered Friends' Board of Birds (consisting of the Madame Chairbird, a sparrow, a turkey, a puffin, a robin, and an owl), an organization whose purpose is "to place stray birds with nice bird families," discusses the case of Big Bird. The group's social worker Miss Finch (performed by Cheryl Wagner and voiced by Sally Kellerman) is sent to Sesame Street, New York City, to find Big Bird and bring him to a worthy family of dodos in Oceanview, Illinois. However, Big Bird begins to feel distressed in living with the dodos when they insist on calling him "Big Dodo", and the dodos all think very poorly of non-birds, suggesting Big Bird should have a bird as a best friend instead of Mr. Snuffleupagus (who is currently watching over Big Bird's nest), which proves to be the last straw for Big Bird. When Big Bird eventually runs away from his new home to head back to Sesame Street, he ends up on the news, Miss Finch tells reporter Kermit the Frog that she intends to reclaim him. His friends on Sesame Street also see the news and band together to find him before Miss Finch does. Gordon, Olivia, Linda, and Cookie Monster set out in a Volkswagen Beetle. Count von Count departs in the Countmobile. Ernie and Bert go out to search in an airplane. Grover flies as Super Grover (later falling into the Volkswagen). Maria rides with Oscar the Grouch, Telly Monster, and a Honker in Oscar's Sloppy Jalopy. Bob instructs all of them to head to Toadstool, Indiana where they should meet up with Big Bird. Big Bird has numerous adventures in his attempt to get home. First, he hitches a ride with a turkey truck driver (Waylon Jennings) who encourages him not to give up trying to get to his goal. He then meets two kids named Ruthie and Floyd (Alyson Court and Benjamin Barrett) at a farm and stays with them for a while. The next morning, with tomorrow's sun, Big Bird soon begins waking. Later on, Big Bird comes to a stop with a fright because of Miss Finch's arrival, and Ruthie and Floyd tell him to hide in their hay field. After leaving the farm, Big Bird comes across a cornfield and imagines Snuffy. Big Bird could imagine if he's hugging with him, which Snuffy was saying. Suddenly, he is spotted by Ernie and Bert in their plane. Big Bird, however, is unaware that they are in it and thinks it's Miss Finch. When Ernie steers it towards Big Bird, he flees in fright. Ernie turns it upside down to get his attention and begins singing "Upside Down World" with Bert beginning to join in singing, but when they turn it back up Big Bird is gone and Ernie blames it on Bert. Big Bird is also sought by two unscrupulous scam artist brothers known as the Sleaze Brothers, consisting of feeble-minded Sid (Joe Flaherty) and crafty Sam (Dave Thomas), who operate a fraudulent carnival called The Sleaze Brothers Funfair. They want to capture him to put him on display. Eventually Big Bird arrives in Toadstool. Shortly after arriving, Miss Finch finds him there and gives chase through the city. On the outskirts, the Sleaze Brothers have set up their carnival and Big Bird shows up asking if they have a place to hide him from Miss Finch. They then put him in their "hiding cage." Shortly afterwards, they decide to paint him blue and tout him as "The Bluebird of Happiness." However, his performance is one of sadness as he sings a song about wishing to be back home with his friends. Despite this, he brings in a lot of customers as Sam is seen backstage during the performance happily counting their piles of cash. After the show, two kids sneak backstage to see him. Upon noticing them, Big Bird asks them to call Sesame Street to tell his friends where he is. They do so and the next day, his friends sneak into the circus tent to try to free him. However, the Sleaze Brothers quietly wake up. Just as Linda unlocks Big Bird's cage, the Sleaze Brothers drive off in their truck with the cage (and Big Bird still in it) in tow. Gordon and Olivia give chase in the Volkswagen and succeed in rescuing Big Bird, after telling him to jump from the moving truck. Shortly afterwards due to speeding, the Sleaze Brothers are pulled over by a police officer (John Candy) and his kid sidekick (whose apple was stolen at the Sleaze Brothers' carnival earlier in the film) and arrested on charges of counterfeiting, extortion, fraud, impersonating a dentist, and apple theft. Back on Sesame Street, Big Bird is happy to be back home and looks on as Miss Finch arrives. Miss Finch admits to Big Bird that the Dodos were not perfect for him but says she has found him another bird family. Maria convinces her that he can be, and is, happy there on Sesame Street where that it does not make any difference that his family consists of humans, monsters, cows, Grouches, Honkers, and the other varieties of eclectic species there. What matters is that they are family. After considering what she has heard and realizing how far his friends went to try to bring him back, Miss Finch declares that Sesame Street is his home and leaves satisfied. Big Bird is then reunited with Snuffy. Gordon, Olivia, Linda, and Grover bring the Volkswagen (which was mostly eaten by Cookie Monster) to Susan, Maria, Bob, and Luis to see if they can fix it. At the end of the film, Oscar is carried around the block in his trash can by Bruno the Trashman in order to get over everyone's happiness. At the beginning of the end credits, the Count begins to count the movie credits (in a nod to the television series, he calls the co-creator of Sesame Street Joan Ganz Cooney "mom" when her name is credited as one of the executive producers). As the credits roll, Big Bird, along with the truck driver, Ruthie, Floyd, and Olivia, starts singing songs for the finale, like "Ain't No Road Too Long," "One Little Star," "I'm So Blue," and "Easy Goin' Day." By the end of the credits in a brief "bonus scene," the Count announces 278 credits and does his trademark laugh accompanied by a thunderclap.