“Sunny day, sweepin’ the clouds away, on my way to where the air is sweet ….”

Unless you’ve lived in a cave since 1969, you spontaneously sang the ending to that catchy theme song from Sesame Street, the popular kids’ TV program. Fans of all ages will fill theatres on January 14 to watch and sing along with the newest Sesame Street musical comedy. The movie takes its plot from the last line of the Sesame Street theme song that asks, “Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?”

Directed by Jonathan Krisel, the family film stars Anne Hathaway (Interstellar, Ocean’s 8), Chance the Rapper (Lion King), and all our favourite Muppet characters. Expect the same fun you experienced while viewing the first two Sesame Street movies, Follow That Bird (1985) and The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999). But also prepare for some surprises when Elmo, Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster are confronted with their worst problem ever.

After an evil mayor banishes the Muppets from their neighbourhood for no apparent reason, they end up in Manhattan. The spunky Sally Hawthorne (Hathaway), whose own TV show is failing, befriends the furry folks. When the mayor uses one evil scheme after another to try and prevent the world from discovering Sesame Street, the new friends work together to save Sally’s program and prove that Sesame Street actually exists. Will the Muppet gang and their unlikely ally convince the world that there is a real place where the air is sweet, friendly neighbours meet and everything is A-OK? Or will they be stuck forever in crowded, noisy Manhattan?

All in the Family

Hathaway’s two sons, five-year-old Jonathan and two-year-old Jack, are great Sesame Street fans. The Academy-Award-winning actress confessed that the main reason she wanted to join the cast of the movie was so that Jonathan could meet Cookie Monster, his favourite character.

“Sesame Street is very big in our house right now,” she told an interviewer from filmyhotspot.com. “But I love the show and really wouldn’t trust anyone that wasn’t a Sesame Street fan. It would be like, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ ”

Chance the Rapper—who plays the part of the corrupt mayor’s sidekick—shared his own memories of watching Sesame Street as a child to slashfilm.com.

“The program taught me how to play and make friends that were different from me.”

Chance, whose real name is Chancelor Jonathan Bennett, starred in a 2019 episode of the children’s TV program. His daughters, six-year-old Kensli and two-year-old Marli, are at the perfect ages to delight in seeing their daddy on the big screen alongside Big Bird.

Synergy or Unity?

Like the residents of Sesame Street and their new friend, Sally, our faith in God’s good plan for us might waver when we encounter opposition. People we trust may even betray us. When we feel lost and alone, God often sends unlikely people—someone of another culture, generation or church background—to help. As we set aside our differences and work together, we find solutions we couldn’t have found on our own. And we gain new understanding of others’ viewpoints. The dictionary calls this “synergy.” The Bible calls it “unity” (see Ephesians 4:2-3).

The Muppets and Sally formed the perfect picture of how God planned Christians to work together. We bring our various gifts and differences to help each other find our way home. Home to our Saviour, Jesus. Home to our Father, God. And, ultimately, to our forever home, heaven.

Photo: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

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