The Dodos reaction to Big Bird's best friend being a Snuffleupagus. Are they just thinking his best friend should be a bird, or do they think Big Bird is making it up and are laughing at his supposed imagination? Or maybe both (as if to say that Big Bird's imaginary best friend should be a bird).
Is the waitress at the grouch restaurant genuinely grouchy (whether she's usually like that even outside of work or due to her work environment), or is her grouchiness simply a work requirement?
Audience-Alienating Premise: As beloved and popular as Sesame Street was, one of the biggest reasons for the film's disappointing performance at the box office was that nobody wanted to pay and see a film based on a kids' show they could watch on PBS for free. Sesame Workshop would try a Sesame Street film again a decade later with The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, which also flopped for the same reason.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The whole "Grouch Anthem" bit, which starts the film, no less. It's funny (especially for older viewers, who might be familiar with Patton, which the bit is a takeoff on), but it's rather random; the WB logo doesn't appear until after it's over, no doubt confusing some people.
Designated Villain: Miss Finch is your standard "social worker just doing her job" brand of Designated Villain. She's hoping to find a runaway child and return him to safety, just like the residents of Sesame Street are. Though she does share her organization's racist belief that only birds can raise birds, it's apparently because she simply never considered the alternative.
First Installment Wins: Between the two theatrical films. Follow That Bird has a 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes, a 6.8 on IMDb, and grossed $13 million at the box office. The 1999 Spiritual SuccessorThe Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland scores at 77% and 5.8 on the respective sites and earned $11.6 million. A Fandom Rivalry over whether the 1985 film or the 1999 film is better persists to this day, of course. Whether or not the upcoming third film will get a better or worse reception than either of the other two is still up in the air.
Harsher in Hindsight: The first draft of the script ends with a news report from Kermit on the Space Shuttle, saying that he received a tip that Big Bird is in space. A few years later, NASA wanted to have Big Bird go into space for The Challenger mission, only for his size to keep him and Caroll Spinney from it, and the spacecraft disintegrated on launch.
Count von Count counts the end credits, and refers to those credited by title ("one 'written by'", etc.) When that of executive producer (and creator of Sesame Street) comes up, not only does he count her by name ("one Joan Ganz Cooney!"), he then turns to the camera, gives a little wave, and says "Hi, mom." It's adorable.
At the end when the citizens of Sesame Street stand up for Big Bird and tells Miss Finch that he has a family, even if it's not one that Miss Finch thinks Big Bird should have.
Maria complains at the Grouch diner, "There's nothing here I can eat!" Years later on the TV show, when pregnant with Gabriela, Maria develops a taste for Grouch cuisine.
Sam pretends to have a guard dog to scare away the two kids. His actor later stars in a movie featuring a dog.
At the start of the film, an announcer tells the audience to rise for the Grouch Anthem, to which Oscar corrects him and says for the grouch anthem you should stay sitting down. The test screening was comprised of children who were too small to see past the seats in front of them, leading to the director instructing them to stand up when watching the movie so they could see the screen.
One-Scene Wonder: Don't Drop Inn, probably the most famous scene in the movie because of the Food Fight among the diners.
Squick: The Don't Drop Inn's menu. Reflecting typical Grouch tastes, the menu includes cod liver oatmeal, candied clams with French dressing, cream of garlic soup with maraschino cherries, and roast beef with butterscotch and anchovies. The one item that doesn't sound sickening is their tossed salad...if you can overlook their serving via catapult.
Maybe not as spectacular as other Muppet movies, but Ernie and Bert's scene in the biplane is this. Jim Henson and Frank Oz had to film the scene upside down, a whopping 18 feet off the ground.
Big Bird sheds an incredibly realistic tear after his "Bluebird of Happiness" song.
" bit, which starts the film, no less. It's funny (especially for older viewers, who might be familiar with Patton, which the bit is a takeoff on), but it's rather random; the WB logo doesn't appear until after it's over, no doubt confusing some people.