Blues Big Musical Movie

Plot

Blue welcomes the viewer to the house where Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper are preparing to have a big music show until they hear snoring. Steve is still asleep, so Blue goes into the bedroom and helps Tickety Tock wake him up. When Steve wakes up, he needs help to get everything ready for the "You Can Be Anything You Wanna Be" show. Steve and the rest of his friends go into the kitchen to have breakfast. Periwinkle hears about a magic show as he heads off to practice his magic trick. Blue gives Steve a list of things to do. Steve makes up a plan about what Slippery Soap, Shovel and Pail, Mailbox, Tickety and Blue are going to sing about in the big music show. Tickety said Blue would be her duet and sing about being a classroom teacher.

Tickety loses her voice before the show, but she can ring her bells. The game Blue's Clues is played to decide who should be Blue's singing partner. Steve adds three clues to his list of things to do. But then Steve hears Sidetable Drawer singing. Sidetable tries to say something when Steve runs into the kitchen to help Mr. Salt find flour to make some chocolate chip cookies for the neighbors' snack. After helping him, Sidetable gives Steve the handy-dandy notebook.

Steve runs into the backyard, where Mailbox was putting up the posters to tell everyone about the show. Meanwhile, Steve finds the first clue on the handy-dandy notebook. After trying to figure out who should be Blue's singing partner, Steve realizes his clipboard is missing. Periwinkle shows his magic trick as he says the magic words: "Perry-pokus-okus-crokus". Then he heads off looking for Steve. Steve finds his list as Slippery tries to let him help find the hats. Sidetable is trying to ask Steve if she can sing in the show.

Slippery and Steve have a part that is perfect for Sidetable. She knows how sometimes she would hold all the hats on top of her table. Tickety, Pail, Mailbox, Slippery and Shovel are asking Steve what to do with all the stuff. Blue has an idea while helping Shovel and Pail make a doctor's costume. After putting things together, Steve and Blue help their friends make a house and put a curtain together to build the stage. When they are all finished, Steve checks their costumes and the stage. Then he walks back to the house, where Periwinkle is trying to show him his magic trick. Mr. Salt is in the kitchen trying to find the chocolate chips so he can make the cookies.

Cast

Voices

Reception

Hartford Courant wrote that while the film teaches children "sharing and working together", it also teaches "self- expression and friendship" through "the smooth tones of Ray Charles" as the voice of G-Clef, and remarked that it was "an excellent segment".

Digitally Obsessed wrote the film was a "mixture of Pee-wee's Playhouse and Peanuts with a touch of Where's Waldo thrown in that is probably a lot of fun for kids and teaches while requiring the kids to think."

Chicago Sun-Times noted that as being centered in the world of the "most watched pre-school television show", the video will prove popular with parents of young children.

Time stated that direct to video no longer means "not good enough for theaters" where children's films are concerned and noted that Blue's Big Musical Movie spun the popular children's television series into a "full-length extravaganza".

In Doug Pratt's DVD: Movies, Television, Music, Art, Adult, and More!, author Pratt observes that even though designed for toddlers, Steven Burns, as the only human in the cast, delivered a "remarkable and consistent performance" while speaking directly to the camera in addressing his young viewers, speaking slowly and clearly without being condescending or patronizing.

Review Corner wrote that the film was "complete with all the charm and learning that makes the television series outstanding, and then some." They offered that while the "feature-film debut follows basically the same tried-and-true format of the television series, it contains longer (mostly musical) interludes and plenty of mini-stories and adventures along the way," as well as introducing a new character, Periwinkle the cat.

Awards and nominations

Song list (Soundtrack version)

1. Today's the Big Day
2. At the Show
3. The Breakfast Song
4. The Clipboard Shuffle
5. Sidetables' Lament
6. Blue's Clues Theme Song
7. Silly Hat
8. Putting it Together
9. Notes
10. Rhythm
11. Tempo
12. Dynamics
13. Sing (There It Is!)
14. As Smart as You
15. Sing!
16. The Magic of Theater
17. I Can Be Anything That I Want to Be
18. So Long Song