I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story

Tribeca Film | Release Date: May 6, 2015

5.4	USER SCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 11 Ratings

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bigjamesOct 19, 2015

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Documentary team Walker and LaMattina are able to wrap the character of Caroll Spinneey up into a neat gift presented through his alter ego's Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.

The beloved Sesame Street characters are revealed as deeper aspects of their masters psyche. Caroll expresses his tortured side, and exposes his ability to recede into his childhood and channel the inner child that is Big Bird's persona. Caroll himself describes his relationship with Big Bird by saying, "I don't own the character, but I'm pretty sure I own his soul."

This documentary is about the exploration of a man's soul, and how he longs for the approval of people around him (his father, his wife, co-workers, audience), which in the end the audience is made to believe he has achieved this. Where this documentary leaks a bit in craft is the excessive use of musical overlay in the interviews, which takes away the emotional tone and inflection from the interviewees.

Also (although this may be a cheap-shot at the film-makers, I feel it is a valid point), LaMattina and Walker use a technique I found impressive and relevant, but unfortunately stolen from a documentary that was released the year previous. The archival footage from a game show called "To Tell the Truth", was used - more effectively in my opinion - in a documentary called "An Honest Liar", released on April 18, 2014 - "I am Big Bird..." was released on May 1, 2015. I can't believe this is a simple coincidence. Using other film-makers techniques is fine, but doing the exact same sequence is too much of a rip-off. Music and the ripped-off sequence are the only two bad parts of this otherwise whimsical film.

(Sidenote: I give this film a 67/100, but Metacritic only allows users to rate 1-10, so I rounded up to a 7.)… Expand

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IloveJbalof1Aug 2, 2015

Wonderful picture. It is truly a work of art that everyone needs to see to believe it. I loved every minute of it and I hope you think so to. You will most likely love this movie because it is the one and only big bird

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