Elmer and the Monster

Elmer fans will probably guess what’s going on here as Elmer meets animal after animal fleeing from the ear-splitting roar of an unseen monster, and the incorrigible and ever curious patchwork pachyderm goes steadfastly, though, as he says, carefully, towards the danger. The monster Elmer eventually meets is a small blue hairy ball with a face (remember the 1970s gonks?). Bloo Bloo’s deafening roar is intended to keep away all those scary jungle animals that he keeps hearing on his way home. Elmer is still the same daring, caring eccentric he has been for twenty five years. McKee’s jungle is as vibrant and busy as ever. And his storytelling is as expertly paced. You won’t be surprised to learn that it all ends with a penultimate gleeful spread of all the animals playfully jumping out of their skins at Bloo Bloo’s roar, and a final triumphant animal procession carrying Bloo Bloo home on Elmer’s back.