Now, this is not a museum that stands out once you get out of the subway, so if you decide to go to this museum, as soon as you get out of the subway ask someone for directions.
The museum costs $12.00 to get in and they usually have a special exhibit that you can also view at no additional cost.
Overall, the museum was interesting, nothing like the big museums that I have seen so far, but still interesting. This museum specialized in movies and the history of how movies came about. What is good about this museum is that they pay a lot of attention to the roles required behind the scenes to make a movie, such as wig master, make up (and special effects with make-up), costumes (they had lots of famous costumes from movies such as Dangerous Liaisons [there was a lot of detail in Glenn Closes' dress] to the Mork costume used by Robin Williams in the TV show Mork and Mindy).
They also had on display all the different kinds of film cameras that have been used over the decades to film famous movies as well as an area where you could learn about audio and editing film.
On the top floor is where you will find the special exhibit. The exhibit I saw was about Jim Henson and the history of his career. So if you are into Jim Henson you would have loved this. There were film interviews with Jim Henson where you could learn about how Kermit the Frog came about (btw Jim used is mother's green spring coat to make Kermit - I bet she wasn't too happy about that) and how he also dabbled in other work outside of the world of Sesame Street and The Muppets.
Sorry there are not a lot of photos - no photos were allowed, but the dare devil inside of me said "you gotta get photos of the muppets" so I whipped out my phone and took these two before I got caught. I was politely told to put my camera away!
There is one piece of film that you first see when walking through the museum that Jim directed, starred in and edited. . It runs for approx 9 minutes and it is the trippiest thing I have ever watched. You definitely don't need a joint to go on a ride when checking out this piece!
I got to see several muppets that they had on display Kermit the frog, Miss Piggy in her wedding dress, Rowlf the dog, and Wembly from Fraggle Rock. What was great was you got to learn about how Sesame Street, the Muppets and Fraggle Rock came about. There were drawings showing how Big Bird morphed into the character that we know and love today. It was really well done.
In conclusion I would say that this museum is a fun museum to go to with kids. There are lots of hands-on things for them to do but it is not a "must see" when coming to New York. If you have a lot of time, then you may want to consider it, but if you only have a couple of weeks here then you may want to give it a miss.
