Customer Reviews

Sesame Street at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Don't Eat the Pictures

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There is a classic line from Oscar the Grouch that I love to pass along to all my artist friends.

I told you if we stopped to look at the pictures, we'd never get through the place!

My dad recorded this movie onto a video cassette off the television broadcast more than twenty years ago. My younger brother and I, now 26 and 31 respectively, must have watched the tape a hundred times each. Growing up I always fantasized about spending the night at a museum with all my friends so of course I have always found the whole idea behind the program captivating. Both the art and music in the production are fantastic. Educational, fun, funny, moving at times (I to this day know nearly all the words of song about mothers and children)... this is a classic work of entertainment that both kids and adults will enjoy. I do agree with some of the other reviewers that there are a few MILDLY scary moments involving the "demon" who decides whether the Egyptian boy (whom Big Bird befriends) can join his parents to become stars in the sky. The apparition, however, is not very scary in itself, but the background music at times takes on a suspensful or "doom-ish" tone. Since the tape my dad recorded was long since recorded over or lost, I recently purchased a copy and gave it to my brother as a gift and now I am purchasing a copy for my 2 little boys to enjoy. In my opinion, this movie was made during a time when Sesame Street was at its absolute best. As one of the other reviewers mentioned, it was when Snuffy was still known as Big Bird's "imaginary" friend- a PRICELESS period in the history of the show. I only wish the availability of this movie were a little better as I would recommend it to ALL my friends and family.

Because of this amazing movie, I have always had a deep and enduring love of fine art and museums. I was the only five year-old who was able to identify Paul Cezanne's work on sight, and who begged her mother at the age of ten to see the Temple of Dendur when they visited New York City. Seti can be a little frightening for small children, mostly because of the crazy makeup, thunderous voice, and portentous music whenever he's mentioned, but I loved this so much as a child, I would simply watch with a blanket to put over my head when he appears at the end.

I probably saw this when I was six, but I know I loved it and there was the boy who was really a star, and to get back in the sky with his family, Big Bird had to put his feather on a scale. And Snuffy still wasn't real in this movie! I want it on DVD, just like The Bunny Picnic and The Christmas Toy.