The country’s first museum dedicated to animation makes for an interesting day trip, as my girlfriend and I found out not too long ago. Unlike Seoul’s own cartoon and animation museum, the Chuncheon museum focuses on the history of animation. With a broader worldview, the 애니메이션박묵관 (ae-ni-me-ee-syeon bak-mul-gwan) is worth the day trip from Seoul.
Get in to the main exhibit, then come face-to-face with this beauty — a 35mm Fuji Central Projector from circa 1968.
The story starts with Disney, apparently — a screen plays a couple minutes of ‘Steamboat Willie’.
A ‘magic lantern’ of the 1900’s — definitely not Korean in origin, although it does require animation to make the scene come to life. Not pictured is a strange ‘cave’ that supposedly shows off an animation from 100,000 BC — I don’t get it, and I doubt you would either.
Something the parents bringing their elementary-schoolers can appreciate. Walk up the stairs towards the second floor and this is what you’ll see — on the left, ‘My Big Dumb Genie’. While there’s no dates of production, at least one website claims the series is ‘in development’.
The second floor is where animations from around the world are hiding. If you’re from eastern Europe, Japan, or China, you might enjoy some sights from home; for everyone else, I present one very photogenic Looney Tunes / Bugs Bunny / Wile E. Coyote / ‘mweep’ mweep’ / ‘be vewy vewy qwiet’ moment:
I love the placement of the light — Elmer Fudd is either shooting out the light, or it’s the burst of light you see after firing a shotgun.
If you’ve enjoyed the sheet-of-paper-sized pin board, you’re gonna love this thing. Each of two panels is roughly 3 meters tall and 2 meters wide, so press your whole body into it if you want!
The rest of the second floor contains a couple other places worth seeing — a room of sound offers a few keyboards and the chance to make sound effects, while walking down to the first floor offers a fairly standard souvenir shop and a chance to become an animator (complete with a computer, a video camera and a doll). A coffee shop is under construction, while a dinosaur exhibit outside sounded more like an air raid siren.
If you’re taking a trip to Chuncheon, it’s well worth seeing — that goes double if there’s a kid with you. It’s one of the area’s bigger tourist attractions, and shouldn’t be passed up if you enjoy Korean animations. There’s very little from recent years here — no Pororo at all! — although the animators in Chuncheon do have a fair amount of display.
Directions to Chuncheon Animation Museum: from Seoul, take the Gyeongchun line to Chuncheon, the eastern terminus. The ITX also makes the journey here, but it’s more expensive and doesn’t save a lot of time. Take exit 1 to street level, then cross the street and turn left for the bus stop. Jump on bus 82 (arrives only a handful of times a day, strangely). Admission: 4,000 won (extra for special exhibits and a 3D movie). Open 10am-6pm (last admission at 5pm). For more information, check out http://www.animationmuseum.com.
