Motion pictures and musicals take our regular, ho-hum human experiences and switch them into ginormous explosions of emotion. On their very own, these kinds present catharsis, however while you mix them? Buckle your culture-lovin’ seatbelts, child. Film musicals have been round for the reason that very starting of movie historical past, which begins with the borrowing of gadgets and expertise from the creators of stage musicals. With the power to finesse and craft set items you merely couldn’t in a real-life time-and-space theatrical setting, film musicals like The Wizard of Oz, Singin’ within the Rain, and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg grew to become the symbols of filmic creativity, ingenuity, status, and good old style popcorn enjoyable.

However as we have made our means into this Twenty first century, starting with the 12 months 2000, the film musical has turn out to be one thing of an exception somewhat than a rule of cinematic expectations and impulses. In different phrases, when a up to date film musical comes out, it “means one thing.” So, with the 2024 launch of a sure “fashionable” film musical, it is the right time to research these Twenty first-century exceptions. These are the 25 finest film musicals of the Twenty first century, celebrating the glory of music, dance, and shedding oneself within the magic of cinema.

25 ‘The Biggest Showman’ (2017)

Directed by Michael Gracey

The one requirement for The Biggest Showman is to easily settle for that it’s not (nor does it actually try and be) a truthful account of P.T. Barnum’s life, which is oddly becoming given its principal character. As an alternative, The Biggest Showmancontinuously shoots for uplift and pleasure with a terrific litany of songs from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul constructed with some actually clever and spectacular route from Michael Gracey, making his characteristic debut.

You even have a terrific solid leaning into this model of Barnum’s story, with Hugh Jackman completely endearing because the sweet-if-misguided showman. Like all good musical, these songs are certain to get caught in your head, however you’re not going to thoughts while you’re fist-pumping to “This Is Me” for the four-hundredth time. – Matt Goldberg

24 ‘Pitch Good’ (2012)

Directed by Jason Moore

The Twenty first century has been dominated by pop music, and in that means, 2012’s Pitch Good could also be one of many musicals that finest encapsulates the dominating musical style of an period. Directed by Jason Moore and written by Kay Cannon, the movie began as a witty twist on the boon of aggressive a capella teams however, someplace alongside the best way, morphed into a pointy faculty comedy full of killer renditions of pop songs.

Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick and scene-stealer Insurgent Wilson lead an effortlessly charming solid that’s heavy on each vocal and comedic expertise. The sequels fell far wanting the identical form of magic that made Pitch Good a success, however the first movie nonetheless stands as a tremendously watchable and catchy good time. – Adam Chitwood

23 ‘Popstar: By no means Cease By no means Stopping’ (2010)

Directed by Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer

There’s some confusion about what precisely qualifies a movie as a “musical.” It seems like the right reply is someplace alongside the strains of “any movie that includes non-diegetic musical numbers carried out by the characters to elucidate their motivations and advance the narrative,” however that definition would exclude films like Sing. Popstar: By no means Cease By no means Stopping, the 2016 comedy from The Lonely Island (Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer), isn’t a musical within the basic sense, however it’s 100% a comedy about music, that includes roughly a dozen hilarious authentic songs by narcissistic fictional megastar Connor4Real (Samberg).

The songs are respectable bops, and lots of of them are carried out in elaborate stage numbers which might be each humorous as hell and fairly spectacular.

The movie follows Connor as he embarks on a large tour to advertise the discharge of his hotly-anticipated sophomore album. Along with being a razor-sharp satire of pop music superstars and the superficial life-style of social media influencers, the songs are respectable bops, and lots of of them are carried out in elaborate stage numbers which might be each humorous as hell and fairly spectacular. It additionally options various enjoyable cameos from the music trade, together with standout bits involving Adam Levine, Seal, and Justin Timberlake. – Tom Reimann

Hire on Amazon

22 ‘Dancer within the Darkish’ (2000)

Directed by Lars Von Trier

Dancer within the Darkish, like a lot of Lars von Trier‘s films, can really feel overly, even unfairly punitive. Björk‘s main character is a poor manufacturing unit employee with a watch situation and a want to cease her son from struggling what she has on account of vile circumstances and, extra tellingly, vile human nature. Her struggling occurs in unsparing, grimly constructed element; considered one of von Trier’s extra smeary Dogme 95 works shot on gnarly DV tape.

However in case you stare amid this path towards human annihilation, you’ll find a ton of magnificence, escape, and one of many wildest usages of the musical type. When the banal evils of Björk’s life turn out to be an excessive amount of to bear, she subsumes herself right into a musical fantasy world. Abruptly, the colours brighten, the cameras turn out to be extra deliberately composed, and the world turns right into a song-and-dance fantasia the place issues dip their toes into the pool of “making sense.” This dichotomy in types, in reality versus fantasy, makes for a gripping, gritty watch, a movie that retains a blunt energy of efficacy in all types of emotional instructions. – Gregory Lawrence

21 ‘Frozen’ (2013)

Directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck

Frozen is clearly considered one of Disney’s hottest and most profitable movies within the Twenty first century, however it’s additionally considered one of their finest. The film seems like an adaptation of a Broadway musical, although it’s actually a unfastened adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy story The Snow Queen. Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel create actual magic with their voices in service of a well-known however unexpectedly contemporary tackle sisterhood.

The songs drive the story, and songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez expertly weave a story of rejection, familial love, and acceptance all through this phenomenal soundtrack. “Let It Go” was a years-long earworm for a cause, however the childlike surprise of “Do You Wish to Construct a Snowman” and the foolish hilarity of “In Summer time” solidify this as probably the greatest musicals and musical soundtracks of the Twenty first century. – Adam Chitwood

20 ‘Blissful Ft’ (2006)

Directed by George Miller

George Miller‘s odd, darkish, and sometimes enjoyable animated have a look at the lives of singing and dancing penguins belongs on this listing if for no different cause than this: when the movie was screened for Prince to get his approval to make use of his music “Kiss,” he ended up liking it a lot that he wrote an authentic music for it. The idea of a film musical is baked into the core DNA of Blissful Ft, as we study an vital truth about penguins beforehand unknown to the human world — when grownup penguins are looking for their excellent mates, they sing their “heartsongs” to seek out out what songs may be appropriate.

The mash-ups of pop/rock favorites like “Boogie Wonderland,” “Heartbreak Resort,” “Someone to Love,” “I Want,” and extra are very strong, with the added bonus of the nice voice solid lending their vocal skills. Whereas some slight emotional scarring might happen after viewing (these seals had been scary), Miller stays a grasp of the barely disturbing however finally charming household movie. – Liz Shannon Miller

19 ‘Mamma Mia! Right here We Go Once more’ (2018)

Directed by Ol Parker

There are basic sequels which might be considered huge enhancements over their predecessors. Then, there’s Mamma Mia! Right here We Go Once more, which takes the Godfather Half II method of being each a sequel and a prequel to the primary movie. The primary movie was cute and charming, mainly feeling like a bunch of nice actors simply occurring trip to Greece and doing an epic week of consuming, dancing, and karaoke singing whereas somebody introduced a digital camera alongside. Nonetheless, Right here We Go Once more really seems like a correct film.

The story has some nuance to it, the characters have depth and arcs to them, and the actors really appear to be they’re attempting. And even in case you lose one Meryl Streep, you win Lily James, Andy Garcia, and freaking Cher — and Cher makes all the things higher. That is as shut as you get to a up to date tackle a basic Hollywood musical-turned-summer blockbuster. The musical numbers really transfer the story alongside by means of visible storytelling whereas the choreography is shot like basic MGM musicals, and there are some visually spectacular digital camera actions and modifying methods executed to merge timelines and story threads. – Rafael Motamayor

18 ‘Moana’ (2016)

Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements

With a resume of beloved Disney animated musical classics that features The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, writers/administrators Ron Clements and John Musker hit the mark once more with 2016’s Moana. This time with a musical help from Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda, who co-wrote the movie’s songs alongside Opetaia Foa’i and Mark Mancina. The result’s a charming, catchy-as-hell reinvention of the Disney princess narrative.

Moana (Auliʻi Cravalho) isn’t your common fairytale princess able to danger all of it for love; she’s the long run chief of her individuals, an formidable, intelligent, and athletic hero chosen by the ocean for a mythic journey that brings her face-to-face with the demigod Maui (Dwayne Johnson). The mythology and magic that made Clements and Musker’s earlier movies such favorites are on full show, however Moana‘s not-so-secret weapon is the enchanting soundtrack, a fusion of conventional music and belting Broadway numbers. – Haleigh Foutch

17 ‘The Muppets’ (2011)

Directed by James Bobin

2011’s The Muppets provides followers of those felt-constructed mischief-makers (and Kermit, who’s simply attempting to carry the mischief collectively) all the things they’d need in a musical comedy model whereas charting identities of their very own. The Muppets, that includes star and co-writer Jason Segel, is stuffed with coronary heart, its standout songs being tearjerkers like “Photos in My Head” and Oscar-winner “Man or Muppet.”

A profitable reinvention of a basic and beloved components, The Muppets provides a broad, clear overview of what the titular characters can present. Furthermore, this charming and contagious musical makes audiences keenly conscious of the prodigious skills of director James Bobin and songwriter Bret McKenzie. – Gregory Lawrence

16 ‘Depraved’ (2024)

Directed by John M. Chu

The massively fashionable musical Depraved took its candy time to get to the silver display screen, however the wait was value it — for probably the most half, anyway. Academy Award nominee Cynthia Erivo stars as Elphaba, the infamous inexperienced witch who kinds an surprising bond with the pink-obsessed Galinda (Ariana Grande) and discovers harmful secrets and techniques about her land and the mysterious wizard who guidelines it.

Though suitably larger-than-life, Depraved can be surprisingly stale and missing within the whimsy and appeal of its stage supply materials. The gray, washed-up cinematography fails to convey the magic of Oz, so it is as much as the lead actresses to promote the fantasy facet of the story. Fortunately, Erivo and Grande rise to the problem, doing justice to those iconic characters and finally making Depraveda worthwhile providing with irresistible songs and some jaw-dropping sequences. – David Caballero

15 ‘Dreamgirls’ (2006)

Directed by Invoice Condon

A crowdpleaser, a whirlwind, an absolute drive of a movie — Dreamgirls is translated to the display screen by author/director Invoice Condon, who packs the runtime with a lot music, emotion, broad efficacy, and pained nuance. The highly effective solid members — together with Beyoncé Knowles, an Oscar-winning Jennifer Hudson, Anika Noni Rose, Eddie Murphy, and Jamie Foxx — arrive at this materials hungry and keen, giving these songs (by Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen) a way of drive and keenness you have to take note of.

And but, skillfully and subtly, Condon performs with whether or not or not the movie’s language pays consideration to them, considerably ruthlessly sliding the show-stopper, Hudson’s “And I Am Telling You I am Not Going,” straight into the following music, representing a grasping world keen to maneuver on if it is advantageous for these main the cost. Astonishing on a scene-to-scene degree and neatly constructed as an general assertion, Dreamgirls continues to clobber. – Gregory Lawrence

14 ‘The Princess and the Frog’ (2009)

Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements

Within the pantheon of killer Disney’s “I Need” songs, “Nearly There” from The Princess and the Frog may take the cake. Like the remainder of the movie, it is energetic and dazzling, combining impulses each retro and new (all the movie has superbly hand-drawn animation, however this sequence goes even additional into animation’s previous for one thing wholly stunning). It facilities and endears us to Tiana (Anika Noni Rose) completely, making her considered one of Disney’s most relatable protagonists whilst she’s flung right into a fantastical love story involving a dang frog (Bruno Campos).

The movie bustles with power, charisma, coronary heart (for the moon of all issues!), and a few welcomely incendiary satire on class politics. Plus, past “Nearly There,” Randy Newman‘s New Orleans jazz-tinged tunes are merely rollicking. Oh, and Keith David is chewing up the surroundings because the villain, which instantly ought to put this movie within the Movie Corridor of Fame (if that does not exist, get on it, please). – Gregory Lawrence

13 ‘Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Road’ (2007)

Directed by Tim Burton

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Road is sort of a formidable achievement. The concept of late-period Tim Burton taking this difficult, intentional masterwork from deliberately difficult grasp Stephen Sondheim and turning it right into a CGI-addled playground may’ve pulled some followers of the stage model off. Alas, they’ll breathe a sigh of aid as a result of, in opposition to all odds, it really works.

Frequent Burton collaborators Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter star, sure, and it is stuffed with the unnaturally CGI-boosted digital camera swirling and manufacturing design favored by Burton on this interval. However he is dialing all of those screws in to say one thing fierce, humorous, and fanged. Each piece of his adaptation is chosen with care, from the sparse handheld camerawork to the oversaturated blood that splatters all around the desaturated body. He even cuts a number of the most well-known music from the unique Broadway present, rightly so. Burton and his workforce have taken the uncooked supplies of Sondheim’s work and turned them into a deliciously macabre slice of cinematic pie. – Gregory Lawrence

12 ‘Tick, Tick… Increase!’ (2021)

Directed by Lin Manuel Miranda

After watching tick, tick… BOOM!, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s directorial debut and an adaptation of Jonathan Larson‘s autobiographical musical, you may wish to do all the things. From its relentlessly chugging but clearly splendorous opening quantity to its bittersweet utilization of actual footage on the finish, the movie heartily endorses the easy energy and great thing about being alive. Andrew Garfield provides what may be his finest efficiency as Larson himself, a struggling musical author attempting to create one thing nice whereas time’s clock retains on ticking.

Garfield is a magnetic, charismatic, continuously kinetic drive, an anchor to a strong ensemble of musical ringers like Alexandra Shipp and Robin de Jesús. However fortunately, Miranda’s movie shouldn’t be pure hagiography, and it is greater than keen to dive into the problematic compulsions and sacrifices that include being such a single-minded artist. Existential crises by no means sounded so catchy nor left one feeling so impressed. – Gregory Lawrence

Watch on Netflix

11 ‘As soon as’ (2007)

Directed by John Carney

John Carney’s 2007 indie As soon as stays as tender and delightful because it was when it was first launched. The story follows two struggling musicians (performed by actual musicians and the movie’s composers, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová) who find yourself falling in love with one another.

It’s such a easy story, and but the inventive drive behind it reveals us the facility of music to forge a connection with one another and convey a depth of emotion that easy phrases typically fail to do. It’s unimaginable to not really feel a twinge in your coronary heart throughout “Falling Slowly,” however each music, whether or not it’s “When Your Thoughts’s Made Up” or “Say It to Me Now,” is totally pretty. – Matt Goldberg

10 ‘Within the Heights’ (2021)

Directed by John M. Chu

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s best-known musical might now be Hamilton, however that doesn’t make his first Tony-winning musical a slouch. If something, Within the Heights seems like a extra private story concerning the immigrant expertise and what it’s prefer to wrestle with expectations of what sort of life it’s best to have. With its ensemble solid, the story wrestles with the strain of whether or not it’s best to go away to pursue particular person objectives or if it’s higher to remain in your neighborhood and make investments in your house.

The display screen model takes on a completely new life because of Jon M. Chu’s wonderful route that brings contemporary power to Miranda’s catchy tunes. But, Chu would not permit himself, the story, or the performances to vanish behind the overt showmanship, by no means shedding the emotional core that made this breakout work so endearing within the first place. – Matt Goldberg

9 ‘Coco’ (2017)

Directed by Adrian Molina and Lee Unkrich

Pixar is behind many fashionable animated classics, just about dominating the panorama from the mid-2000s to the mid-2010s. 2017’s Coco, one of many uncommon musicals to come back out of the studio, is a standout, a story of generational concern and trauma soaked deep in colourful musical numbers and limitless, near-overwhelming appeal. The story follows a younger boy who by accident travels to the land of the useless and should discover a means again.

Each a candy and irresistible musical and a love letter to Mexican traditions, Coco is presumably the final nice animated musical. Each body is constructed with care and affection for Mexico’s tradition, however it’s the timeless and common story that actually resonates with everybody who has ever needed to let go of somebody expensive. The songs are equally spectacular, however the clear winner is the Oscar-winning, heartbreaking anthem “Keep in mind Me.” – David Caballero

8 ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ (2013)

Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen

The Coen Brothers’ 2013 movie Inside Llewyn Davis is considerably divisive amongst followers of those distinct administrators. Some discover it to be a minor work of their assorted filmography, whereas others hail it as considered one of their masterpieces. I’m within the latter camp, as I discover Inside Llewyn Davis to be a heartbreakingly private movie about creative wrestle and the lives of many artists who don’t turn out to be Bob Dylan. Oscar Isaac breathes Llewyn Davis to life with such ardour, anger and jealous rage, and when he picks up that guitar, he bares his damaged soul to the world much more.

The folks-inspired soundtrack is equal components gut-wrenching and delightful, with hilarious ditties like “Please, Mr. Kennedy” thrown in for good measure (simply because the movie is dramatic doesn’t imply it’s devoid of the Coens’ distinct humorousness). That the Coen Brothers can simply toss off an excellent musical ode to artists and the people scene of the ’60s in between an epic Western (True Grit) and an previous Hollywood comedy (Hail, Caesar!) is a testomony to their vary and expertise as two of our biggest residing filmmakers. – Adam Chitwood

7 ‘La La Land’ (2016)

Directed by Damian Chazelle

Tens of millions might simply relate to Damien Chazelle‘s impassioned ode to the fools who dream. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone are each improbable as ill-fated lovers Sebastian and Mia, one a jazz musician, the opposite an aspiring actress. The 2 have wonderful chemistry collectively, whether or not they’re singing and dancing within the moonlight or arguing like most traditional {couples}.

This movie is stuffed with stylistic flights of fancy, however it’s additionally grounded in a timeless form of realism; in the actual world, issues do not all the time work out, and never everybody will get a cheerful ending. Although La La Land la-la-lost Finest Image in dramatic style, it stays a good looking film about love, loss, and the issues we sacrifice for the sake of artwork. Plus, it deserves credit score for serving to to place the now-formidable songwriting duo of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul on the map. – Jeff Sneider

6 ‘Enchanted’ (2007)

Directed by Kevin Lima

Musicals went hand-in-hand with Disney for many years till the early 2000s, when the Mouse Home began to maneuver away from movies that had been so song-oriented. However Disney’s 2007 movie Enchanted brilliantly introduced musicals again in a wise means by taking a self-referential method to the Disney model. The plot of Enchanted is mainly: what if an animated Disney princess got here to life and needed to navigate real-world Manhattan?

Six-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams is completely solid right here as Giselle, nailing the wide-eyed wonderment that permeates by means of most Disney animated movies but in addition making the character really feel actual and dimensional. That’s no small feat, and it’s a testomony to Kevin Lima’s route and catchy songs by Stephen Schwartz and Alan Menken that the film strikes the right stability between snark and earnestness. – Adam Chitwood