Animated Musicals should make a come back.

S

~*SoZettaSlow*~

New member
I don't know if I'm the only one who holds that position but I think that it would be nice, at least to some degree, if we had more animated musicals like the ones we had in previous decades, particularly the 90?s. Over the last couple of years there?s been a lot of cynicism about cartoon features where people and animals just bust out into full song and dance. Many anime fans regard it as a reason to look down on companies like Disney, even American movies like the Shrek franchise have made a fortune off of lampooning this. But I think there is a sincerity in these musical numbers that is sadly missing in some of today?s animated movies. Not to mention the kind resonance that most movie makers hope they create. I mean I can pretty much guarantee you that a large number of the people in my generation (I?m 22) could sing right along with songs like Under the Sea, Whole New World, Hakuna Matada without missing a beat. There?s something about the songs, particularly the ones written by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman that are just unforgettable.

Anyone else want to see those days come back?
 
I've never been big on musicals in general, animated or otherwise, and I'm personally glad that we've evolved past the stage where every animated feature is required to have musical numbers, but I wouldn't have a problem with the return of musical cartoon features-provided that the storyline and genre actually call for songs. A movie like Titan A.E., for example, doesn't call for soapy, splashy musical numbers.
 
Well that's true. Maybe I should have clarified, not all animated movies have to be musicals. That kind of thinking was a problem in the late 90's of course, but I'm saying that I would like to see them make a comeback.

And one of the things that musicals have over other movies is that the exposition doesn't have to be boring. Other movies have to basically dump alot of info on you to tell the viewer what the charecter wants. This can often slow the pace of the story to a crawl. Compare that to a song like "Can't wait to be King" from the Lion King or "Out there" from Hunchback. At the end of them it is very clear why the charecters do what they do in the rest of the movie.
 
Happy Feet was a musical with characters singing and stuff, but more of a Moulin Rouge-style surrealism thing than a traditional musical.

The last animated film with good original songs was The Corpse Bride (unless you count The Simpsons Movie, which I don't, since Spiderpig alone doesn't equal a musical in my eyes). Yeah, it would be nice to see a few more being made, though I don't want it to take over the medium like most trends have in the past. The Princess and the Frog may be pretty good if it's done without any of the annoying Disneyfied revisionist history. Live-action musicals are hot again, so something animated with the cleverness of a lot of recent Broadway should be capable of being made. I for one would love to see the Avenue Q writers try their hand at a cartoon.
 
Yeah I for the most part like songs from Disney musicals. I noticed the disturbing lack of good animation and songs in todays movies. I wish that they would make a comeback.
 
The mere thought of that makes me sad. Sorry High School Musical fans. The movies are okay, at best, but I find the whole thing overrated. Off-topic like, but I just needed to say that.

Anyway, I wouldn't mind if some animated movies had some musical numbers. I have missed some of the catchy songs that Disney used to put into their movies. Despite that, I definately think that their songs for Tarzan and Brother Bear was excellente. I think if they did put in song singing numbers that works well with the movie that it would be pretty interesting.
 
How about animated movie versions of these Broadway musicals:
* Cats
* Avenue Q
* The 25th. Annual Putham County Spelling Bee
* You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
* Snoopy, the Musical
* It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman
* A Year With Frog and Toad
* Bark!
* Honk!
* Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (but use all animals in the main parts for an animated version - Just like Disney did to an animated movie of Robin Hood in 1973 and like NBC did to an animated TV movie of David Copperfield in 1993!).
 
Avenue Q's style depends on the fake Sesame Street blend of live-action and puppets. It wouldn't be the same in animation.

Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Superman are already based on cartoons. Then again, that didn't stop Hairspray and The Producers from leaping from screen-to-stage-to-screen.

There already is the DTV Joseph King of Dreams. Different songs and not as good as the Andrew Lloyd Webber show, but pretty good in its own right. Really doesn't need any furries in it.



No. I think people are rather wanting more films like Aladdin, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut where fun songs are used to help tell interesting good-for-animation stories.
 
Unfortunately, I just don't know who would do it now. 1990's Disney was the absolute pinnacle of those kind of movies, and now they've pretty much cut that loose. I'd love to see a return to that kind of imagination, but currently we seem to be in this rut of CG-animated, talking animal movies. Some of these work out but some don't, and in addition most are set in a modern context.

At least Pixar does good work, but for now it seems like the era of the animated musical started by Disney in the mid 20th century is over. For now fantasy just seems to be overlooked, which I think is a shame.

I guess in return we have LOTR and Narnia brought to life in splendid style via live-action, but still. For better or worse this is where the post-90's trend is. I'll hold out hope that things will shift again in the years to come.
 
Snoopy, the Musical and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown have already been made into hour long specials (that have premiered CBS on January 29, 1988 and November 6, 1985, respectively). There would no reason to turn them into movies. Besides, I personally don't want to see any Peanuts project made without Charles Schultz's supervision. He was the only person who ever got Charlie Brown right.


No offense, but that idea is lame. Turning human characters into animals for no reason is outdated thinking. Disney actually received some criticism for using anthropomorphic animals as the protagonists in Robin Hood. Those stories should have been told with humans.
 
Personally,I'd love to see animated musicals make a comeback....Most of my favorite animated films are musicals:

Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
The Last Unicorn
Cats Don't Dance
Pocahontas
The Little Mermaid
Mulan
Anastasia
Beauty and the Beast

(even some of my favorite live-action films are musicals like Grease, The Sound of Music,and The Wizard of OZ,or live-action with animation like Mary Poppins)....

and yes,I know that not all animated films need songs (I love Disney's Atlantis:The Lost Empire, Pixar's The Incredibles,and most of the Studio Ghibli films I've seen),it depends on the story/characters....
 
Well, the only upcoming animated film I can see having musical numbers is The Princess and the Frog, since unlike other Disney pictures in the works, this one seems like a callback to more traditional Disney fare.

Even though I'm a fan of good musicals, I'm not really sure I'll be missing them anytime soon. They've been featured pretty heavily up until recent years, and most of the non-Disney musical numbers in animation are generally very forgettable or just plain bad.
 
You know, back when Disney was still making them, I got sick of them. Now, I admit, I wouldn't mind it if they made new ones.
 
If this turns into a list thread, the list thread rules still apply.

I honestly don't miss animated musicals. Thats what I like about Pixar films-- they aren't musicals. Breaking out into song randomly... is kinda weird.
 
List thread rules? Did they update the board rules again?

Now that I think about it Brother Bear was a 2000's Disney musical. In many ways it was more like the 90's stuff than other animated movies. I wouldn't consider Lilo and Stich a musical though, even though music was an important part of it.
 
While I am happy that songs are no longer a requirement in Disney films (as there are some examples where the inclusion of songs felt fairly forced), I wouldn't mind seeing musical numbers in the occasional new animated film. Fifteen years later and I still love all the songs from Aladdin, not only because they were catchy songs but because the storyboarding, animation, and direction put to the songs was just outstanding.
 
Back
Top