The Best Movie Musicals of the Decade (2010-2019)
Despite my reputation as a horror critic, my love of film comes as much from movie musicals as it does genre films. I grew up in musical theater and still work in it 28 years after my first taste. There is nothing I like more than a great musical.
The criteria for the list is rather simple. A great musical has to have a great song score. The singing has to be good. The songs have to service the story and the story needs to hit the emotional heights necessary to justify a song. And, most importantly, the film must have released between 2010 and 2019.
While my list does include films not in English, my knowledge of international musicals is limited to either what was marketed in the United States or what made splashes on the festival circuit. I do not have a great knowledge or understanding of Bollywood, for example, and rarely have the opportunity to see those films. The list has a Western slant that I hope to expand upon in the future.
And I’ll spoil it now. La La Land does not make my list. I don’t like La La Land. The Steven Universe movie and the excellent filmed adaptation of The Spongebob Musical got closer to this list than white man mansplaining jazz music: the musical ever could.
I also haven’t had the privilege of hate-watching Cats in theaters yet, so it could still surprise me and be incredible. I somehow doubt it, but stranger things have happened.
10. How to Talk to Girls at Parties
In my original review of the film, I said that How to Talk to Girls at Parties was a song or two shy of really being a musical. Still, John Cameron Mitchell’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s story of an alien touring earth and falling in love with a common London teen is a heck of a watch. The use of color, music, and staged movement creates one of the most original and convincing science fiction universes since District 9. If the film had those one or two more songs at key moments, it would probably top this list.
9. Pitch Perfect
Pitch Perfect is just fun. Musicals don’t need huge stakes to be successful. They don’t need to reinvent the wheel. They just need an angle. The a cappella covers of contemporary hits sung by a talented cast of comedic actors make Pitch Perfect a memorable musical comedy.
8. Frozen
Frozen is a juggernaut. It’s a post-Disney Renaissance musical that actually broke box office records (something they hadn’t managed with a musical since The Lion King) and it’s quite adventurous for a Disney film. The quality of animation is so high, the cast so packed with incredible singers, and Bobby Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez’s score so strong that you can’t ignore it. “Let It Go” is a cultural touchstone in a way few musical songs even came close to being since the heyday of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
7. Anna and the Apocalypse
Anna and the Apocalypse came out of nowhere and surprised me. I’ve seen horror musicals before. I’ve seen zombie musicals before. Shoot, I’ve even written my own zombie musical. None of those have been willing to go to such beautifully bleak and shocking places as Anna and the Apocalypse. The songs are super catchy in spite of the bloody chaos and destruction happening around them.
6. The Lure
A mermaid musical shouldn’t be such a surprise. They are, canonically, creatures who sing. Turning that into a dark fantasy also shouldn’t surprise, as they sing to lure sailors to their doom. Agnieszka Smoczynska’s unexpected comedy/dark fantasy/musical about mermaid sisters joining a cabaret with diametrically opposed goals is a fresh take on a classic fantasy conceit. The Lure is worth seeking out just for originality and tone.
5. The Muppets
The only downside to The Muppets is that the studio did not trust the movie musical format enough to keep the reboot of America’s favorite puppets going in a similar style. The Muppets is everything you loved about the TV series—the songs, the comedy, the endless cavalcade of celebrity cameos—framed in a Golden Age “let’s put on a show” movie musical. Take this in the way it’s meant, please: it’s so good, the worst song in the score won the Oscar for Best Original Song (and it’s still a solid song).
4. Sing Street
Director John Carney has a strong vision of what a movie musical can be and the world is richer for it. Sing Street is not the most dynamic story ever told, but the charming coming of age story set to song is just lovely. It’s a gentler Once with a younger cast.
3. Jeanette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc
There is nothing gentle about Jeanette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc. This is a hard rock musical about Joan of Arc’s childhood. Director Bruno Dumont throws everything at you and it’s a total mixed bag in the best way possible. There is no other musical quite like this and the moments that work are among the best ever captured on film. It feels like one of those experimental musicals that opened and closed in one night on Broadway from the 70s/80s and that is a high compliment from me.
2. Moana
What can I say? I’m a sucker for a Disney musical. Moana instantly became one of my favorite films because of the score, the style, and the story. We all need to be reminded to find our own path in life and be the hero of our own story. I haven’t rewatched a musical like this since The Little Mermaid. It’s just fun, heartfelt, beautiful, and inspiring. It’s a great film to watch when you feel like a few good cries in a couple hours.
1. The Devil’s Carnival
One of the few things I regret about my writing career is how exacting I was early on. The Devil’s Carnival fell victim to this, only not being named the top film of 2012 because its runtime (56 minute) is just short of the feature length (60 minutes). This music hall-style horror musical about three people going to hell is funny, scary, and surprisingly tuneful. It’s a musical anthology horror film meant to launch a trilogy that, sadly, stalled out after the second entry. Still, The Devil’s Carnival stands strong on its own and should be seen by any and every musical fan.
