Musicals - What's your opinion on them?

Kingp35

I'm just wondering what are peoples opinions the musical genre of film?

Personally I can not stand them! The reason I'm posting this is because the girlfriend is making me go see White Christmas with her tomorrow in Cineworld and I am dreading it, it's my own idea of 2 of hours of hell. Films like Singing in the Rain, The Sound of Music, Easter Parade are all incredibly annoying and are so happy and ridiculous it makes me want to vomit :pac: It's a genre of film that I will never understand the appeal, and with the likes of Mammia Mia and High School musical coming out this year it seems that it's a genre that is still very popular and is here to stay.

Is it just the female population that love these films or are there guys out there that like them too?

Xavi6

I've no shame in admitting I'm a massive 'Grease' fan. Superb stuff.

Others like 'Mamma Mia' and 'Evita' don't do it for me at all. They're much better as stage productions.

Vokes

Some of the animated musicals are pretty good - Lion King, Jungle Book, Aladdin.

They count, right?

jim o doom

Don't regard the cartoons mentionned as musicals, but cartoons with musical elemants. And by the by; musicals: Satanic unwatchable irritating mindnumbing homicidal rage inducing SH!TE. I like some animated movies, but I tend to seriously hate the musical parts. Despite some actors I actually like having been in musicals, I still think anyone who has acted in one, should at least be publicly flogged.

Vegeta

Detest them in film form. Especially the ones where they just sing the lines as opposed to singing actual songs (they're both sh1t though imho)

I'd rather skin my sack with a rusty shovel than pay to see one in the cinema.

Vokes

jim o doom wrote:

Don't regard the cartoons mentionned as musicals, but cartoons with musical elemants.

Live-action musicals are just live-aciton films with musical elements.



Btw, Grease 2 > Grease.

Michelle Pfeiffer, hmmmmm :cool:

Cactus Col

I do enjoy a good musical.

Man Of La Mancha is fantastic. And who doesn't like South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut.

bnt

Generally dislike them, but with a few exceptions for classics such as Singing In The Rain and My Fair Lady. The difference has something to do with the songs, I think. I prefer the musicals that have real songs in them, not just dialogue set to music, which means I'm not a huge Opera fan, either.

A great song is a great song, regardless of where it comes from. I mean, I liked Something Good and You'll Never Walk Alone before I knew that they came from musicals (The Sound of Music and Carousel respectively)

Kingp35

SofaK wrote: »

Some of the animated musicals are pretty good - Lion King, Jungle Book, Aladdin.

They count, right?

I don't think that animated musicals are quite as bad but I still wouldn't be a fan of the. Maybe it has a lot to do with the fact that i don't like the songs in these films.

Either way I can't stand any of them, pure cinematic drivel.

Pigman II

They're mostly horrible but there is the odd exception eg Dancer in the Dark or West Side Story which I have enjoyed.

I prefer musical numbers or dance scenes when they appear in non musical-movies. It's like a nice little exhuberent surprise but not something that wants to take over the film itself. Good examples. Zatoichi, Boogie Nights, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Clerks 2.

MagicMarker

I don't mind them, it all depends really.

Sweeny Todd was good, imo.
Nightmare Before Christmas
Bugsy Malone
Willy Wonka
Little Shop of Horrors
The Blues Brothers

Generally they're a thing of the past though, these days anything ''musical'' related is really aimed at the kiddies.

Not The Real Scarecrow

the only good musical i ever saw was Cannibal the Musical
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115819/
every other musical I have had the misfortune of being tortured with just turns my **** bloody.

Wacker

An ex told me that Singin' In the Rain was her favourite film, and I am also making an effort to buy all of IMDB's top 100 (I now have 91 of them), so I picked it up. I didn't care for it at all really. I was then shocked to see it come in 7th in IMDBs top 500 a few months back. Seventh!?!

Blues Brothers is awesome though. I suppose the problem is that the music in musicals is normally not the sort that I'm in to at all, as they are normally marketed towards da wimmins.

Shacklebolt

Hate them personally but I can understand why some people enjoy them.

I also detest the way programmes like the Simpsons or Family Guy throw in musical numbers which are rarely funny.

bnt

Wacker wrote: »

An ex told me that Singin' In the Rain was her favourite film, and I am also making an effort to buy all of IMDB's top 100 (I now have 91 of them), so I picked it up. I didn't care for it at all really. I was then shocked to see it come in 7th in IMDBs top 500 a few months back. Seventh!?!

I think it's fully deserving, for the mad dance numbers ("Make 'Em Laugh" and the title number for starters), and also that it's a humorous document of a particular period in Hollywood history. I don't know how true it is, but you have to laugh at the gorgeous starlet with the squeaky voice...

johnny_ultimate

Yup: a lot of awful ones, some surprisingly enjoyable ones (Sweeney Todd) and very few excellent ones (Dancer in the Dark is the only one I can think of, which is pretty much a dark satire of musicals in general). Random song & dance routines can be entertaining though - Zatochi, Inland Empire, the genius of Monty Python - as long as they are done with an adequate amount of tongue-in-cheek.

Saw Evil Dead: The Musical over the summer though, which was proof that musicals can be funny and entertaining when they don't take themselves seriously. It is in need of a film adaptation given the already absurd latter films. A fine production, and a nice remedy to other movies getting pointless musical "re-imaginings" (Shrek: The Musical was referenced somewhere today).

keefg

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this little gem yet

JohnK

Some I like, some I dont. For me the fact a particular film is a musical wouldnt make me any more or less likely to watch it just like I dont love/hate all horrors or comedies

Valmont

My opinion is that I would rather watch paint dry. Musicals make me cringe twice every minute.

fonpokno

MagicMarker wrote: »

I don't mind them, it all depends really.

Sweeny Todd was good, imo.
Nightmare Before Christmas
Bugsy Malone
Willy Wonka
Little Shop of Horrors
The Blues Brothers

Generally they're a thing of the past though, these days anything ''musical'' related is really aimed at the kiddies.

Look at Avenue Q, it is anything but aimed at kids.



I love musicals but I'm biased...

Karl Hungus

Surprised at the hatred towards musicals. There's some awful ones and there's some great ones, same as any other genre.

Hmm, what about Paint Your Wagon?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dEKDCwf9XU

storker

I hate them...all of them.

Storker

Earthhorse

There's a soft spot in my heart for Mary Poppins but by and large musicals don't do it for me. Mostly my problem is that they may be good musicals but not good movies i.e. the numbers are entertaining but I don't care about the characters.

ziedth

I'm not a fan of them by a lond long shot and I would never pay to see one but Funnily enough I liked that episode of Buffy where is was all done in song along with "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog".

S.M.B.

JohnK wrote: »

Some I like, some I dont. For me the fact a particular film is a musical wouldnt make me any more or less likely to watch it just like I dont love/hate all horrors or comedies

+1

I enjoy a good musical but some of them just don't do it for me. It's the same with all genres of film.

Fysh

Happiness Of The Katakuris FTW!

Seriously, though....perhaps it's because I was involved in stage productions of them as a kid, but I don't get the hatred of musicals as a genre. Good songs are good songs, and that, more than anything else, is what a given musical should be judged by. You can't really apply the same criteria to musicals as you would "normal" films, in the same way that you can't complain about a psychological horror not being funny.

I get that their overall appeal is not for everyone, but I'm pretty sure that for every film fan out there who likes music of some sort, there's at least one musical that they'd enjoy.