Damien Chazelle’s breezy new throwback musical La La Land is earning rave reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and is already considered an Oscar front-runner. Before the Emma Stone/Ryan Gosling film opens in limited release on December 9, we’ve decided to put La La Land in context by running down a list of The 15 Best Recent Movie Musicals of the last twenty years, which you can check out in the gallery below!
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Like the western, musicals are often mentioned as a dying genre, but like westerns at least one prominent musical seems to pop up like clockwork every year or two. Granted there aren’t nearly as many being generated as there were during Hollywood’s Golden Age — when Gene Kelly, Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, Julie Andrews and Bing Crosby ruled the roost — but there have been many attempts to keep the cheerful tone of those classic musicals alive. There’s also been a fair share of revisionist musicals that evoke a darker tone or a more contemporary/irreverent style, and you’ll find several of those on our list as well.
What do you think of our list of The 15 Best Recent Movie Musicals? What are some of your favorites? Let us know in the comments below!
The 15 Best Recent Movie Musicals
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Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
Woody Allen directs and leads an all-star cast including Julia Roberts, Drew Barrymore, Goldie Hawn, Edward Norton, Natalie Portman and a precocious Natasha Lyonne in this exuberant film filled with clever choreography and classic songs. Norton delivers an exceptional Allen imitation, one for the ages.
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Everyone Says I Love You (1996)
The concept was to utilize actors who are not known for their singing, with the exception of tone deaf Drew Barrymore and Goldie Hawn, who had to reign in her normally excellent singing voice in order to sound more ordinary.
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Cannibal! The Musical (1996)
Although technically finished and premiered in 1993, Trey Parker's acting/singing/writing/directing debut wasn't given a legitimate release by Troma until 1996, a year before his breakout success with "South Park." It's since become a cult film on home video.
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Cannibal! The Musical (1996)
It is a musical ode to Alferd Packer, the real-life cannibal who consumed five of his buddies on a trip from Utah to Colorado, and in typical Trey Parker/Matt Stone style (Stone was a producer/writer) there is lots of irreverence and a surprisingly sweet tone. Songs like "Shpadoinkle" and "Hang the Bastard" prove memorable.
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Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Baz Luhrmann's surprise hit is often credited with kickstarting the contemporary musical boom. The jukebox style adapts pop songs like Madonna's "Like a Virgin," Elton John's "Your Song," "Roxanne" by The Police and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana to turn-of-the-20th-century Paris.
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Moulin Rouge! (2001)
The story of a young Bohemian writer (Ewan McGregor) who falls for a bewitching cabaret actress and courtesan named Satine (Nicole Kidman) is set against Luhrmann's lavish sets partially inspired by Bollywood.
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Chicago (2002)
After Bob Fosse's 1975 broadway musical was revived in the late '90s to huge success, it didn't take Hollywood long to bring it to the screen in fine fashion. The result was not only a Best Picture Oscar winner but also a statue for Best Supporting Actress to Catherine Zeta-Jones for her portrayal of a showgirl accused of murder.
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Chicago (2002)
Renée Zellweger plays another murderess who meets Zeta-Jones in jail while awaiting trial. Richard Gere plays a lawyer who shrewdly turns his clients into celebrities. Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Christine Baranski and Taye Diggs also star.
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School of Rock (2003)
Arguably Jack Black's signature role, the Tenacious D frontman plays a down-on-his-luck musician who impersonates a substitute teacher and winds up giving his prep school class some valuable lessons on how to rock and how to live.
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School of Rock (2003)
Richard Linklater's sleeper box office hit later inspired both a Nickelodeon TV series and an Andrew Lloyd Webber Broadway musical.
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Dreamgirls (2006)
The iconic 1981 Broadway smash inspired by the story of The Supremes had a long, troubled road getting to the screen, but writer/director Bill Condon proved more than up to the task. Having a cast that includes Jamie Foxx, Beyoncé Knowles, Jennifer Hudson and Eddie Murphy didn't hurt.
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Dreamgirls (2006)
Former "American Idol" contestant Jennifer Hudson shines as Effie White, who is pushed out of her place in girl group The Dreams only to resurrect her career a decade later. Hudson justly earned an Oscar and stardom for her performance.
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Happy Feet (2006)
Before he went back on the Fury Road, Mad Max mastermind George Miller created an improbable hit with this children's animated film about emperor penguins that sing and one who doesn't... though he can dance up a storm.
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Happy Feet (2006)
With tap-dancing motion capture provided by ace hoofer Savion Glover, Miller's film was a surprise global smash and spawned a 2011 sequel, Happy Feet Two.
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Once (2006)
This micro-budget indie about a 30-something Dublin busker and a Czech teenager who share a songwriting bond as well as an unrequited love became a global phenomenon, grossing $23 million on a $150,000 dollar budget.
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Once (2006)
While Irish director John Carney has gone on to do other musically-oriented films like Begin Again and Sing Street, the two leads Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová have stuck to music. The two formed the band The Swell Season (and were romantically linked), and Once went on to have a hit Broadway adaptation as well.
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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Macabre director Tim Burton found a perfect match for his sensibilities in Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Tony Award-winning 1979 musical about an English barber who murders his clients then grinds them into meat pies.
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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
Johnny Depp plays the titular serial killer, out for vengeance after being falsely imprisoned for 15 years, with a kind of punk rock flair. Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Timothy Spall and a slightly hip-hop oriented Sacha Baron Cohen fill out the cast.
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Mamma Mia! (2008)
Catherine Johnson's musical adaptation of the music of Swedish band ABBA came to the screen with Meryl Streep as a woman who's not sure who the father of her about-to-be-married daughter (Amanda Seyfried) is.
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Mamma Mia! (2008)
Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgård play the three potential pappas, and the music keeps things bubbly and fun throughout.
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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Edgar Wright helmed this adaptation of Bryan Lee O'Malley's comic book series with the kind of wit and verve most filmmakers only dream of having.
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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
The story of 20-something Canadian hipster musician Scott (Michael Cera) and his battle with the seven evil exes of his new girlfriend is filled with inventive musical performances blended with insanely off-the-wall fight sequences.
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Les Misérables (2012)
A filmed version of the timeless 1980 musical based on Victor Hugo's novel was decades in the making and upon release proved both a box office smash and awards season success, earning Anne Hathaway an Oscar for her soulful performance as the tragic Fantine.
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Les Misérables (2012)
Hugh Jackman stars as Jean Valjean, an ex-con breaking parole and being hotly pursued by police inspector Javert (Russell Crowe). Co-starring Amanda Seyfried as Cosette and Eddie Redmayne as Marius Pontmercy.
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Pitch Perfect (2012)
Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin and Rebel Wilson lead this story of The Barden Bellas, an all-girl university a cappella group, in this sleeper hit that has generated huge box office, a hit sequel and a third on the way.
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Pitch Perfect (2012)
In the first film of the trilogy, the Bellas have to come together as a team in order to defeat a rival group, all while forming a lasting bond.
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Frozen (2013)
Disney has always been the gold standard for animated films, but they surpassed all expectations with this loose adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen."
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Frozen (2013)
Idina Menzel soars as Elsa, a princess with the power to control cold and ice, belting out the now-classic Best Original Song-winner "Let It Go." The film went on to become the highest-grossing animated film of all-time.
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God Help The Girl (2014)
Here's an overlooked gem from the mind of Stuart Murdoch, frontman for popular indie band Belle & Sebastian, as he creates a full-blown musical loosely based on the formation of said band.
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God Help The Girl (2014)
Emily Browning stars as a girl with a serious eating disorder who becomes friends with aspiring musician James (Olly Alexander) and his guitar student Cassie ("Game of Thrones" star Hannah Murray). This is a like it or lump it situation where your enjoyment is entirely proportional to your love of twee pop music, though if you are a fan you will be in heaven.
