Best Animated musical films

[Bilbo3]

What would you say are the top 5 or 10 best animated musicals? Remember, there's a difference between Best and Favorite. 

[mattporter17]

I know people bash Frozen because it's insanely popular, but I honestly believe it's one of the best Disney musicals right on par with The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.

[Bilbo3]

My personal picks:

10 - Pocahontas 

9 - Anastasia

8 - Aladdin

7 - Prince of Egypt 

6 - The Little Mermaid

5 - The Nightmare before Christmas

4 -  The Hunchback of Notredame

3 -  South Park:Bigger longer and uncut

2 - Lion King

1- Beauty and the Beast

 

Honorable mentions:

Tarzan

Frozen

8 crazy nights

Tangled

Quest for Camelot

 

 

[Bilbo3]

I know people bash Frozen because it's insanely popular, but I honestly believe it's one of the best Disney musicals right on par with The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.

To each his own. I find Frozen to be pretty overrated. The best part of the film is Let it go and then it's pretty much crap after that.

[NewPhilosophy]

- The Little Mermaid

- Beauty and the Beast 

- Anastasia

- The Lion King (the original version; not the one with "Morning Report" added in)

- Cinderella

 

[Kad]

I'm going to put forward The Brave Little Toaster as an underrated animated musical with some good- though admittedly odd- songs.

"Worthless" from The Brave Little Toaster

[Hest882]

Charlotte's Web. Yellow Submarine. The Point.

[vfd88]

I honestly think Beauty and the Beast is one of the very few perfect movies in existence. Every single element of it is superb. So that gets my vote. The Lion King, Frozen, Cinderella, Snow White, Tangled, and The Prince of Egypt are also all excellent.

[acekatherineplumber2]

The Jungle Book!

[RingOfKeys2]

1. Beauty and the Beast

2. Hercules

3. The Lion King

4. The Little Mermaid

5. The Princess and the Frog

6. South Park: Bigger, Longer, & Uncut (Sondheim said this was the best musical of the 90's in some interview once)

7. Anastasia

8. Aladdin

9. Tangled

10. The Jungle Book

 

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

-Fantasia 

-Pocahontas

-The Hunchback of Notre Dame

-Peter Pan

-Tarzan

 

Disney pretty much has the monopoly on this thread.

 

Notice how I didn't include Frozen because it doesn't live up to its hype and honestly leaves me wanting more. 

[broadwaysfguy]

1) Beauty and the Beast

2) Alladin

3) the little mermaid

4) Tarzan(much better than most people credit..great songs here)

5) Cinderella

6) Pocahontas

7) Anastasia

South Park Bigger longer uncut

9) Peter Pan

10) Prince of Egypt

frozen

 

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST...from the very first moment of that movie i knew it felt like a Broadway show...

TANGLED...has DONNA MURPHY voicing the "Mother" so you know it's fun!

FROZEN...Josh Gad's OLAF is memorable

ANASTASIA

SOUTH PARK BIGGER AND LOUDER...all i hope is the boys from South Park make BOOK OF MORMAN a cartoon too...:)

[GavestonPS]

I am totally biased, but I think BEAUTY AND THE BEAST is truly a "cartoon" for children and adults alike.

My granddaughter says I have to at least give honorable mention to her favorite: THE LITTLE MERMAID.

After that, the drop-off is steep; I admit I'm not that big a fan of animation. When I was a kid, I loved PETER PAN and BAMBI.

[Elfuhbuh]

Beauty and the Beast will always be my favorite movie, not just from an animated or Disney standpoint, but overall.

The Little Mermaid is another really good one.

The Lion King should probably also get an honorable mention, but at times it feels like the movie has too much hype surrounding it even to this day.

[VintageSnarker]

My rankings might be a little controversial but you did say best and not favorite. I ranked more on the musical side and less on the movie side. Thus a lot of movies ended up surprisingly low because of a lack of songs.

1. The Little Mermaid 2. Pocahontas 3. Beauty and the Beast 4. Anastasia

5. Hercules 6. The Hunchback of Notre Dame 7. The Princess and the Frog 8. The Nightmare Before Christmas 9. Snow White 10. Aladdin

Honorable mentions: The Prince of Egypt, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, Thumbelina, The Swan Princess, Frozen, The Lion King, Cats Don't Dance, Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper 

Of course I haven't seen every animated musical. Did anyone catch that Dorothy movie with Lea Michele?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gypsy101]

Aladdin

Beauty and the Beast

The Little Mermaid

Sleeping Beauty

Tangled

Hercules

Enchanted

 

Disney really has the monopoly. I was surprised to see Prince of Egypt on so many lists, I've always found it to be so joyless. Anastasia I mildly enjoyed, but it's such a realistic story and then includes that ridiculous villain and his pet bat. Most early Disney, I'm not a big fan, although I enjoyed Aristocats as a child.

[Fantod]

The ultimate trifecta in my opinion is:

 

The Jungle Book

Sleeping Beauty

Peter Pan

[dented146]

The Little Mermaid. Fabulous score and orchestrations complimented with brilliant animations.

[RingOfKeys2]

The Sherman Brothers wrote some amazing musicals (in the form of in animation).

[Dave19]

1. Beauty and the Beast

2. Cinderella

3. Sleeping Beauty

4. The Little Mermaid

I think those 4 are absolute masterpieces.

I don't understand Frozen in some people's list. I know it is a hype, but very overrated and the songs are very uninspired and lame in my opinion. To me, the whole film is a product of "let's put a modern slapstick joke here", "let's put a bombastic song here" because we assume it works, looking at past projects. Also, I don't like the animation style, the characters look like bugs moving in slowmotion.

Edit: Aladdin and Pocahontas are also amongst my favorites, but Aladdin tends to have a little too much modern slapstick humor and Pocahontas' animation is a little off at times.

 

[Princeton Returns]

1 - Beauty and the Beast

2 - The Lion King (Be Prepared has to be one of the best villain songs ever written)

3 - Hercules

4 - Pocahontas 

5 - Jungle Book (rewatched it recently and it was just pure joy)

6 - Anastasia

7 - Mulan

8 - Aladdin

9 - Tarzan

10 - The Hunchback of Notre Dame

 

Honourable Mentions

The Prince of Egypt - yes the songs are great, but as an overall film I find it a bit cold

Oliver and Co - Some great songs

[artscallion]

South Park...

Gay Pur-ee

Little Mermaid

Fantasia

[Bilbo3]

I was surprised to see Prince of Egypt on so many list

From a technical aspect, I think it's pretty amazing. I've never seen a carton with such amazing animation before, which is why it got ranked high on my top 10. But I really don't like most of the score from it. The opening song and the "If you believe" are great but the rest is mismatched and mediocre. But dang, that animation.   

[Fan123]

Another vote for The Little Mermaid from me. Animation was particularly suited to capturing the wonder of moving between the two worlds (land and underwater), for both characters and audience, and the fun possibilities of the 'zero gravity'-esque conditions underwater. For example, I love that transition at the start when the "camera" follows the fish from land to sea. Plus the plot and music and all.

 

Not to threadjack (much), but do any posters her know of any anime musicals worthy of attention? (I'm talking cartoon film musicals, not live action musicals based on cartoons.) One would think it would be a thriving genre, perhaps, given the popularity of both animation and musicals in Japan. But there are virtually none on my radar, though admittedly I'm pretty much an anime novice. (I know there's a Little Mermaid anime with a single song.)

[tazber]

I agree with Bilbo re: Prince of Egypt.

The score is so flat and boring.

 

I guess my top three would be:

The Jungle Book

The Little Mermaid

Anastasia