34. Sing

| 2016 | 054 pts | Biggest lover: 12th (Jahq) |

 

Josh's Song Highlight: "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" (performed by Tori Kelly)

 

 

Sing is another one of the most recent musicals to make the list and is one of an elite group of only SIX animated musicals to make the top 40 of the countdown. The film is about a Koala who brings together a group of people to perform in a singing competition in order to save his theatre.

 

The film was pretty huge making $634.1 million which made it the 13th biggest film of 2016 worldwide. It had decent reviews too scoring 73% on Rotten Tomatoes so it was overall a pretty big success for Illumination Entertainment.

 

I do really like this film and had a lot of fun, especially with the auditions scenes and the jokes were funny at times too but I'm a bit shocked that it has made top 40 here. It's crazy to think the likes of The Little Mermaid, Mulan and Aladdin have been snubbed in favour of stuff like this which massively pales in comparison for me.

 

I've gone for "Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" as the song highlight but only because it serves as the big bring-the-house-down moment at the end of the film. The songs are pretty dull in this film because they're all just covers where I'd rather listen to the originals. An original song or two wouldn't have hurt (aside from Faith which was a bit rubbish too)...

Don't think I have seen any of the recent films oops

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33. Blues Brothers
| 1980 | 060 pts | Biggest lover: 9th (Severin) |

Josh's Song Highlight: "Shake a Tail Feather" (performed by Ray Charles with the Blues Brothers)



Blues Brothers is apparently a bit of a mish-mash of genres having bits of comedy, musical and crime film all in one. It was based on The Blues Brothers characters from a Saturday Night Live sketch which really caught on and eventually spawned this film.

It stars some pretty famous people including the likes of John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles and was clearly very popular at the times making almost four times its production budget at the box office.

This is probably the musical that I'm least familiar with in the entire top 40 but I'm sure that it is good fun and it clearly has its fans here on Buzzjack. I've gone for "Shake a Tail Feather" for the song highlight but I had never heard this version until just now, I just checked it out because I wanted to see what Ray Charles was like in the film :lol:

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32. Trolls
| 2016 | 061 pts | Biggest lover: 6th (Jahq) |

Josh's Song Highlight: "Get Back Up Again" (performed by Anna Kendrick)



Another one of the more recent musicals to make the list and this time it is the 2016 animated film based of everyone's not favourite childhood toy, troll dolls! It tells the story of two trolls who must risk death in order to save their friends from being eaten by the Bergens.

It was a big Buzzjack fave at the time and that still seems to apply now as it makes it to the top 40 over some of the aforementioned Disney classics. I won't deny that I think this film is heaps of fun but it's just nowhere near as good as some of the musicals that have missed out for me. I'd watch The Little Mermaid or Mulan ANY DAY over this to be honest.

"Get Back Up Again" has probably been the easiest choice yet for a song highlight. I still listen to it a lot just because it's so fun and I adore the visuals that accompany the song in the actual film too. Props to Anna Kendrick for having multiple entries here in the top 40, queen of musicals *.*

31. Muppets Christmas Carol
| 1992 | 068 pts | Biggest lover: 3rd (Jonjo) |

Josh's Song Highlight: "Marley & Marley"



The absolute classic 'it's close to christmas now so let's watch a movie in class' in primary school film ever, A Muppets Christmas Carol holds a dear place in the childhoods of many people. I wasn't a big lover of loads of Muppets stuff when I was younger but this was even one of my favourite films to watch during the festive season as a child.

I've chosen "Marley and Marley" as my song highlight because I always used to be excited to watch that scene as a kid. For some reason, they were my favourite characters in the story so that is still my favourite song from the film to this day :wub:

Gaaaah, don't want to seem like I'm begging for posts or anything but these commentaries did take me a little while to write out and a few more comments along the way would be nice :lol: :cry: I know that the other genre countdowns became a bit of a joke for how long they took but I promise that won't happen this time...

 

Here's a little recap anyway:

 

40. Beauty and the Beast (48 pts)

39. Dreamgirls (48 pts)

38. Evita (51 pts)

37. Sing Street (51 pts)

37. Sister Act (51 pts)

35. Jersey Boys (54 pts)

34. Sing (54 pts)

33. Blues Brothers (60 pts)

32. Trolls (61 pts)

31. Muppets Christmas Carol (68 pts)

Muppets Christmas Carol is one of the best films ever. :wub: I think it's my favourite version of the Christmas Carol story. Michael Caine is perfect as Scrooge.

Oh god yes. Muppets Christmas Carol is incredible. I've just bought the DVD to put in my 4 year old's Christmas Eve suitcase delivery, so this will be his first time seeing it. He better love it or there will be trouble.

 

I missed the initial vote on this one, but I'm a bit perplexed at how the results have gone so far if I'm being honest. So many so far that I'd have placed much higher.

Josh, I am loving your commentaries! I just haven't seen many of the films so far :( A shame that Muppet Christmas Carol is so low but I guess it's one that people only go back to once a year. It's definitely the definitive film version of that story for me though :wub:

Josh, I am loving your commentaries! I just haven't seen many of the films so far :(

Thank you Theo :heart: I would definitely recommend Dreamgirls and Sister Act from those you may not have seen based on your votes, both are rather fabulous :wub:

30. Dirty Dancing
| 1987 | 069 pts | Biggest lover: 3rd (vibe) |

Josh's Song Highlight: "Hungry Eyes" (performed by Eric Carmen)



One of the more famous musicals to appear in the countdown, Dirty Dancing tells the story of a young girl who spends the summer at a holiday resort and falls in love with the dance instructor there. The film stars the late Patrick Swayze as well as Jennifer Grey in the two lead roles and made a massive $214 million worldwide despite only having a rumoured $6 million budget.

It became a huge phenomenon with many tracks from the soundtrack becoming chart hits and "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" even won the Oscar for Best Original Song over another classic, Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" from Mannequin. It also spawned a hit stage show which I have been to see. I've never seen this film version but I massively enjoyed the stage show so I will have to get around to it some time.

I guess the obvious choice for song highlight is the aforementioned Oscar winner, "(I've Had) The Time of My Life", BUT my personal favourite has always been "Hungry Eyes" which just has such a killer chorus that I couldn't go without mentioning it somewhere in this commentary. "She's Like the Wind" is also rather lovely and worthy of a shout out too :wub:

Thank you Theo :heart: I would definitely recommend Dreamgirls and Sister Act from those you may not have seen based on your votes, both are rather fabulous :wub:

I have actually had both of those recorded on our Tivo box years ago but never got round to watching them so they got deleted </3

 

What the hell at Dirty Dancing?! I may have not voted for it/penalised it as it's not really a musical but it's one of my favourite films ever! The stage show is great too, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

29. The Bodyguard
| 1992 | 073 pts | Biggest lover: 2nd (vibe) |

Josh's Song Highlight: "I Have Nothing" (performed by Whitney Houston)



This is another one that I haven't actually seen but has been high up on my watchlist for a long, long time. The songs from it are obviously iconic so I'd love to see what the story behind the music is all about. IMDb tells me it is about a Secret Service agent who becomes the bodyguard of a pop singer.

It features Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston in the two lead roles as well as producing some of the latter's biggest and most memorable hits of her entire career. It was even nominated for two of its original songs, "I Have Nothing" and "Run to You" but they both lost to "A Whole New World" from Aladdin.

There are almost too many classic Whitney anthems to pick just one from this soundtrack but I do revisit "I Have Nothing" the most so I've gone for this. Obviously, "I Will Always Love You" is probably the one that most people associate with the film and will most likely go down as one of the biggest songs ever from a movie.

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28. Moana
| 2016 | 075 pts | Biggest lover: 11th (Jahq) |

Josh's Song Highlight: "How Far I'll Go" (performed by Auli'i Cravalho)



Moana is actually the 4th highest animated musical to make the countdown which is rather impressive in my opinion. I certainly didn't realise it had become more popular than some proper Disney classics like The Little Mermaid and Aladdin already on Buzzjack :o The film is about Moana who travels the Pacific to find the demigod, Maui and return the stolen heart of Te Fiti.

It was a pretty big financial success making an impressive $643.3 million worldwide at the box office which is actually more than the likes of Tangled & Wreck-It Ralph from other recent Disney movies! It was also nominated for two Oscars but unfortunately, lost both of them (How Far I'll Go lost to "City of Stars" from La La Land in Original Song and the film itself lost to Zootopia in the Animated Feature category :()

This is one of my favourite Disney movies of recent years and is perhaps their most gorgeous film to look at yet, the water scenes especially were just breath-taking, but I'm not sure I'd rank it this highly quite yet above so many Disney animated musicals that didn't make the cut.

Speaking of Oscar nominated songs, "How Far I'll Go" just edges it as my highlight of the film because of how just uplifting it is. "You're Welcome" was initially my favourite when I first watched the film for me but that song works much better with the visuals alongside it whereas HFIG has really stuck with me as a song itself :wub:

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27. The Muppets
| 2011 | 080 pts | Biggest lover: 11th (UltraReputation) |

Josh's Song Highlight: "Man or Muppet" (performed by Jason Segel and Walter)



This is one of the few films on the list that I really don't have much of a desire to watch. Amy Adams is the only real draw for me as I found The Muppets a little annoying to be honest and I'm not sure if I could stomach a whole movie based around them :mellow:

It was a decent earner for Disney earning $165.2 million worldwide at the box office. It was obviously deemed successful enough to warrant a sequel too which unfortunately cost slightly more to produce and made half as much worldwide :lol:

"Man or Muppet" even won the Oscar for Best Original Song but it was a bit of an odd year anyway as there were only two nominees in that category anyway (the other being "Real in Rio" from Rio) :lol: I've picked that as my song highlight but only because it's the only one that I've actually heard, oops.

OMG I completely forgot about the existence of Jersey Boys until this thread :o *.* I watched the film adaptation with my family a few years ago on TV and absolutely loved it, helped by the fact that I generally have positive feelings towards the music of The Four Seasons.

 

I have somehow never seen Dirty Dancing :mellow: one of these days.

Moana is one of my all time favourite movies. But I kinda vetoed all Disney movies in this. :( Woulda been top 5 for sure though, if not the winner. Such a flawless movie that just has repeatability!

 

I think I actually forgot to vote Muppets. :lol: but it wouldn't have been too hugh I should think. Really liked the film when I saw it, but I literally haven't seen it since the cinema release! 'Man or Muppet' is genius :wub:

Oh oops at The Sound of Music that low, I haven't seen it so I couldn't help it, but that feels a bit wrong for such a classic :x I do adore The Muppets Christmas Carol and watch it every Christmas, it didn't actually come to my mind as a musical though!

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26. High School Musical 2
| 2007 | 083 pts | Biggest lover: 9th (HarryEzra) |

Josh's Song Highlight: "Fabulous" (performed by Ashley Tisdale)



It wouldn't be Buzzjack if High School Musical 2 wasn't ranked as a better musical than the likes of The Sound of Music and Moulin Rouge :lol: High School Musical 2 takes place during summer break where the cast must start looking at getting jobs. The love triangle between Troy, Gabriella and Sharpay continues after Troy is offered a job in a country club owned by Sharpay's family.

It is a television movie so there are no box office takings to discuss in the commentary but it was nominated for two primetime Emmy awards for Outstanding Choreography and Outstanding Children's Program.

I have seen this but it was when I was much younger and nowadays I can't really differentiate between all three movies. I did enjoy them as a kid but I haven't seen them in ages now so they've all just sort of melded into one in my memory. I should probably think about re-watching them at some point as they are lots of fun.

This has probably been my easiest choice for song highlight yet because "Fabulous" is by far my favourite song in any High School Movie ever. It's just such a diva anthem and impossible not to lip sync sassily when you play it. "What Time Is It?" is obviously a classic too but nothing can hold a candle to Sharpay's fabulous "Fabulous" *.*

As much as I love it, Dirty Dancing surely shouldn't be here. None of the songs are performed. It's just a movie with an amazing soundtrack.

 

Little Shop of Horrors better sweep the board here. It's a stone cold classic.