Poll: Let's settle this once and for all: Musical numbers in kids' films, yay or nay?

[FPLOON]

Only if they fit the tome of the movie... otherwise, they stick out more than they need to...

I remember when I saw Tangled and I honestly thought only one of the songs worked with the movie itself... and it was more of a self-contained song that fit well with the scene itself... Then, I saw Princess and the Frog (which I still find that to be the better movie, from I guess the "biased" perspective) and every song seemed to flow well with the tone of the movie... and that movie has one of my favorite songs to listen to on its own alongside "Hell Fire"... (*sings* He's got friends on the other side~)

So, yeah... It's more depends on the movie, but then again this is still Disney... You better be prepared for musical numbers in those "animated" movies...

 

[Mylinkay Asdara]

I like the songs. I like getting the soundtracks and getting to re-live the movie in my head while they play without watching the entire movie over again. Same with video games too actually - their soundtracks, though usually they don't have "song songs" like Disney Sing a Long.

I liked them as a kid for pretty much the same reasons. Also, breaking into a Disney song out of no-where with my sister is an extremely pleasurable life experience I get to have because of those silly, stuck in your head for days, can't remember some portion but know the rest by heart songs lol

 

[Something Amyss]

What do I vote for general ambivalence? I don't dislike them, but I'm not like "OH YES! MUSICAL NUMBER!"

Still, some of them can be good, can be fun, and I can enjoy them. So...For the sake of accurate polling, do I vote yes?

Also, I liked playing musical suites from 90s Disney movies in band. It was one of the few times a low brass player such as myself got to play something dynamic. Though there ARE exceptions.


Me and a friend were so bored playing the scripted part here we started doing a "camel" dance. Which is mostly because the band director described the bass notes we played as the camel's movement.

 

[Olas]

I think this picture illustrates how I feel about this better than I could do with words;

Ya, that pretty much sums it up. Kids generally aren't patient enough for long musical numbers that interrupt the story, at least that was true for me. For me the only value to the musical bits was the crazy visuals that tended to accompany them.

 

[Trueflame]

It depends. Sometimes it works, like in Disney animated movies, where a lot of the songs are fantastic and classics on their own merit. But at other times it feels like it's just a money grabbing addition, and adds nothing to the movie... So I don't know how to answer this. It depends on the movie, and the music, and how it all ties together, and my mood at the time.

 

[TheSYLOH]

A musical number like every other trope, is a tool.
Some movies use it well, others use it poorly.

It's at its worst when animators feel they have to shoe horn in a musical number because its a kids show.
But that doesn't mean it has no place.

For example, the musical episode from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was a continuous musical number in a show for teens+, they used the musical to add a refreshing twist and it worked.

 

[AldUK]

For example, the musical episode from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was a continuous musical number in a show for teens+, they used the musical to add a refreshing twist and it worked.

Once More, With Feeling. I must of seen that episode a hundred times!

 

[Nazulu]

FAMILY MOVIES, Dammit!

I love all the old musical numbers, they really add to the film when done well, but that's just the thing, I don't believe they can make them like they used to, so this whole thread should just die in a fire. I find the whole movie industry now just terrible now.

 

[joshuaayt]

I absolutely love musical numbers- Normal dialogue is best for exposition, but you can fit a fuckload more feeling into a song.

My only complaint about Frozen (You mentioned Frozen so I'm talking about it now) is that the songs sorta just stopped for the last third of the movie.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

A musical number like every other trope, is a tool.
Some movies use it well, others use it poorly.

We have a winner!

It depends on the movie and the song in question, Wreck it Ralph didn't really have a traditional music number as such but that doesn't make it inherently inferior of superior to a movie that does.

 

[TheSYLOH]

Now try to imagine if Let it Go or rather the storytelling that takes place through the song had been attempted without the song

Spoiler: it would have been

Elsa walks out on the mountainside, looks back at the town and takes off her remaining glove. She then does some minor feats of ice magic, then builds the bridge. She crosses the bridge, and creates the ice palace. She then takes off and discards her crown, lets down her hair and transforms her dress. Finally she walks to the balcony and looks out for a moment before turning back in to the palace with a smirk.
It doesn't convey the emotion in anywhere near the same fashion as the musical number did. Let it Go leaves the audience with feelings of empathy for Elsa, while still wondering if she's going to turn full-on villain. Plus it's just a glorious treat to watch and hear (never-mind the parallels to Defying Gravity from Wicked but that's a conversation for another time...).
The visual without the song would still let the audience speculate on Elsa becoming a villain, but wouldn't really help them empathize with her.

That or she could start cursing

Spoiler: NSFW for strong language

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Now try to imagine if Let it Go or rather the storytelling that takes place through the song had been attempted without the song

Spoiler: it would have been

Elsa walks out on the mountainside, looks back at the town and takes off her remaining glove. She then does some minor feats of ice magic, then builds the bridge. She crosses the bridge, and creates the ice palace. She then takes off and discards her crown, lets down her hair and transforms her dress. Finally she walks to the balcony and looks out for a moment before turning back in to the palace with a smirk.
It doesn't convey the emotion in anywhere near the same fashion as the musical number did. Let it Go leaves the audience with feelings of empathy for Elsa, while still wondering if she's going to turn full-on villain. Plus it's just a glorious treat to watch and hear (never-mind the parallels to Defying Gravity from Wicked but that's a conversation for another time...).
The visual without the song would still let the audience speculate on Elsa becoming a villain, but wouldn't really help them empathize with her.

BTW- I thought Frozen was *amazing* and the more I think about/analyze it the better it gets.

Let It Go is a legitimately great song (I just started practising it on piano), but I think the scene could have reached an equal emotional height even without the song. It's interesting to think of the scene being with almost no dialogue: Elsa walking up the mountain, looking around and slowly coming to her conclusion. I think Disney could have really pulled her moment of epiphany off purely through animation alone, since they're so good at facial expressions. Convey her feeligns through mere expressions, help it with the music and maybe have her finally say "I'm never going back" while standing on the balcony of her castle.

 

[smithy_2045]

In general, no to musical numbers. There are rare exceptions, but most of the time, it's just annoying.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

the only thing you will ultimately settle upon is that you wont be able to settle this once and for all.

some are good, some are bad. you will never get your black and white answer to this question.

If I really wanted a black and white, be all end all definitive ultimate answer to this question, would I be asking about it on a gaming internet forum? Not every thread title is to be taken literally.

 

[Little Woodsman]

Now try to imagine if Let it Go or rather the storytelling that takes place through the song had been attempted without the song

Spoiler: it would have been

Elsa walks out on the mountainside, looks back at the town and takes off her remaining glove. She then does some minor feats of ice magic, then builds the bridge. She crosses the bridge, and creates the ice palace. She then takes off and discards her crown, lets down her hair and transforms her dress. Finally she walks to the balcony and looks out for a moment before turning back in to the palace with a smirk.
It doesn't convey the emotion in anywhere near the same fashion as the musical number did. Let it Go leaves the audience with feelings of empathy for Elsa, while still wondering if she's going to turn full-on villain. Plus it's just a glorious treat to watch and hear (never-mind the parallels to Defying Gravity from Wicked but that's a conversation for another time...).
The visual without the song would still let the audience speculate on Elsa becoming a villain, but wouldn't really help them empathize with her.

BTW- I thought Frozen was *amazing* and the more I think about/analyze it the better it gets.

Let It Go is a legitimately great song (I just started practising it on piano), but I think the scene could have reached an equal emotional height even without the song. It's interesting to think of the scene being with almost no dialogue: Elsa walking up the mountain, looking around and slowly coming to her conclusion. I think Disney could have really pulled her moment of epiphany off purely through animation alone, since they're so good at facial expressions. Convey her feeligns through mere expressions, help it with the music and maybe have her finally say "I'm never going back" while standing on the balcony of her castle.

I honestly don't think that the same emotional heights would be reached--the studio was already using Elsa's facial expressions to add to the emotive content, and there are few things as emotive as song.
Plus we'd have been denied fantastic lines like "My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around", the deliciously ironic "you'll never see me cry!" and "The fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all"

Spoiler: blown away when I thought about this later

The real big bad of the film wasn't Hans, it was Elsa's fear. And there was one fear in particular that she couldn't let go of until the climax! When the audience sees her cry & cry!

Those lines could be spoken as soliloquy but the disconnect from that would be almost as great as the insertion of the song.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Honestly, I think it all depends on the music and, the film at hand. It's kind of a cop-out answer but for me it really depends on the film. Movies like Nightmare Before Christmas, Princess and the Frog and, Frozen were all well and good with enjoyable musical bits (for the most part). When it comes to Disney movies especially, some of my favorite songs have been their villain songs. Then there are other movies that seem like they're going to be song free...then throw in a musical number here or there. Equestria Girls did this and while the song was kind of annoying, it seemed appropriate enough considering the number of episodes that have a song attached. Then there's outright disasters like Tom & Jerry the Movie...that was just...that's just its own special case...

I guess I'm on the side of yay as opposed to nay...