"If you've seen one, you've seen them all." It's a phrase that everyone has probably used before, or at least something of the spirit behind it, when talking about movies of a certain genre. You might think, if you're not a fan of horror movies, that if you've only seen one slasher, you know how they all work. And if you only see one romantic comedy that feels good, you might think you don't need to watch any more because of how familiar the tropes are. But arguably, few genres are treated like this, and so unfairly, as the movie musical. Where so many audiences might suspend their disbelief to watch a superhero movie or similar, they struggle to get over the image of people bursting into song to express their emotions. But the truth is that every genre has its standouts and its misses. Not every musical is perfect, or even close to perfect, but many of them can not only affect audiences of all ages, but can also work in different mediums.

It can also be said that those film buffs who are also critics are the most forgiving and strict viewers of musicals. When someone criticizes the very concept of a musical on social media, it's often the critics who will defend the genre against any haters. But conversely, those same critics have seen many of the supposed classics of the genre, making new musicals like "La La Land" or "The Greatest Showman" an even harder sell because of how they feel like they're better behaved or more memorable. movies. As such, it should come as no surprise that when you visit Metacritic to see the highest-rated movie musicals of all time, two things are true: first, there is no movie musical there is perfect 100 on the page; and two, the two musicals closest to 100 are both elder statesmen of the genre.

Let's talk about each of those two musicals. One of them, seen above, is among the best of all movies"Singing in the Rain." The other, as hinted earlier in this article, isn't even live-action, but the 1940 animated film Pinocchio.

When you think about it for even a second or two, it should come as no surprise that Metacritic page of top-ranked movie musicals, five of the top seven Titles are from Walt Disney Animation Studios. (If there's one thing we can argue about, it's that the 1940 film Fantasia is among those five animated entries. It's a great movie, but not a musical in the traditional sense given that no one actually sings the whole thing. ) Long before Disney hired Alan Menken and Howard Ashman to write the songs for its adaptation of The Little Mermaid, the studio was keen on blending the songs with the fairy tales that its animators adapted them. The 1940 film Pinocchio. which is arguably the best animated film Disney has ever madenot only uses poems in Carlo Collodi's retelling of the story of the little wooden boy who goes on an intense journey to become a real boy for his creator and father Geppetto. The film also opens with "When You Wish Upon a Star," a song so iconic that it's literally the studio's anthem.

(Fun fact one: "When You Wish Upon a Star," unsurprisingly, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Fun fact two: "When You Wish Upon a Star" was the first Disney song to even be nominated for that category, meaning Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was rejected in 1937.)

Now, to be fair, none of the other songs in "Pinocchio" come close to topping "When You Wish Upon a Star," which is effective at both distilling the dreams and hopes of the film's characters and being haunting chorus as originally. performed by Cliff Edwards (who played Jiminy Cricket). The film as a whole has a fascinating approach to its storytelling; yes, you may remember how Pinocchio has to face the bad guys like the greedy Stromboli or the scary whale Monstro. But the 90-minute films spends its first half hour in Geppetto's workshop, as we meet the kindly old carver, his cat Figaro, his fish Cleo, and finally the anthropomorphized Pinocchio himself. After the film leaves the workshop and Pinocchio meets all sorts of characters, we hear songs like "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actor's Life For Me)" and "I've Got No Strings," which are alive, optimistic figures. . In fact, only "When You Wish Upon a Star" is something of a ballad; the remaining four tracks (and reprises) are fast-paced tunes that are very catchy even today.

Additionally, in case you're curious, there are 17 reviews of the film recorded on its Metacritic page. Remember, on Metacritic, it's not just that the site collects fewer reviews than its competition, it also tabulates reviews by star or rating number assigned (or assigns one based on review duration). So while this movie has a 99 on the website, there are several reviews (gasp!) below even 90 out of 100. One such review suggests that Pinocchio isn't even in the "upper echelon" of Disney Classics, but listen up, everyone we make mistakes from time to time. Even critics aren't perfect.

For this writer's money, there is no better movie than Singin' in the Rain. We're not just talking about musicals here, but movies in general. That absolutely is the greatest movie musical of all time, but it very much deserves to be considered the greatest movie of all time as well. Since 1952, the film is technically a period piece itself, set in the late 1920s during a time when Hollywood was making the difficult transition from silent films to talking pictures. The film's lead, the disaffected and charming Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly), is an ex-stuntman who is more than happy to show off his all-singing, all-dancing chops once sound hits Los Angeles, especially since he's realized that the kinds of pictures he makes (vaguely adventure stories of derring-do and romance) aren't as creatively exciting as they used to be. (The first line of this article is a direct quote from the movie that lit a spark under Don.) Although Don is ready for the sound era, his obnoxious blonde co-star Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) is not, thanks in large part to her nail-biting voice and demeanor. Meanwhile, Don falls for Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds), a dancer with aspirations of stardom. (If some of this general story reminds you of Damien Chazelle's movie Babylon, that's no coincidence, especially considering how that movie quotes this one in its final moments.)

Singin' in the Rain is one of the greatest cinematic joys of all time, the kind of movie that fills you with positivity and good feeling without feeling forced or fake. The film walks a careful tightrope between honoring the film industry's past while also mercilessly mocking Hollywood. Kelly and his male counterpart Donald O'Connor (as Don Cosmo's best friend) are both absolutely gorgeous, dancing solo or together; The title sequence, which comes as Don realizes the depth of his love for Cathy, is also one of the most iconic in film history. So it's absolutely no surprise that the film has a 99 result on Metacritic, also based on 17 reviews. Like Pinocchio, the film does have a few reviews with scores below 100, but only three, including a specific article by Bosley Crowther of the New York Times. (Since Bosley has years on him, we'll forgive his implication that the film's script is hackneyed, which is definitely A Take.)

That two such different films, not only because they were presented in different mediums but because of the distinctive stories they tell, can find themselves so high on Metacritic's list of musicals should serve as a reminder: just because you saw it one. Doesn't mean you've seen them all. It is quite the opposite. Yes, in a musical, you'll see someone start singing and/or dancing to communicate how they feel, but the background to those actions is often very different. All you need to enjoy these films, to truly appreciate them, is to completely suspend your disbelief.