Not only is this a cinematic version of the first concert to ever gross over one-billion dollars, but it’s also the overdue shake-up to the entire movie theater industry. Rather than how other major studios would normally tell theaters far in advance when to book their next tentpole movie release, Taylor contacted those theaters herself, blocking out all of October so that no other major releases would conflict with her film. As a result, the cinematic version of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour became one of the biggest hits of 2023, making huge theater crowds lining up for a theatrical event a reality once again after the COVID-19 pandemic hurt the industry.
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For what feels like the first time, fans are able to experience a live concert without the messy crowds, loud noises, or expensive tickets that may discourage them from going. Yet these fans are still encouraged to wear friendship bracelets, t-shirts, and other T-Swift related merchandise, getting the freedom to participate in the theater the same way they would at the live concert. In fact, watching the concert this way provides the extra advantage of seeing Taylor more up close and personal; it’s easier to see how openly grateful she is toward her adoring fans. Thanks to this largely influential musician’s desire to make her body of work more accessible will save movie theaters, a new chapter to what the theatrical experience is all about has begun.

PG-13 (DLS)
Documentary/Musical
2 hr. 49 min.

Watch it for FUN.
Watch it to LEARN.
Watch it to feel HAPPY.

This remake had the task of marrying together the original book by Alice Walker, the Steven Spielberg film, and the Broadway adaptation, all while keeping the soul of the story preserved. With Oprah Winfrey on board as a producer, this newest version gives an inspirational glance back to a time when Black freedom in America was still a new concept, making this an important movie for Black women to feel seen and heard. As another component behind why this version works so well, Danielle Brooks and Fantasia Barrino, two cast members from the Broadway production, reprise their respective roles. Likewise, Taraji P. Henson is here, playing the role she originally turned down on Broadway.
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With that authentic touch of theatrical pizzazz, that naturally means this film version has some phenomenal musical numbers, including one with traditional Ugandan fashions. One of the songs featured is, “She Be Mine,” which was originally written for the Broadway show but didn’t make the final cut. Ultimately, the production in the end looks great, and the cast seems to be such a closely-knit community who had their hearts in the right place. For anyone who’s been a victim of abuse, neglect, or poverty, The Color Purple is for them. It’s the sort of movie that motivates the overlooked by promoting deeply Christian themes, particularly in how God created purple flowers so that we can notice His rare sparks of beauty in nature.

To create The Lion King, the animators poured their whole hearts and souls into each animal they put onto the screen. They even brought real lions into the studio as references for their work, just like what Walt Disney did with his animators for films like Bambi and The Lady and the Tramp. Other digital effects made the beautiful African landscapes feel bigger than life, such as by implementing mist, sunbeams, and changes in camera focus to give a sense of perspective. Together, all these ambitious techniques make possible the unforgettable moment when Simba sees the vision of Mufasa in the sky.
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However, the film’s greatest accomplishment is the stampede—an endeavor in computer animation that accomplished a vision impossible to be met by traditional hand-drawn animation. First, a digital wildebeest model was made off of a hand-drawn piece of animation, and then to get hundreds of these models running together, a new software was developed so the wildebeest wouldn’t collide with one another. Yet the hard work of these animators would’ve been futile without the legendary musical score, with talent including Tim Rice, Elton John, Hans Zimmer, and Lebo M- a South African composer. The result is a definitive motion picture event designed at the same grand scale as Hollywood epics such as Ben-Hur or Lawrence of Arabia. So today, it’s remembered as one of the most influential animated films ever made.

Frozen is the finest example of a modern Disney classic that embraces the newness of computer animation to generate something truly spectacular. Animating the snow and ice proved to be a tremendous endeavor, seeing how the production crew programmed a snowflake generator that created over 2,000 unique snowflake shapes. Animating Elsa’s ice powers was also a tremendous showcase of how deep the animators’ attention to detail dove, seeing how in the scene where Elsa created her ice palace, the ice is animated to branch out the same way an actual snowflake does. Furthermore, whenever Elsa loses control over her ice powers, the ice she generates looks harsh with sharp edges, but once she gains control by using them out of love, the ice looks circular with soft edges.
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It's especially worth knowing that the now iconic song “Let it Go” was the reason why the writers rewrote Elsa’s character so that instead of her being the villain like originally planned, she was a co-lead for the audience to root for. That ended up being the right decision because, without the touching sisterly relationship between Anna and Elsa, this instant Disney classic would never have gone on to define an entire generation. It would never have pushed the Disney brand, or other child-focused industries, toward greater diversity with independent, active female protagonists who can teach kids healthy standards on what true love is all about.

PG (D)
Fantasy/Musical
1 hr. 42 min.

Watch it for FUN.
​Watch it to feel HAPPY and SAD.

Based on a poem Tim Burton wrote while he was a Disney animator, The Nightmare Before Christmas was originally going to be adapted into a TV special that pays tribute to holiday classics like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Yet what it became instead was a new approach to the laborious medium of stop-motion animation that no TV special could ever achieve. Taken straight from Tim Burton’s visualizations, this delightful little movie has beautiful set and character designs that found that fine balance between unsettling and charming, with distinct sets of colors and shapes used to differentiate between Halloween Town, Christmas Town, and the human world.
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When animating this feature film, nearly 200 puppets were made for the 230 large sets built across nineteen different soundstages. The Jack Skellington puppets alone had around 400 interchangeable heads built for his different facial expressions, and filming just one minute of screen time took a whole workweek! To make the project all the more ambitious, many digital effects, such as cartoon ghosts, were included, and Danny Elfman had to start working on his now iconic musical score before the script was even complete. Yet it paid off: this crowning achievement produced by Tim Burton is now a cultural staple that came to define the entire identity of the Halloween season, as well as become a cinematic reintroduction to the art of stop-motion.

PG (V)
Fantasy/Musical
1 hr. 16 min.

Watch it for FUN.
​Watch it to feel HAPPY.

This first ever “high school musical” redefined cinematic musicals with its roller coaster of an experience that anyone can sing along to. Up until the 1970s, Hollywood musicals were known for their squeaky-clean adaptations of the classics, like The Sound of Music or Mary Poppins; any more mature musicals like Cabaret or The Rocky Horror Picture Show were not designed for the masses. Grease on the other hand went against the grain by focusing on teenagers in the 1950s, with music from the culture, and numerous sexual references that could only be made in the ratings system era. The result of this daring direction entertained all the teenagers of the time who wanted something which spoke directly to them, striking that balance between mature content and wide mass appeal.
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While not a “good” movie by any stretch, this grand achievement in writing more modern music for a more modern musical film paved the way for what types of motion pictures people wanted to see. G-rated family fare like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory weren’t really “cool” anymore, just like the rest of the 1970s in Hollywood, the musical genre was growing up, and now even Broadway is willing to make more entertainment exclusively for the adults. The main takeaway isn’t just that daring content will leave an impact, but that anything with catchy songs and a nostalgic time period will more likely entertain the masses.

PG (DLS)
Musical/Historic
1 hr. 50 min.

Watch it for FUN.
​Watch it to feel HAPPY.

Complete with its new technological breakthroughs that shall soon change the animation industry, Encanto is familiar yet far more sophisticated than any average motion picture produced by Disney. The lighting is more natural. The animation is more human. The magic is more magical. It’s a compilation of so many talents that bring every musical number to life. The already famous “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” sequence contains so many layers behind how the characters move, even with the way their fingers fly around. Breaking down the choreography of this number reveals everything needed to know about what each member of the family Madrigal ultimately wants, and in the end of the movie, those arcs are fully realized.

As if the attention to detail wasn’t impressive enough, reference footage was filmed of human dancers to help the animators create extravagant musical numbers that are as energetic as a real cumbia. It feels special because Walt Disney also used live references to inspire his animators, whether it was bringing real deer into the studio for the artists of Bambi, or having Helene Stanley dance for the artists of Sleeping Beauty. The challenges surpassed by this ambitious project of 2021 honor the past and offer hope for the future, which guarantees that not a single dry eye will remain in the audience by the end, and makes Disney’s 60th animated feature film a great time!

PG (D)
Fantasy/Musical
1 hr. 42 min.

Watch it for FUN.
​Watch it to feel HAPPY and SAD.

There’s a lot of talent to be found in this refreshing Hollywood musical: singing, dancing, rapping, break dancing, tricks with sparklers, and even twisting double-jointed arms! Part of what makes this adaptation of the Tony-winning musical work so well is how the studio brought back cast members from the original stage production and combined them with fresh faces. Another part is how the clever cinematic tricks take advantage of the two-dimensional cinematic medium, doing all that can’t be done on stage while choreographing the irresistibly fun songs. These tricks include symmetrical aerial shots of a swimming pool party, illuminated costumed dancers in a train station, gravity defied on the wall of a building at sunset, and cold light that sparkles during a blackout.

The dense, almost overwhelming spectacle is a strong demonstration of how grand Hollywood musicals can be nowadays as compared to eighty or even ten years ago. Instead of prioritizing household names that can’t sing or dance like what other musicals have done for as long as sound has been a part of cinema, everyone in this cast can sing and dance extraordinarily well. It also doesn’t stumble into the trap of existing just for the purpose of showcasing the singing and dancing skills of a certain celebrity, like what films throughout the Golden Age of Hollywood had done. In the Heights instead has a clear, distinct purpose behind its story about representation.​

PG-13 (DLS)
Musical
2 hr. 23 min.

Watch it for FUN.
Watch it to feel HAPPY and SAD.