History of Children Film Musicals

Walt Disney, Animation, Fictional Characters, Fantasy, Fairy Tales

Aug 27, 2008

Tracing the history of children's musicals from the time of child starts like Shirley Temple and Judy Garland, to where it is now.

In the past, Hollywood, who provided musicals for children rarely catered specifically for them, rather productions were aimed at the entire family, a different effect altogether. Consequently, child star vehicles featuring Shirley Temple, Mickey Rooney, Deanna Durbin and Judy Garland tended to stick to trusted generic storylines.

Wizard of Oz

Kid-friendly outings like The Wizard of Oz (1939) remained sporadic, despite Disney's production of animated features for younger viewers like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1927).

Combined Animation and Live-Action

As more grown-ups prefered a night at home in front of the television, Hollywood had to find a new audience. Teenagers could be satisfied with rock movies, but the younger siblings proved more problematic and a challenge to deal with. Walt Disney then led the way with Mary Poppins (1964), Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) and Pete's Dragon (1977), which combined animation and live-action.

Animated Musicals versus Live-Action

Animated musicals have often fared better than their live-action counterparts. Of the almost 50 Disney animated featured classics, nearly all of them have contained songs. The likes of Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo (1941) and Bambi (1942) integrated musical numbers into the narrative in a way that traditional musicals didn't manage until the late 1940s. And naturally, Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), Peter Pan (1953) and Lady and The Tramp (1955) all produced songs that became favorite of kids.

Lean Years: 1967 until late 1980s

Disney's standard of songwriting and storytelling plummeted after the Jungle Book (1967) and The Aristocats (1970). The likes of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) were not quite as successful. Even later efforts like Annie (1982).

Children Musicals Revival: from 1990s

It was in the 1990s when Alan Menken, Disney's favorite composer, revived the studios fortunes with The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Aladdin (1992), then Disney turned to pop stars like Elton John, Phil Collins and Sting for more contemporary scores for The Lion King (1994), Tarzan (1999) and The Emperor's New Groove (2000). Still, Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997) and Mulan (1998) opted for the more traditional show tune approach.

Disney Not Alone

Although Disney has long been the foremost producer of animated musicals, other filmmakers have also made an impact. For example Don Bluth, a Disney émigré directed a string of hits including Rock-a-Doodle (1992) and Thumbelina (1981).

A former one-time Disney animator Tim Burton recognized that kids don't just respond to goodie stories. In addition to somewhat darkly revisiting Roadl Dahl in the live-action Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), he also produced similar "dark" stories like The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)and reunited with Danny Elfman for Macabre Corpse Bride (2005).

Source:

The Rough Guide to film Musicals by David Parkinson, Rough Guides Reference, London, 2007

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