The Ultimate Movie Musicals Bracket - Round Three, Day Two

On a mission from God.

It’s the weekend, and thank God for that! I’m ready to relax, and I hope you are too. I, at least, can relax in one way. I don’t have to vote in today’s matchups in the third round of the Ultimate Movie Musicals Bracket! You, of course do, and by reading this paragraph, you are legally obligated to weigh in! That’s just the law, folks, don’t blame me.

Now go vote!

(2) Mary Poppins vs. (15) South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut: South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut is very funny, and has some genuinely catchy songs. And it’s very much a musical in the same spirit as a classic like Mary Poppins. But…I mean, it’s Julie Andrews. It’s a film with wall-to-wall, all-killer-no-filler songs. I gotta go with the practically perfect nanny.

Mary Poppins

South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut

(26) Enchanted vs. (10) West Side Story (1961): As I have noted — either here or in other Disney-themed brackets — Amy Adams should have won an Oscar for playing Giselle in Enchanted. It’s an excellent performance, and one that’s well-matched by Timothy Spall and James Marsden. Three great performances. At least one great song. And that is not enough to win the day against West Side Story. You are, of course, voting on the original film here, but I’d vote for either riff on Romeo and Juliet (see what I did there?) over the Disney film.

What do you say?

Enchanted

West Side Story (1961)

(3) The Music Man vs. (19) The Umbrellas of Cherbourg: Nostalgia is, as I have noted before, a hell of a drug. Nostalgia is such that while The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is an unquestionably better-directed film than The Music Man, I am putting my chips in for Professor Harold Hill and the River City Boys’ Band. What can I say? I have loved The Music Man since I was a little boy who wanted to be a big boy. I can’t say goodbye just now.

How about you?

The Music Man

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

(6) Cabaret vs. (22) The Blues Brothers: On one hand, I am sure a few of you are out there thinking, “Well, The Blues Brothers is not a musical the way that Cabaret is,” whether or not you prefer one film over the other. But for me, the musical aspects of each are enough that they both qualify for this bracket. And as much as it pain some of you to read, I’m voting for Elwood and Jake this time around. Cabaret is a very impressive and edgy and uncomfortable films (and its uncomfortable qualities are baked in). But sometimes, you just want to watch a movie that’s a hell of a lot of fun, and that is what The Blues Brothers is. A musical does not have to be joyous to be good, but at this stage of the bracket, joy wins out.

But that’s me. What do you think?

Cabaret

The Blues Brothers