I believe Beauty and the Beast was the first animated movie to be nominated as Best Picture at the Oscars = and rightly so. It stands IMO in a class by itself.. You almost forget you are watching animation. And it's timeless - it's just as special now as it was when it first came out.
Lion King & Aladdin are close ...followed by Tangled, Anastasia & Frozen.
There are a lot of other excellent animated musicals but many do not fully withstand the test of time.
The thing about the Little Mermaid is that in addition to having perfect songs, it is also the perfect length (i think 87 minutes). It doesn't feel short, but it gets you in and gets you out and tells such a lovely version of the tale.
Ever since the whole Frozen phenomenon, I've always been sad that Tangled didn't get that kind of reception. I thought it was a far superior film from every angle: animation, story and especially score. People say "It's the best Disney movie since the renaissance" and I always disagree.
"Contentment, it seems, simply happens. It appears accompanied by no bravos and no tears."
I agree about Tangled on the animation front. I like Frozen, but the animation and detail is not a patch on other movies, especially with background scenes/characters
I liked Tangled a decent amount, but I've always thought it would look even better if it was traditionally animated. Frozen is actually the first Disney movie that I thought benefitted from being CGI.
" I was surprised to see Prince of Egypt on so many list . . . But I really don't like most of the score from it. The opening song and the "If you believe" are great but the rest is mismatched and mediocre."
Sounds like how I feel about Schwartz's work in Wicked.
I agree with most of the favorites already mentioned here. I just wanted to throw out some movies that haven't been mentioned yet:
The Nightmare Before Christmas
-a great feat of animation, with some very fun music and a great story
The Corpse Bride
-not as good as Nightmare, but it's underrated in my opinion
Babar: King of the Elephants
-it's a kiddy movie, but it's surprisingly adorable, enjoyable, and full of catchy songs
The Road to El Dorado
-not technically a musical, but it does have original songs that play in the background (like Tarzan). It's a fantastic, hilarious, and beautifully rendered Dreamworks movie.
The Rescuers
-a beautiful, heartwarming movie from the Disney dark-ages. Filled with original background songs like El Dorado and Tarzan.
EDIT: Just noticed that Nightmare has been mentioned a couple times already. Whatever, it's a great movie anyway. It deserves repeating.
Did anyone else watch that livestream with Alan Menken? Regardless of how I rank animated musicals (which is a different question from which movie musicals I think have the best music in them) that man has completely defined my childhood. I could listen to him talk for hours.
I'm going to add to the mix, "An American Tail" because it includes songs like "There are No Cats in America," "Never Say Never" and of course, "Somewhere Out There."
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
I agree about Robin Hood, its a favourite of mine, but ive never really thought of it as a musical. It has some songs, true, but it doesnt feel like a musical in the way others do
I remember seeing Anastasia in the movie theater during my freshman year of high school and thinking it belonged on stage. I think it is one of the best animated musicals since Beauty and the Beast, which I consider to be the best.