The musical score of a movie sets the tone and atmosphere in a way that can be forgettable, or utterly transformative. The best musical scores are remembered just as vividly and fondly as the scenes they communicate. As iconic directorJames Camerononce said, “The score is the heart and soul of a film.” Whether it’s a booming and adventurous score meant to inspire us, or melancholic notes that evoke sadness, or a haunting or mysterious atmosphere that settles over us, music plays an integral part of the experience of film.
In a genre like fantasy, the music has an impressive job of conveying the feeling of being both familiar and relatable as well as unique and fantastical. It isn’t enough to make booming or adventurous music, though. The best music scores fit the feeling of the story itself in a signature way. When done well, the music score in fantasy movies heightens the experience itself, exalting movies to their utmost expressions and lingering in our minds for years to come.
So what are the best musical scores in fantasy movies?
8Willow (1988)
Directed byRon Howardand with a story byGeorge Lucas,Willowis a wonderful fantasy movie that has remained underrated until very recently, now that it is getting arebootin the form of a sequel. One of the best parts about the movie is the music score, done by the impressive James Horner. Horner had just received his first Academy Award nomination for musical score the year before, for the movieAliens,and he would go on to be nominated nine other times, winning twice for his most successful movie,Titanic.
His music inWillowis solidly adventurous, rousing, and inspiring. The music has a delightful feeling of fantasy and mythology that fits the narrative superbly well. As Horner himself wouldlater say in an interview, “The harmonic draft of the Willow score, and most particularly its spiritual side, came from… such mythology and music history that I was taught, and that I myself convey with my own emotions and compositions.”
7Conan the Barbarian (1982)
Conan the Barbarianis one of those iconic 1980s fantasy movies that defined the genre of the time. It also cemented the acting career of Arnold Schwarzenegger, as his first box-office hit. It’s safe to say that without this movie, we might not have seen Schwarzenegger in his later iconic ’80s roleThe Terminatorjust two years later.
Composer Basil Poledouris was a signature part of 1980s film scores, working on, among other movies, bothRed Dawn, andRoboCop, but it is his work onConan the Barbarianthat stands out the most. The tone he brings to the movie is sweeping and epic, with a lot of variation between tracks that range from booming and thunderous to gentle and emotional. His music matches the larger-than-life feeling of the titular hero as he sweeps through battles, defeating every fantastical enemy in his way. The score remains one of the best parts of the movie to this day, and like the movie itself, is still underrated.
Related:These Are the Best Arnold Schwarzenegger Movies, Ranked
6Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Danny Elfman and Tim Burton have an impressive career together. With Elfman scoring 16 of Burton’s movies, he has become one of the most signature aspects of a Tim Burton film, and all ofhis best workis done while paired with Burton. They are one of the most celebrated director/composer duos in Hollywood.
Edward Scissorhandswas Burton and Elfman’s fourth collaboration together, and it is one of Elfman’s most successful early scores. With both the movie and the music, we can see Burton and Elfman honing their style. Without Elfman’s unique blend of haunting and beautiful music to accompany it,Edward Scissorhandswould not be the movie it is. The music has the whimsical feeling of a fairy tale as it accompanies the strange love story between the two main characters, and it is impossible to remember the last scene of the movie, as Kim (Winona Ryder) twirls about in the snow, without also remembering Elfman’s achingly beautiful music.
5The Dark Crystal (1982)
The Dark Crystalremained a largely underrated and unknown ’80s movie until recently, with its successful Netflix reboot prequel series,The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.But, this movie persisted in the minds of young children who grew up in the ’80s, with its compelling story, and the wonderful and impressive puppets done by the master himself,Jim Henson.
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons this movie was so memorable was the musical score, which fit the experimental and creatively free tone that Henson was going for. Featuring the London Symphony Orchestra, composer Trevor Jones added unique sounds to the score, such as synthesizers and unusual instruments like the crumhorn, and a double flageolet. His goal was to match the strange fantasy world of the story. And because of its strangeness, the music often had an important job in communicating the emotion and tension of the scenes. Henson was so happy with Jones' work that he partnered with him again on the iconic and more famous movieLabyrinth.Jones would only gain later fame with his impressive score inThe Last of the Mohicans, but his creativity seems to shine best with his highly underrated work onThe Dark Crystal.
4Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
It is perhaps impossible to think of thePirates of the Caribbeanfranchisewithout the powerful, booming, and adventurous score done by Klaus Badelt, with masterful composerHans Zimmerworking as a producer (the two would often collaborate on this and other projects). There is no other song that fits the concept of “piratical” more than the track “He’s a Pirate”, which closes out the movie with such an air of adventure and spirit that one can practically taste the salt on the wind as the music swells. This soundtrack would go on to define the signature sound of adventure on the high seas used throughout the entire franchise, which Hans Zimmer picked up the score for in some of the later movies. If the job of a music score is to define the movie it accompanies in the most signature way, Klaus Badelt achieved immense success inPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, and this is perhaps his best work of his career.
3Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
TheHarry Pottermoviefranchise is huge, as were the original books. Making such a fantasy world come to life on the big screen was an impressive undertaking, and one of the most important roles was that of the music. The world ofHarry Potterhas a whimsical, mysterious, and adventurous feeling to it, and there is no better composer than themagnificent John Williams, one of the greatest composers in movie history, to communicate such a unique world.
Williams scored only the first three films in the Harry Potter franchise, but that was enough to define the musical tone and feeling of everything that would follow. It is clear from the initial moments that the audience sees the looming castle of Hogwarts in the first movie,Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, as Williams' signature score dances around it, that he took the magic of the series and made it audible.
2Princess Mononoke (1997)
Composer Joe Hisaishi and directorHayao Miyazakiare another iconic duo, working on eleven Studio Ghibli films together. Hisaishi has come to define Studio Ghibli as a studio equally as much as Miyazaki’s art and stories have. Hisaishi’s work on Ghibli films is always memorable and unique, and many fans revisit the music alone time and again, listening to the composer’s lovely piano refrains and emotional songs, which evoke scenes from the movies easily. But none of his scores seem to capture the emotion, as well as the sweeping and epic feeling of the story, better than inPrincess Mononoke.
The music inPrincess Mononokeconveys the adventure and escalating tension of the film, but also it’s beautiful and mysterious side, with touches of the Japanese folk era in which the story takes place. There is a more mature and even ominous feeling to the music than many of the other whimsical, childlike scores from other Ghibli films. It is genuinely a challenge not to get goosebumps when listening to the deep opening notes of “The Legend of Ashitaka,” which sweep upwards into an epic introduction of the movie that then fades into a magical tone, or the memorable “Departure - To the West,” the string instruments aching in their emotional reach as the main character Ashitaka leaves his home in exile.
Related:The Best Studio Ghibli Musical Scores, Ranked
1The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
When it comes to defining the modern fantasy genre,The Lord of the Ringstrilogy has no equal. Written by the wonderful J.R.R. Tolkien, the books were a classic staple in fantasy literature long before Peter Jackson ambitiously thought of turning them into live-action movies. The anticipation for how the movies would come out, being based on such monumental books, was tangible. Thankfully for fantasy fans everywhere, they were immensely successful, and perfectly done, celebrated by fans to this day as perhapsthe best fantasy films ever made.
The musical score and soundtrack of the entire series is some of the best work to accompany any film, beingvotedthe best movie soundtrack, not just of fantasy but of all time, for six years in a row. Composer Howard Shore won three Academy Awards for his work on the series, and to describe his work as “epic” does not do it justice.
While it is hard to pick which of the three movies has the best music score, perhaps it is better to look at the series as a whole and complete experience, as Tolkien originally wanted the books to be experienced. Still, if we have to pick, the third movie,The Return of the Kingis where the story culminated, and contains Shore’s best work, winning him two of his three Academy Awards. Shore was initially an odd choice, since he had never done a score so ambitious, and epic before. But, he excelled in his work, equaling the sweeping and incredible movies themselves in scope, range, and emotion. He managed to capture the intensity of the legendary story, while also retaining the fantasy feeling of the setting, including its magic and mystery. It is without a doubt the best musical score of any fantasy movie, and perhaps of any movie ever.
