I remember taking my kid cousin to watch The Muppets in the cinema back in 2011 knowing nothing about the film and nearly screaming when Miss Piggy started singing.

Don’t get me wrong – musicals obviously resonate with people for a reason and I can respect the fact that different people enjoy different forms of entertainment. But there’s also a reason that people get cold sweats at the thought of Pierce Brosnan standing in a doorway shouting the lyrics to ‘SOS’ at Meryl Streep.

That being said, there is without a doubt a certain hybrid of musical film where the director doesn’t inundate you with smiling, prancing line dancers that has a definitive universal appeal, where musical numbers are used as a punctuation point rather than a way of getting back at the world.

Below we’ve chosen five superb musically rooted films available on Netflix, with real, resounding grit, whose stories aren’t compromised by an inexplicable compulsion for jazz hands.

Sing Street

IMDB score: 8/10
Rotten Tomatoes score: 95%

A coming-of-age film set in Ireland in the 80s, Sing Street crosses the adolescent love story of Adventureland with the feel-good ‘Eye of the Tiger’ climb to success in the music industry of School of Rock, with an uncompromising sprinkle of realism provided by the backdrop of the worst recession that modern Ireland has ever faced.

Telling the tale of an Irish schoolboy trying to find his place in a difficult world and discovering solace in music, the film manages to pull on your heart strings from every conceivable direction. To top it off, its original soundtrack is completely infectious, and will leave you tapping along every time Ferdia Walsh-Peelo picks up a microphone.

Dope

IMDB score: 7.3/10 
Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%

Following three kids in LA as they try to wade through the ganglands without becoming victim to their surroundings, Dope is original, gripping, and hilariously funny.

Set in 2015, the group find their identity by collecting 90s hip hop records and dressing like The Fresh Prince (which I imagine resonates with a lot of you), and spend their lunch breaks hiding from their vicious class mates in the school’s music room where they form their own punk rock band.

The entire cast do a phenomenal job throughout, with standout performances from Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel), Kiersey Clemons (Justice League), and even a surprisingly fluid performance from Rakim Mayers (AKA A$AP Rocky). 

Green Room

IMDB score: 7/10
Rotten Tomatoes score: 89%

An incredibly tense film with an extremely imaginative setting, Green Room sees a touring punk rock band performing at a neo-Nazi bar full of violent skinheads. Long story short, they find this a great opportunity to cover ‘Fuck off Nazi Punks’ by the Dead Kennedys. The band is then forced to barricade themselves in the venue's green room, as the skinheads – led by Patrick Stewart, of all people – try to pick them off one by one.

A perfect example of a musical performance being used to create atmosphere rather than a sing-song for the sake of it. The sense of claustrophobia felt by the band is palpable, and escape seems all but impossible.

Straight Outta Compton

IMDB score: 7.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes score: 87%

Going into this film having written off the genre completely after suffering through Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and Notorious, expectations were admittedly low. That being said, Straight Outta Compton was, quite frankly, fantastic, and it’s easy to see why it was nominated for an Academy Award.

The cast of the film were all totally on point, and did each individual member of NWA justice. On top of that, the story stayed true to the origins of NWA, even if it meant painting certain characters in a less than favourable light.

Paid in Full

IMDB score: 7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes score: 52%

Produced by Eric B. & Rakim, Paid in Full is a story about inhabitants of Harlem in the 1980s trying to make it in an unforgiving, crime-riddled corner of New York. Featuring East Coast rap icon Cam’ron, and Mekhi Phifer – who played Future in 8 Mile – the film paints a picture of the culture that hip hop was derived from, even explicitly critiquing hip hop’s acquisition of ghetto culture as a selling point to the masses at the end of the film.

Boasting a phenomenal soundtrack, the film features music from the likes of Doug E. Fresh, Melle Mel, and of course, Eric B. & Rakim, resulting in the release of a critically acclaimed album that was ranked 228 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.