Movies and TV shows having accompanying music is a tradition almost as old as film itself, so much so that we as an audience often forget the role music can play in storytelling, beyond just being pretty background noise. Yet if you think about it, there are some stories that, without the soundtrack to go along with them, wouldn't have anywhere close to the same impact, where the music can be used to tell the story just as well as dialogue or set design can. What kinds of films or shows would you guys say best use music to add to the story itself? (I put this under movies just because it seems to me that movies tend to make better use of this than TV shows do, but feel free to suggest TV stories as well!)

For me, by far the most obvious choice is Howard Shore's score for the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He did a fantastic job using leitmotif to help give more character to the different races, nations, and people of Middle Earth, and especially for Rohan and Gondor, they just wouldn't have been the same without their individual musical themes.

My favorite is this song from the movie "Matilda".
It makes me so happy

kung fu panda

and the 2006 movie paprika. that movie is amazing - its what inception was based on but ill warn you its got some disturbing scenes you shouldn't watch if your under 18.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqg3Sw3s9Wg

i love matilda - i cry at the end of that movie - it makes me feel so happy that she got to be with miss honey!!!!

Probably Fullmetal Alchemist for me.

Though there are plenty of other examples that leap to mind. Just off the top of my head: Twin Peaks, Sherlock, Arrested Development ...

One of the bonus features for the movie Seven featured a pivotal scene but before the music got added in. Without the music, the scene was nowhere near as suspenseful. When my sister and I saw it, we started to think that the actors' abilities were overrated

The original Conan the Barbarian soundtrack by Basil Poledouris, turning a terrible movie into an amazing one since 1982. Also, the Wizard of Oz - Harold Arlen and Edgar Harburg (who was among the artists blacklisted by Hollywood during the 1950s because of alleged "Communist sympathies.")

Little Shop of Horrors!

Most epic and romantic movies would not have enough emotional expression without the music. Think of Star Trek, Star Wars, Lord of The Rings, How to Train Your Dragon without the music. For all that it's hated, the Twilight series has some beautiful music that tells the story for it. Music is vital to story telling.

There was a movie that I wanted to see because the plot sounded cute, but five minutes into it, I couldn't watch it because of the music.

I totally agree about Twilight. One can like the story or not, but in my opinion the aerial views and nature shots of the northern Pacific Coast, combined with the amazing soundtrack, make the movie really worth seeing.
I'm talking about the first one though. The other four are just "meh".

So nice to hear from someone who can appreciate the beauty in the films and overlook the, at times, thin plot. But only the first? Really? I loved the filming and the music throughout and especially the last one. There's that little tune that Edward plays on the piano, the one that he teaches his daughter, that haunts. I think the actor may have written it. They used some of his work in the films.

The Wicker Man (1973). Good Halloween watching (perhaps not exactly family watching).
Though if you haven't seen it and plan to watch it, don't look up anything about it. Just watch it. There are loads of spoilers out there.

Jaws.