What happened to the movie musical?

For decades, movie musicals were the bee’s knees, hitting the screen as comedies and dramas, as fantasies and sometimes as horror.

Along with earning the bucks, they were award-fertile, too, winning 10 Oscars for Best Picture, including four in the 1960s — “West Side Story” (1961), “My Fair Lady” (1964), “The Sound of Music” (1965) and “Oliver!” (1968). That ’60s list of musicals doesn’t include “Camelot,” “Mary Poppins,” “Funny Girl,” “Hello, Dolly!” or “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”

Musicals are on my mind because I saw “La La Land” over the weekend. While I think “Moonlight” is the most emotionally stunning movie of 2016, “La La Land” captured my imagination like nothing else I’ve seen from last year. Yes, its plot is simplistic and somewhat contrived; yes, it’s a bit corny and goofy (unless people in LA traffic jams always spontaneously launch into choreographed song and dance). But “La La Land” is also one of the most enjoyable times I’ve spent in a theater in months; and it’s one of the front- runners in this year’s race for the Best Picture Oscar.

The last musical that won Best Picture was 2002’s “Chicago,” a happy-go-lucky film about murder, murder and, oh yeah, murder. Only a handful of musicals have been released in the 2000s at all, including “Dreamgirls,” “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” “The Phantom of the Opera” and Disney fare like “Frozen.” Best Picture nom inees were limited to “Moulin Rouge” (2001) and “Les Shawn Ryan Miserables” (2012).

So why aren’t more musicals made? It’s probably the corniness. People suddenly bursting into song or dance might seem terribly naive in these days of terrorism and protests and simmering anger. And maybe that’s the point.

The ’60s weren’t exactly a decade-long amusement ride either, with horrifying events such as the assassinations of John F. and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.; racist violence and the bloody, divisive Vietnam War. Sure, musicals in the decade didn’t push the boundaries of cinema like such films as “Bonnie & Clyde,” “Midnight Cowboy,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” or “Rosemary’s Baby,” but they offered bit of innocence and uplifting escapism that was welcome.

Whether “La La Land” wins Best Picture at Sunday’s Oscar ceremonies remains to be seen, of course. It’s up against equally fine films like “Moonlight,” “Manchester by the Sea” and “Hidden Figures.” But even if it doesn’t, why not spend a couple of naive but enjoyable hours in front of it? Might make you happy.