8 Examples of Rhyme in Movies
Rhyming doesn’t have to be something that happens accidentally in a throw-away line. Movies can use it to enhance the mood, add to plot or exposition, or just to have some fun. And they can do it in very different ways. As these examples of rhyme in movies will show – they’re all over the place.
8. Cool Runnings
Using rhyming in cheers and to coordinate rhythm is a long-standing tradition. In Cool Runnings, though, rhyme and song are simply part of who Sanka is.
Sanka: Feel the Rhythm! Feel the Rhyme! Get on up, it’s bobsled time! Cool Runnings!
Humor, characterization, and plot – Sanka’s rhyming touches a bit on all of them.
7. Up
I like the mention of rhyme in Up because it’s completely casual and tangental. Its only purpose plot-wise is to help establish the instant tension between Russell and Mr. Fredericksen. But it’s very believable. If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll admit you had the same reaction to the slogan.
Russell: A wilderness explorer is a friend to all, be a plant or fish or tiny mole!
Carl Fredricksen: That doesn’t even rhyme!
Russell: [offended] Yeah, it does.
6. Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Setting rhyming musical numbers aside, there are still quite a few lines that play with rhyme. It’s one of the ways the film established Wonka as eccentric. To kids, these lines seemed silly and weird. To adults, they add a layer of darkness to a twisted-but-fun movie.
Willy Wonka quotes:
- A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.
- Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.
- Where is fancy bred, in the heart or in the head?
5. A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)
Besides establishing eccentricity, rhyming in the wrong circumstances can be pretty chilling. Especially when repeated, said by someone approaching with a weapon, said in a sing-song voice, or coming from no obvious source.
Many horror films use these tactics, but they often grab traditional poems or songs. Freddy had one just for him:
1 – 2 – Freddy’s coming for you, 3 – 4 – Better lock your door, 5 – 6 – Grab your crucifix, 7 – 8 – Better stay up late, 9 – 10 – Never sleep again…
4. The Sixth Sense
In other circumstances, poems add a lightness or silliness to a scene. In the Sixth Sense, the Dr. Seuss rhyming and jargon shows that Malcolm is drunk and also adds a little casual humor to a personal moment between husband and wife and diffuses any tension so that the sudden tension in the next scene hits even harder.
Malcolm: That’s a fine frame. A fine frame that is. How much does a fine frame like that cost, you think?
Anna: I’ve never told you… but you sound a little like Dr. Seuss when you’re drunk.
Malcolm: Anna, I’m serious. Serious I am, Anna.
You ever notice how Dr. Seuss gets away with rhyming a word with itself? He’s simply changing the syntax, not the words. I can’t decide if that’s lazy or if I’m just jealous.
[Later in the same scene]
Malcolm: I would like some red wine in a glass. I would not like it in a mug. I would not like it in a jug.
The way the Dr. Seuss comment and response frame the seriousness of Anna’s comments in the rest of the scene allow us to have that vital exposition and insight into their lives while releasing the corresponding tension quickly and easily.
3. Sweeney Todd
Even though many of them have been turned into movies, including musicals in this article would defeat the purpose since almost all musical numbers involve many rhymes. That said, I decided to make an exception for Sweeney Todd because of a specific song.
This particular song doesn’t solely rhyme because it’s a song. That’s the convention – singing happens to be the way the people are communicating because it’s a musical, and they’re rhyming because of that, not because of any particular thought or effort on the characters’ part.
Well, in “A Little Priest,” that is not the case. There’s actually a point where one of the characters answers every prompt with a deliberate rhyme until the other character finally gives them an option they can’t rhyme with. It’s a deeply macabre song that is hilarious to those of us with twisted senses of humor. Or a special love of rhyme. It is in fact one of my personal favorites:
Mrs. Lovett: We’ve got tinker…
Todd: No, no, something pinker.
Mrs. Lovett: Tailor?
Todd: …Paler.
Mrs. Lovett: Butler?
Todd: [Smugly] Subtler.
Mrs. Lovett: Potter?
Todd: Hotter.
Mrs. Lovett: Locksmith?[Smirking silence]
2. The Princess Bride
You knew it was coming. No discussion of rhyme in movies could be complete without it: the rhyming challenge from The Princess Bride. In a very short time, it shows us a very likeable side of these 2 mercenaries. Plus, it gives us one of the most quotable scenes of all time. Enjoy!
Inigo Montoya: That Vizzini, he can fuss.
Fezzik: Fuss, fuss… I think he like to scream at us.
Inigo Montoya: Probably he means no harm.
Fezzik: He’s really very short on charm.
Inigo Montoya: You have a great gift for rhyme.
Fezzik: Yes, yes, some of the time.
Vizzini: Enough of that.
Inigo Montoya: Fezzik, are there rocks ahead?
Fezzik: If there are, we all be dead.
Vizzini: No more rhymes now, I mean it.
Fezzik: Anybody want a peanut?
Vizzini: DYEEAAHHHHHH!
1. Court Jester
Perhaps the best movie Danny Kaye ever made. An entire scene and major plot point hinge on remembering a specific tongue-twister… then, a new version of it. The rhyming carries between lines and characters, and the speed of the back-and-forth plays a huge part in the effect.
Danny Kaye’s fumbling with the words and rhymes as he tries to learn it are also key. They are, however, not captured by transcription. This is one you really have to watch to enjoy.
Griselda: Listen. I have put a pellet of poison in one of the vessels.
Hawkins: Which one?
Griselda: The one with the figure of a pestle.
Hawkins: The vessel with the pestle?
Griselda: Yes. But you don’t want the vessel with the pestle, you want the chalice from the palace!
Hawkins: I don’t want the vessel with the pestle, I want the chalice from… the what?
Jean: The chalice from the palace!
Hawkins: Hmmm?
Griselda: It’s a little crystal chalice with a figure of a palace.
Hawkins: The chalice from the palace has the pellet with the poison?
Griselda: No, the pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle.
Hawkins: Oh, oh, the pestle with the vessel.
Jean: The vessel with the pestle.
Hawkins: What about the palace from the chalice?
Griselda: Not the palace from the chalice! The chalice from the palace!
Hawkins: Where’s the pellet with the poison?
Griselda: In the vessel with the pestle. The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.
Jean: Don’t you see? The pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle.
Griselda: The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!
Jean: It’s so easy, I can say it.
Hawkins: Well then you fight him!
Griselda: Listen carefully. The pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle, the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.
Hawkins: The pellet with the poison’s in the vessel with the pestle, the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true.
Jean: Good man!
TL;DR – Rhyme in Movies Is Great
Don’t those moments of rhyme work beautifully? Don’t they do a great job of enhancing the story and moment? Why don’t more movies make use of this tool?
