Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you are easily swept up in the robust, hyperactive environment of John Debney's typically strong, but ultimately somewhat anonymous children's adventure music. Avoid it... if wild wails of the ondes martenot, electric guitar rhythms, cooing choirs over harmonic orchestral crescendos, and highly derivative themes are a recipe for your eye-rolling indifference. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Aliens in the Attic: (John Debney) Given some of these scripts that get green-lit by studios trying to make a quick buck, it's amazing that adults are even involved in the process. Take the plotlines of Men in Black, Home Alone, Gremlins, and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, whip up four aliens animated like leftovers from Small Soldiers, and you get Aliens in the Attic, for which Twentieth Century Fox has no intellectual excuse. Maybe if the nasty little aliens were inhabiting the attic above the White House during the Reagan administration, perhaps there would be some redemption for viewers, but instead all you really get in return for your cinema dollar is a hormonal Ashley Tisdale prancing around in a bikini here. This will be enough for some, of course, but not those who take pride in advanced thought. Perhaps this is why the Motion Picture Association of America, which taunts filmmakers and studios with its silly rating system, recently solicited more NC-17 productions out of the studio system. At any rate, in Aliens in the Attic, a group of quirky kids end up in a creepy Michigan mansion on a vacation and discover that the attic is the staging ground for an alien invasion, and unless the kids do something about it, the baseball season may as well be cancelled and humanity stripped of any dignity that it still has in the age of unlimited Internet porn. So consistent is this film that projectiles are shot at the crotches of young men and the parents in the story are hopeless gits, failing to notice for much of the film that their spawn is engaged in a life or death battle. Heck, you'd think that wailing of the theremine-sounding ondes martenot from John Debney's score would be a clear clue that there are problems far beyond the usual teenage insecurities in this picture. Debney is completely at home in productions as ridiculously stupid as Aliens in the Attic, a compliment to a composer who has obviously found his niche but also a concern for listeners eager to hear him tackle more high profile dramas that happen not to involve the gruesome crucifixion of a maligned savior. It is remarkable to hear Debney so consistently provide top notch children's music that over-achieves for films like Aliens in the Attic, merging bombastic orchestral might with synthetic coolness that sometimes incorporates some unique instrumental element into the mix. Along for the adventure this time is the ondes martenot, but if you're expecting to hear the smooth, romantic echoes of Elmer Bernstein's obsession with the instrument, then prepare yourself for a sudden, high-pitched slap upside the head. Debney's production for these kinds of assignments regularly solicits three to four star ratings. Its creativity doesn't allow for anything under three, but only in its most cohesive form does it ever stretch out into four-star territory. Aliens in the Attic is, as usual, stuck squarely in between these markers, explosive and entertaining in its individual bursts of energy but lacking easy organization on a larger level. The entirety of this score is enjoyable when appreciated in the context of its genre. Debney knows how to push all the right parody buttons and play to expectations with glee, bloating familiar sounds out of proportion for comedic purposes in a dumb film. In these regards, the quality of Aliens in the Attic is similar to that of My Favorite Martian, but the relative anonymity of his thematic constructs doom the 2009 score to the realm of the merely average. The primary theme is conveyed over a cool soft rock, electric and acoustic guitar rhythm in "Aliens in the Attic (Main Title)," and by the time you hear the idea translated into super-sensitive variations in "Sparks Wave" at the end, you'll be rolling your eyes at the borrowed elements from the main theme of Poltergeist and the Vulcan theme from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The aliens have their own funny little march introduced in full in "Aliens in the Attic" that, when given the eerie accompaniment of the ondes martenot, will recall memories of the reality-bending tone of Batman Forever. When the minds in Aliens in the Attic are controlled by the aliens, Debney goes into full wacky mode, as in "Remote Control Ricky," which sounds like a sick combination of Danny Elfman's Pee Wee material and Rachel Portman's cuteness in The Road to Wellville. The only other cue that really stands apart is the faux Japanese battle with electronica in "Kung Fu Fight." Otherwise, the highlights of Debney's score are concentrated in either the wailing ondes martenot cues (who would ever have thought that the instrument could successfully convey a theme over light rock rhythms? Give Debney credit for that one) or the grandiose, fantasy-worthy harmony that sometimes sustains itself longer than a token crescendo in the final ten cues. The organization of Debney's recording for Aliens in the Attic necessitated a high number of short cues, which is typical for the genre, and along with this format come all of the problems inherent in flow and consistency. There is probably an outstanding ten-minute suite to be collected from all of this material, and while the entire package is affable enough to brighten nearly anyone's mood, it's rather vacant in the department of substance. *** Track Listings:
Total Time: 43:56
All artwork and sound clips from Aliens in the Attic are Copyright © 2009, Varèse Sarabande. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 9/1/09, updated 9/1/09. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2009-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
