 |
Big Fish on DVD
• "magical sound" • Dolby Digital 5.1 More DVD info... |
|
|
Big Fish on DVD
• "magical sound" • Dolby Digital 5.1 More DVD info... |
 |
|
 | |||||||||
| • | Newest Major Reviews: | . | • | This Week's Most Popular Reviews: | • | Best-Selling Albums: | ||
| . |
1. Nim's Island 2. The Life Before Her Eyes 3. Horton Hears a Who! 4. Leatherheads 5. The Spiderwick Chronicles | . | . |
1. Moulin Rouge 2. Gladiator 3. POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl 4. Star Wars: A New Hope 5. Edward Scissorhands |
6. Pearl Harbor 7. Schindler's List 8. Titanic 9. Braveheart 10. Home Alone | . | . |
1. Varèse Sarabande 25th 2. The Last of the Mohicans 3. Legends of the Fall 4. Schindler's List 5. LOTR: Return of the King (Set) |
 | ||||||||
|
|
|
Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you are an Elfman collector who would enjoy hearing his talents in several different genres intermingling in one spirited, diverse score. Avoid it... if you are depressed by Elfman's ability to establish and convey a somber tone, and were hoping for grand choral beauty to compensate for this mood. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
The result of the score could very well be the third volume of "Music for a Darkened Theatre," because it allows Elfman to roam into genres that he usually expands upon on a one-by-one basis for each of his other scores. Shifting locales and emotions can often play havoc with the listenability of scores on their own, but Elfman manages to traverse the entire spectrum of his palette without allowing one jarring transition to slip into his score for Big Fish. The diversity of Elfman's talents are on full display in this effort, with modern bluegrass sounds mingling with historical Southern flavor, his typical choral beauty, a fair amount of depressing underscore, and a few flashes of more contemporary rhythms. Thus, you can't compare Big Fish to any one of Elfman's scores in particular. Instead, by listing the stylistic references to his previous works in sum, you can start to get a picture of the overall equation. First and foremost, Elfman fans who got a taste of his Edward Scissorhands beauty in The Family Man were hoping for more of the same in Big Fish. Unfortunately for you fans in particular, there are no majestic outbursts of theme and chorus in Big Fish. The "Underwater" highlight cue does offer some of this harmonic brilliance on a lesser scale; the choral use is usually kept to a smaller ensemble heard in Elfman's recent scores in which the vocals are light and fluffy. The personality of Big Fish is driven by the fiddle and other specialty instruments meant to bring out the Southern lifestyle, and this is a touch that Elfman has rarely employed since Sommersby and Black Beauty. An electric base often accompanies cues of underscore while dialogue is prominent, bringing Elfman's subtle electronic rhythms from his late-90's scores into the mix. The use of a piano for the touching moments of family are another reminder of more recent dramas from the composer. Elfman's primary theme for Big Fish is underwhelming, although very pretty and pleasant in its harmony. A sub-theme for the 'Sanda' character is more heavily romantic, but Elfman adds a touch of tragedy in the "Sandra Theme" cue by presenting the theme in the major-key until the final note ominously and tragically shifts and dies in the minor key. Elfman does this a few times... present a cue largely in the major key until the final note makes a transition into the minor. Perhaps he does this to bring the stories back into their sad, modern context, but the move serves as a constant reminder to the listener that there is tragedy mixed into the glory of the primary character's youthful adventures. The orchestra is almost always present to back up the primary instruments with a full, rounded accompaniment, further weighing on the listener's heart. So be aware: if you enjoy the carnival atmosphere of some of the cues (including the victorious "Growing Montage" complete with bold brass and tolling bells), the personality of Big Fish, while often cheerful during the adventures, is subdued and solemn on a personal level at other parts (much like Sommersby once again). A single music box used in a few cues is a good example of the sentiment here. In short, Big Fish flies across the spectrum of Elfman's talents, but is not his beauty in its grandest form. It is a highly personal and humble score that demands a listener with an open frame of mind to fully appreciate. On album, Sony presents us with about 40 minutes of Elfman's score for Big Fish, and even at this somewhat shorter running time, Elfman fans will delight in the full range of Elfmanisms at work there. The rest of the album has a predictably awkward collection of songs from many eras (definitely Burtonesque), but even they are good in and of themselves (except for, perhaps, that final song number for the conjoined Korean twins). Overall, Big Fish is a solid, imaginative score and album. ****
Insert includes lyrics for the first track, but no extra information about the score or film. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
