 |
Monsters, Inc. on DVD
• Monsters Inc. Music Video • THX/Dolby Digital 5.1 EX More DVD info... |
|
|
Monsters, Inc. on DVD
• Monsters Inc. Music Video • THX/Dolby Digital 5.1 EX 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 Editorial Review:
But why? Randy Newman is to current Disney music what Miss Cleo is for television psychics. In other words, whenever you mention Disney music to today's 8-year-olds and their parents, that Randy Newman sound automatically pops into their minds. His slurring voice and upbeat, jazzy scores have become a sort of icon. It works in the films, and it's a seemingly faultless marketing combination. Lost in the mix is the fact that Newman is still, after all is said and done, a master of songwriting. His scores for these animation flicks are cute and, of course, appropriate. But just as Alan Menken began doing in his waning years at the Disney music helm, Newman is rehashing the same work that fans heard in Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life. He fails to take any chances in Monsters, Inc., causing it become a boring and drawn out listening experience, even if you find the above scores of the past few years to be to your liking. Newman keeps the same moderately sized orchestral ensemble, accoustical elements, jazz band, and his own piano and produces essentially the music that we've heard before. In a few noteworthy places, he'll borrow a quote from a classical piece or an old Bernard Herrmann staple, but even in his comedic interpolations of existing themes, the orchestra is flat. Its performances yield none of the same energy that you hear from the animation scores of Powell and Howard. For works such as Chicken Run and Atlantis, the orchestral players sound as though they have congregated to perform an awesome piece of work, and that enthusiasm can be heard in the final product. For the Randy Newman scores, as they progress up to Monsters, Inc., the players are devoid of that exuberance. Their music sounds like they were there because it was their job... and not because they were there to record an event. As it has been criticized often of late, this is a score by a composer on auto-pilot. There is nothing here that will ecplise what was similarly done in Toy Story 2 and A Bug's Life. The most frustrating aspect of scores like Monsters, Inc. is that they sometimes fail to even try to take advantage of all the creative liberties that the animation genre offers them. Randy Newman takes no chances in his instrumentation or themes, not even inserting the wacky percussive elements that a score such as this could have really used. What we're left with is music that would sound perfect during the Saturday morning cartoons on television. Even more disappointing about Monsters, Inc. is the unfortunate fact that the title song isn't very good. The song for A Bug's Life --which happens to come to mind at the moment-- is a fun and vivacious composition, and it is enjoyable both in vocal and instrumental versions. Even non-amination fans could get into the groove of that song. But this film's song, "If I Didn't Have You," drags along without the zip that we've come to expect (and even demand) from the likes of Randy Newman. It should be mentioned that this song and its accompanying score will likely be just fine in the film. But if Disney ever wants to win another Academy Award for Best Original Score, then they have to punt on Newman if he continues in this direction. Given his continuing success at the CD outlets, however, that prospect is unlikely. Caught in the middle are those of us who want to hear really high quality animation music. The album for Monsters, Inc. is generous in its presentation of the score, with over 50 minutes of orchestral material available, and no modern pop songs to spoil the mix. It's a disappointing product overall, and could easily make a person long even more for the Disney scores of the early 90's. **
The insert contains extensive credits and an advertisement poster for other products related to the film, but no information about the score or film. Same old stuff... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
