Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if your appreciation of James Newton Howard's generically playful children's mode is strong enough to forgive a wholeheartedly adequate but anonymous, passionless, and predictable entry in the genre. Avoid it... if you expect any of Patrick Doyle's engagingly cohesive thematic identities from Nanny McPhee to survive for this comparatively procedural sequel. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Nanny McPhee Returns: (James Newton Howard) Not quite as successful as Emma Thompson's adaptation of Christianna Brand's "Nurse Matilda" books into 2005's surprisingly popular Nanny McPhee, the 2010 sequel still managed an impressive box office haul and friendly critical response. Known in North America as Nanny McPhee Returns and internationally as Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, the movie follows a plotline of redemption similar to its predecessor. Now set at the time of World War II, the tale tells of an English mother of three whose husband is at war and also has to take care of two young cousins, all the while trying to fend off attempts by her brother-in-law to sell her portion of the family farm. As expected, Nanny McPhee mysteriously appears and immediately instills upon the children her sense of obedience through magical means. When a message arrives indicating that the children's father was killed in the war, the group sets out to London to seek confirmation, using McPhee's powers and connections to discover that it is a ploy. She rides off as usual in her transfigured form at the end, just as the family is reunited and no longer needs her services. One has to wonder what miracles she could work on the Congress of the United States if Thompson really wanted to spice things up with McPhee in the next planned sequel. Otherwise, the formula threatens to get old, and already lost in this first sequel is some of the magical appeal established by composer Patrick Doyle in the first film. Although Doyle relied heavily upon the influence of styles by Danny Elfman and James Horner, he translated that sound well through his own musical voice. Both instrumentally robust and thematically cohesive, Nanny McPhee is a score too dainty, predictable, and wholesome for some listeners, but it at least stands on a solid foundation that appeals to Doyle collectors and enthusiasts of those other composers' vintage works alike. Stepping into the franchise in 2010 is James Newton Howard, a veteran of children's scores from his association with Disney for several non-musical animated films a decade prior. The shift in composer is odd (especially after Thomas Newman left the project), because although a novice director was brought in to helm the 2010 follow-up, the same producers, writer, and studio coordinated the sequel at a time when Doyle had a relatively open schedule. Inevitably, however, Howard provided essentially a reboot score in the franchise, casting aside all three of Doyle's themes for Nanny McPhee and tackling the project from his own perspective. This decision led to a score that sounds, in its basic characteristics, vaguely like Doyle's original but fails to capture the same cohesive spirit or exude a memorable personality. For those discouraged by the abandonment of Doyle's material for Nanny McPhee Returns, at least you can take heart in the fact that Howard has written a score less reliant upon the previous inspirations and instead looks back in different places for ideas. The instrumentation and general balance of comedy, fantasy, and drama is roughly the same, though Howard really emphasizes the comedic elements with saxophone due to the script's lighthearted action sequences. A fair amount of Mickey Mousing is to be heard in Nanny McPhee Returns, with snippets of 1940's jazz inserted as flair in a few places. The usual tingling percussion and light choir are applied in about the same doses, as are whimsical woodwind sequences and harpsichord formality. Doyle's intriguing use of tuba and bassoon is absent, however. Thematic development is where Howard stumbles the most, writing three or four interesting themes for Nanny McPhee Returns but not presenting them consistently enough to give them the true impact they could have had during their clearest enunciations in the final third of the film. A redemptive dramatic idea that achieves its full form in "The Harvest" and "Leaps of Faith" is built upon easy harmonic shifts that will recall Andrew Lockington's highlights from Journey to the Center of the Earth a few years prior. An action motif that comes together in "Triumphant Trappers" has the makings of Howard's theme from Waterworld but reminds of John Williams' Hook in its marching mode and David Arnold's Independence Day in the "An Explosion-Free Day" and "Leaps of Faith" cues (listen especially at 1:50 into the former, as well as on trumpet at 0:25 into the latter). A wild comedy rhythm in "Speeding Through London" and occupying all the "Animated Titles" is as rowdy as Doyle's most haphazard equivalent. A stomping march for the war between the children in "The British Museum of Poo" is a dominant identity early in the film. The closest resemblance to Doyle's progressions comes in the mystery of "The Way I Work." Unfortunately, these thematic identities never congeal to form a strong narrative in Nanny McPhee Returns, leaving the listener grasping for individual moments of merit that will recall the finer tonal efforts from within Howard's career. The latter half of the hour-long album features a handful of these undeniable highlights, but even here the instrumental usage is predictable and some of the enthusiastic performance emphasis existing in the London Symphony Orchestra's rendition of Doyle's score is lost in the sequel, yielding the kind of sparse depth and lack of passion you often hear in David Newman's action/comedy blends. If you have no interest in the concept and are instead seeking only the best music from the Nanny McPhee franchise, start with Doyle's score instead. *** Track Listings (European Album):
Total Time: 59:07
Track Listings (American Album):
Total Time: 59:07
All artwork and sound clips from Nanny McPhee Returns are Copyright © 2010, Varèse Sarabande (European Album), Varèse Sarabande (American Album). 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 8/17/11, updated 8/17/11. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2011-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
European Cover