Filmtracks: Robots (John Powell)


Powell

Robots: (John Powell) With its almost-too-human representation of a world made up entirely of robots, the film Robots offers a heartwarming story of dreams and inventions while also laying a heavy dose of animated eye candy on the viewer. From the same inventors of 2002's Ice Age, the story of Robots follows the journey of a creative, promising young robot (who, in customary fashion, kind of looks like his performing voice, Ewan McGregor) to the big city, where he encounters a host of wild mechanical characters and fights an idealistic battle against a big robot corporation. With Pixar throwing its finest complexities at you in the grand scope that fits the IMAX screens on which Robots was released in part in 2005, the cinematography is balanced by wacky details such as robotic farts, a reminder that we're still in the kiddie genre here. Additionally, the film Robots is living proof that there's ample work in Hollywood for composers talented in the orchestral slapstick department of writing. This style of fully-orchestral mayhem has always been considered a difficult task to conquer for any composer, and yet the resurgence of its demand on the big screen since the late 1990's has allowed a whole slew of composers to display their more-than-adequate talents in the area. David Newman, Ed Shearmur, Michael Giacchino, Harry Gregson-Williams, and John Powell have all excelled at whipping up a frenzy of light-hearted spirit from an ensemble, and for John Powell in particular, his journeys in the sort of comedy composition have led from his well known collaborations with Gregson-Williams (Antz, Chicken Run, and Shrek) to his more recent solo efforts (The Adventures of Pluto Nash and now Robots).

Not wasting the opportunity to maximize his sonic contribution to Robots, Powell enlisted a very full-sized Hollywood Studio Symphony, a medium-sized choir, and even added recordings of the Blue Man Group in their New York studios for some extra flair. Writing for a film about Robots would lead Powell to the obvious conclusion that the percussion section would get a healthy dose of action, and the sounds of the Blue Man Group play along those same lines. Interestingly, however, Powell largely diminishes the creativity of the percussion section after a few early cues. In the end, we get a symphonic score that seems to pull at the emotional side of the characters' humanity rather than exhibit the tinkering sounds of a robotic world. A generic, suburban title theme for strings pleasantly introduces the score and is consistently ratcheted up in intensity as the work progresses. The quality of the robust action from start to finish is heard in Powell's ability to conjure new ideas for seemingly every new robot and situation. A subtheme and rhythm for the Madam Gasket character is perhaps the most well-developed idea within the mass of frenetic underscore. Therein lies the problem with a score like Robots, however. Its pace is so frantic, its energy is so vibrant, and its thematic and rhythmic focus changes so often that it could possibly drive a person mad when listening to the score apart from the film. Individual elements in the score merit considerable praise, including the mechanical percussion in "Robots Overture" and "Wonderbot Wash," the choral train motif in "Crosstown Express," and a larger, ominous choral attack piece for the ultimate "Attack of the Sweepers." But even within those cues, the choral motif for the train intentionally slurs to a halt in slapstick style, the attack sequence offers a short bagpipe performance without relation to the rest of the score, the "Butt Whoopin'" cue presents its coolness with a short introduction of electric guitar, and the following "Homecoming" cue swaggers in suave style with a Western rhythm.


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If you recall how strangely the gospel finale cue played on the album for Powell's Gigli, then imagine an entire score of such shifts of attention and you have basic understanding of the movement of Robots. Powell does manage to tie it together with impressive ease, however, with the size of the ensemble, the loyalty to non-synthetic elements, and a sense of humor floating his work. On the other hand, Powell may have missed the boat with an underutilization of the Blue Man Group and other percussive elements. When you think back upon Robots after hearing it on album, you get the impression that James Horner accomplished a more convincing and memorable robotic sound with a simple rhythm and woodblock approach in the opening cue of Bicentennial Man. Powell did not allow the robots to define the score to the same saturating effect as John Williams accomplished in his quirky 1981 robot-inspired score for Heartbeeps, nor did Powell integrate sound effects with the same imagination as Jerry Goldsmith did in his Gremlins 2 style humor. To that end, despite the wide variety of percussion that Powell did indeed employ in the score (from no less than 18 percussion specialists, including the funky guys in the blue paint), Robots doesn't leave the listener with any one spectacular dash of creativity that will keep you coming back to it. But in the end, it would seem that Powell was instead looking to offer music that provided the characters of Robots with the human hearts and souls that the mechanical visuals elements could not as easily provide, and thus got squeezed in his attempt to emphasize compassion over form. A generous 44-minute offering of music on album will satisfy any slapstick comedy fan, and while Robots may not have the same rhythmic funk as Antz or the same thematic charm as Chicken Run, it stands well enough on its own feet. ***

Bias Check:

For John Powell reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.96 (in 24 reviews)
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