Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit:
(Julian Nott, Various) It's hard not to have been charmed by the three
short films featuring the quirky Wallace and Gromit characters; their
lovable escapades are the creation of British animator Nick Park, who
utilizes the traditional form of stop-motion animation for these films.
His characters and sets are made of a form of modeling clay called
Plasticine, which (as fans of Tim Burton's ventures into this realm well
know) requires extremely detailed adjustments in between each frame of
film to create fluid movement. In 2005, the full-length film debut of
the characters combined Park's traditional methodology with some more
modern CGI incorporated for complex scenes and special effects. For
Park's three short films made ten (plus) years ago for
Wallace and
Gromit, composer Julian Nott provided a consistent and infectious
theme complimented by comedic orchestral scores. An Oxford University
graduate in music and a veteran of scoring television episodes and small
screen films, Nott made his name with those
Wallace and Gromit
short films between 1989 and 1995. For the loyal following of those
films, seeing his name attached to
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of
the Were-Rabbit in 2005 was a natural relief. But then, as to be
expected with any animated film from Dreamworks these days, the now
dreaded credit of "Music Produced by Hans Zimmer" suddenly appeared next
to Julian Nott on the film's posters. Bring in the elephants,
concubines, rhinos, captured slaves, praetorians, eunuchs, and the
hoards of worshippers! Those worshippers are, of course, the assortment
of Zimmer-clinging young composers who are using the Zimmer, Inc. method
of getting group scoring assignments in the hope of someday becoming
John Powell or Harry Gregson-Williams, who have a few captured slaves of
their own nowadays. Until they float or sink someday, their names can
simply be referred to as "Various" for the time being, and although
their presence is an ominous enforcement of Dreamworks upon Nott, the
good news for fans of the short films is that the spirit of Nott's
music, including the title theme, has been preserved for
Wallace and
Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
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It's difficult to tell the exact boundaries of where
Nott's contribution begins and ends. He reportedly wrote all of the
themes and action motifs before "allowing" the various other composers
to flesh them out. The salvation here, though, is that the assortment of
young Zimmer clones has actually produced a score that fits perfectly
with Nott's original sounds, thus making the whole "Various" situation a
better target for comedy than ridicule. It should be noted that Nott
himself was satisfied with the experience, and his fans should be as
well. The delightfully bouncy title theme from the shorts is offered
many times throughout the score, first in its original orchestration and
then in several satisfying variations. From the big band interpretation
in "Fluffy Lover Boy" to the heightened march format in "Every Dog Has
His Day," the theme's attractive spirit of adventure elevates this score
above most others in this genre simply due to its consistent identity.
The orchestrations are crisp and clear, providing a fully orchestral
comedy score that waltzes, marches, and tip-toes through each scene
while avoiding the pitfalls of typical parody or animated comedy
efforts. Several subthemes are introduced for this particular film,
including an Anti-Pesto company fanfare and a classically-inclined
instrumentation for the Lady Tottington character. The most enjoyable
sub-theme is the one for the were-rabbit (and the general concept of
scary stuff) that bursts through the opening title sequence and then
really gets its footing in "Harvest Offering" and "Arson Around." With a
pipe organ and adult chorus, the theme is reminiscent of some of John
Debney's faux-horror music for similar films (
Chicken Little is
coincidentally running concurrently with this film) and even has a
tribute to Bernard Herrmann's four-note
Cape Fear theme at the
outset of some of the more evil cues. The sound quality of recording has
one odd quality: some of the brass seems to be mixed at the forefront,
with very dry, crisp sound, while the strings, percussion, and choir are
given significant reverberation. You can hear the difference best in "A
Big Trap" and it seems to be a rather odd mixing mishap (or perhaps it
was intentional for some reason). On the whole, however, this score is
seemingly targeting the crowd of listeners that defend
Chicken
Run to the death, and to their pleasure, they will find
Wallace
and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit to be a generally superior
and more consistent effort.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
