> Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) - ****˝

> Powell wouldn’t return for the third film. Its production schedule
> possibly overlapped with his sabbaticals from film scoring, though an
> interview in 2014 suggested he might’ve just felt done with the franchise
> (“there are plenty of people who can do that”).

The scuttlebutt I've picked up over the years is that Powell butted heads with the director, who wanted to lean a bit too hard on the temp music from the first score, and ended up leaving the project partway through. I've always found it difficult to square that story with the end product, which is very cohesive, fairly minimal with the outright rehash, and sounds much more like Powell to these ears than anyone else (except for the bits that sound like Lorne Balfe, as you say - perhaps he and Powell's other assistants like Paul Mounsey and Dominic Lewis were drafted in to finish the job; certainly there are some uncannily Powell-like moments in the third score and he had zero involvement with that one). I'm also really unsure where Zimmer fits into all this, as I really don't hear his voice on any of the new material, nor does he ever seem to talk about this score. Always been rather a confusing one for me, but whoever wrote it, the music is really good lol

> Fright Night (2011) - ***

The main theme from this might just be my favorite Djawadi piece, it's incredibly addictive and cool. Yeah it's better than the Game of Thrones theme fuckin' fight me