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FILMTRACKS.COM
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Review of Alice in Wonderland (Danny Elfman)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you've eagerly awaited the day when Danny Elfman would
completely recapture the addictively alluring magic of his masterpieces
for Tim Burton's early films.
Avoid it... if you have no interest in hearing music that is to Elfman what Avatar is to James Horner, because you'll be reminded constantly of at least half a dozen of Elfman's existing scores (albeit his strongest works).
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Alice in Wonderland: (Danny Elfman) There have been
countless adaptations of the Wonderland concept from Lewis Carroll's
famed novels to the screen over time, starting with a silent film in
1903 and best remembered by Walt Disney's animated 1951 classic. You
could count on eccentric director Tim Burton to rile Carroll purists by
completely re-arranging the characters and their environment for his
2010 live-action/animation hybrid, however. Burton has claimed that his
interpretation of the story is not a sequel or a re-imagining of the
tale, but in reality it has elements of both; in his Alice in
Wonderland, the young girl has grown to the age of 19 and falls into
a rabbit hole while avoiding an unwanted wedding proposal, thrusting her
into a version of Wonderland that itself has experienced significant
changes. She learns that it is the destiny of the original Alice to
return and restore order to the Wonderland kingdom, but she and the
famous characters of the world aren't sure if this particular grown-up
Alice is the one to fulfill the prophecy. Critics applauded Burton's
typical sense for visual overload (despite shoddy 3D renderings) but
were almost uniformly disappointed by the film's degeneration into
standard fantasy action fare by the end. Still, like all the best Burton
projects, Alice in Wonderland is a coming of age story about a
social misfit, and that appeal caused the film to impressively cover its
$200 million budget for Disney almost immediately upon its release (and
eventually become the fifth-highest grossing movie of all time). Behind
the scenes, Alice in Wonderland was an immense technical
challenge for Burton, because it represented the first time he had
relied upon green screen photography and effects integration almost
exclusively, and the mad rush to assemble the film in post-production
before its release date caused the director's frantic mindset to carry
over to composer Danny Elfman as well. Having collaborated together for
twenty five years, a level of trust between the men has led to extremely
short spotting sessions, and Elfman was unleashed to pursue several
lines of possible musical avenues for Alice in Wonderland, in
part due to the fact that the film was not assembled until well after
his writing began.
Elfman's efforts for Burton's early films often yielded the highlights of his entire career, his calling cards that continue to be popular two decades after their debut. Not since this era of magnificent production for Elfman has the collaboration inspired the composer to a wildly popular and superior fantasy score. Strong soundtracks have come and gone, some showing glimpses of the allure of those early classics, but with Alice in Wonderland finally comes a worthy extension of that quality of material in its entirety. The tight, cohesive flow of the soundtrack album for Alice in Wonderland is deceptive, because Elfman's score came together rather haphazardly in the end. This was a rare situation in which the composer had to write a library of "wild" music for an unfinished film so that Burton could insert generic pieces of the score into scenes edited at the last minute. Whether by fortune or sheer talent, though, its final form is a superbly developed conception of a fanciful children's score with an almost constant twinge of peril. This is pure Elfman fantasy at his best, lyrically smooth, melodically memorable, and elegantly ominous from start to finish. For some listeners, the familiarity that comes with Alice in Wonderland could possibly be a deterrent. It is to Elfman what Avatar is to James Horner, but without the potentially obnoxious, outright wholesale regurgitation of lengthy passages from existing themes. Both are phenomenal summaries of each composer's trademarks in their respective genres, but both are consequently quite derivative for the learned ears of collectors with significant collections of their works. Given how long most Elfman enthusiasts have waited to hear the composer crank out another truly classic fantasy score, however, the many connections between Alice in Wonderland and his previous scores are not only excused, but welcomed. Everything simply clicks in this score... its ambience, its minor-key constructs, its poignant themes, its instrumental applications, and its choral coloration. It's easy to get hung up on the main theme, but what makes that idea and everything else in the score function so well is Elfman's ability to stretch the soundscape out to the far reaches of the treble and bass regions while de-emphasizing, whether intentionally or not, the middle ranges. At opposite ends of the spectrum in Alice in Wonderland are cooing performances from a boy's choir, dreamy violins, and an array of tingling percussion to address the innocence of the tale's origins in the treble while extremely aggressive timpani, low brass, and bass string performers chop and blast away with enough significant force to convey the gravity of the situation in Wonderland. A generous mixing emphasis on these simultaneous highs and lows creates an environment of both curiosity and dread, sustained best by Elfman in the main theme's statements. The ensemble consists of the expected orchestral elements, a Beetlejuice-like organ of religious tone, and occasional electronic enhancements in the bass. Stealing the show, however, are the boys and women's vocals (with occasional soloist), alternating between and sometimes overlapping wordless enchantment and Elfman's own last-minute lyrics. All of these elements perform in monumental harmony for much of the score, with only a few brief moments of dissonance disturbing an otherwise purely magical fairy tale score. Elfman's best scores have always contained extremely memorable themes, however, and that is a dominant factor in Alice in Wonderland's success. The composer actually wrote three themes for the title character while opting not to address any of the supporting characters with substantially recurring ideas of their own, a route similar to Sleepy Hollow in many ways. The emphasis of the story is on Alice's maturation, and thus Elfman concentrates on evolving those three melodies to reflect different points in her life. The two supporting themes are best heard at the start and end of the film, representing the character's past and future outside of Wonderland. The "Little Alice" theme, summarized in the album track of that name, is a lovely woodwind, xylophone, and string theme of innocence that shares a conclusion of progressions with the primary theme of Black Beauty. It serves as a reminder of the character's previous excursion and a general sense of sentimentality, reprised most completely in "Bayard and the White Queen," "Only a Dream," and "Alice Returns." Both of the latter tracks also reprise Elfman's "Proposal Theme," following Alice from her unwanted marriage proposal at the start to her counteroffer at the end of the picture. While initially taking on the score's only proper, Victorian-like demeanor to mirror the setting of the story (despite Elfman's assertions that he did not address them) in "Proposal," the "Proposal Theme" eventually unfolds to match the fluid, almost melancholy tone of the "Little Alice" theme. The progressions of the "Proposal" theme are an intriguing cross between Howard Shore's material for the Hobbits in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (the opening three notes of one of the phrases on woodwinds) and Jerry Goldsmith's character theme from Rudy in the flute performances of similar figures (best heard at about a minute into "Alice Returns"). Elfman sometimes extends the applications of these themes outside of their obvious character references to address some of those that Alice meets for a second time in this film, including a tender and whimsical performance of the "Little Alice" theme in "Bayard and the White Queen" and "The White Queen." Although the score for Alice in Wonderland as a whole will likely be remembered for its flashy title theme, the innocent heart of its personality exists in these two secondary themes, and their occasional usage to break apart the louder action material (and more frequent reminders of the title theme) help balance the presentation on album. Fortunately, for those overwhelmed by the title theme, the album arrangement offers the secondary themes in the second and third tracks for convenient identification. Some less cohesive supporting ideas do follow, from the creepy, deep woodwind and string motif in "Alice and Bayard's Journey," "Hatter Recital," and "Saving the Hatter" to the understandably familiar, whining strings from Batman Returns in "The Cheshire Cat." There is no doubt that the Alice in Wonderland soundtrack, despite Elfman's efforts to round out Alice's musical representation with the two secondary themes, is dominated by what he refers to as her "Hero Theme." Eventually labeled as "Alice's Theme," this idea is among the composer's most impressive career achievements, and one that almost didn't take the vocalized form that eventually made it famous. Elfman had originally intended for this orchestral theme to accompany Alice from roughly the mid-point of the picture and build momentum as she approaches her adventurous showdown. Late in the recording process, while stuck during a storm at an airport in London, Elfman decided to write lyrics to his main theme for Alice in Wonderland after recognizing his subconscious earlier choice to make the two final notes of the theme perfectly lend themselves to a performance of the name "Alice." He went back to the boy's and women's choirs in London at a later session and subsequently recorded several vocalized versions of "Alice's Theme," some with the lyrics and others with only "la-la" performances accompanying the two-note "Alice" phrases. All of this was done without Burton's knowledge, because Elfman was worried that his enthusiastic last-minute idea would be brushed aside by the already frantic and over-extended director. Ultimately, Burton elected to use Elfman's longest recording of "Alice's Theme" (which opens the album) over the end credits of the film. Perhaps this acceptance of Elfman's imaginative extension of the score in the last few days of production (which literally included music being written until the day before the final print mastering) shouldn't come as a surprise; not only is the piece such a natural fit for Burton's personality, but the director had already instructed Elfman to expand the theme's usage in the score to cover the first half of the film in a foreshadowing role. The use of the "Alice" vocals on the pair of descending notes that close out the final phrases of theme seems like such a perfect compliment that it's hard to imagine the score existing without it. The pair of notes, along with the majority of the rest of the activity underneath the primary melody, is based on the always pleasurable minor-third progressions that seem to inform most ostinatos in film music these days. Whereas that usage gets tiresome in some scores, Elfman creatively adapts those minor third figures (carried over in part from the Catwoman material in Batman Returns but in actuality more similar to the rhythmic movement that introduces the main, but underutilized John Williams-like theme in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) into every section of the orchestra, even forcing the flutes into that role of accentuating what has been called the "masculine" personality of the theme. The ostinatos are altered in their rhythmic flow from moment to moment, staggered in pairs of differing frequencies that vary along with the brutality of the performance emphasis. The primary rendition of "Alice Theme" became a powerfully compelling identity for Alice in Wonderland even without the choir, but an intelligent juggling of several performance methods for especially the two closing notes of the theme is particularly remarkable. The massive brass and timpani explosions in between the statements of the actual melody are mostly constrained to the opening and closing tracks on the commercial album presentation, though the existence of five expressed reprises of the theme present Elfman's different choral renditions as constant (and appreciated) reminders of the core identity of the work. Some of these are indicative of Elfman's own confessed love of the theme (he actually referred to it an "obsession" in retrospect) and some may have been edited for use as those aforementioned "wild" tracks that could be dropped into the final cut of the film by Burton where needed. Five of the six overall presentations of "Alice's Theme" conclude with a somber but undeniably gorgeous solo boy's performance of the theme. The lyrics written by Elfman, incidentally, reinforce the Burton appropriate, dark nature of the film by expressing concerns about having "such a long, long way to fall" and "so much to lose." The theme's application to Elfman's underscore begins in earnest in "Down the Hole" and continues to guide the entire score anytime you hear the minor third progressions begin to churn or a single pair of "Alice"-inspiring notes in synchrony with a subtle action on screen. Sometimes accompanying the ostinato is an anticipation-building, rising three-note structure for full, cooing choir that actually opens the main performance of the theme, as in the end of "The Cheshire Cat." Elfman considers this motif to be a unique sub-theme all to itself, though it doesn't seem to be developed to any great degree outside of a supporting role within the main theme's longer performances. A militaristic brass version of the main theme's various other fragments graces "Alice Escapes" and strained allusions continue into the final action cues. The best adaptation of the theme comes in the middle of "Alice Decides," an incredible collection of interpretations that includes a downright explosive choral-chanting, organ-blaring, and cymbal-crashing performance of the theme's marching bridge sequence (pay close attention to the wild flute playing the melodic line over the top in this short sequence, too). A singularly peculiar moment involving the facet of this Alice in Wonderland's main theme comes late in "Blood of the Jabberwocky," during which Elfman slows it down considerably and changes its natural rests for high strings; when heard this way, the theme begins to eerily resemble the first phrase of Horner's full romance theme from Avatar. Very odd, indeed. An equally deliberate and obviously resolved version of the theme in the last minute of "Alice Returns" has a pastoral quality that attaches it to memories of Sommersby's wholesome, but strangely morbid harmonic simplicity for layered strings. By that point, if you're any fan of this score, you might finding yourself inserting your own "Alice" vocal over uses of the descending two note phases during which Elfman doesn't do it for you. Now that is proof that the theme is catchy. As a final testament to the strength of Elfman's overall composition, the listening experience for Alice in Wonderland on album is surprisingly consistent in quality from start to finish even outside of the overtly thematic reminders. Aside from a few dull or dissonant moments in "Doors," "Drink Me," and "The Cheshire Cat" (the last of which does feature that intriguing violin work a la Batman Returns for the character), this score spreads around its wealth of highlights. The choral atmosphere of the rising three note motif preceding the title theme in "Into the Garden" is a good warm-up for any Elfman fantasy score. The first sustained action cue, "Bandersnatched," offers some turbulent string rhythms reminiscent of the structures and personality of Jerry Goldsmith's music for the airplane segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie. That cue closes with about thirty seconds that will be highly familiar to enthusiasts of the Jack Skellington's pivotal "Jack's Lament" song in The Nightmare Before Christmas. The dramatic choral sways opening "Finding Absolem" will be equally recognizable in their relation to the Penguin's morbidly handsome material in Batman Returns. The sense of percussive and string momentum that builds after a minute into "Alice and Bayard's Journey" hails back to the energy of the original Batman (a spirit that Elfman seems to have grasped at throughout this score). The second half of "The Dungeon" incorporates the choral and tapped percussive personality from Edward Scissorhands. Additional reflections of existing scores in Alice in Wonderland include the resolute string rhythm near the start of "Going to Battle," which coincidentally recalls, oddly enough, Cliff Eidelman's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country before later using a harmonious organ and muted trumpet note (over swirling violins) once again like Batman. The monumental scale of the orchestral and choral majesty in "The Final Confrontation," complete with gong hit, is closer to Hellboy II: The Golden Army. Overall, these references to mostly Elfman's earlier works will likely please his collectors, for they pull pieces from the best of his music. That is why Alice in Wonderland is to Elfman what Avatar is to Horner. Just be prepared for this score to be so saturated with Elfman's mannerisms that you can't help but be reminded of his prior classics. With music of this caliber of quality, however, that's mostly a positive. The commercial 2010 album from Disney, although presenting a generous 50 minutes of unadulterated score in a decently engaging mix, is missing some important material, especially that which was recorded for the 12-minute action sequence at the climax and, among other things, Elfman's last-minute addition of the short, ultra-silly "Fudderwacken" dance source for Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter. Shortly after Alice in Wonderland debuted, Warner Brothers announced that it would produce a limited, $500 set called "The Danny Elfman and Tim Burton 25th Anniversary Music Box" (reviewed separately at Filmtracks) that would contain expanded versions of each of the scores in the collaboration, and the additions to Alice in Wonderland in particular join those for Pee-wee's Big Adventure, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Big Fish as being among the most significant in quantity and quality. Not only do you hear the final "Fudderwacken" version on CD #14, "Oddities and Ends," but several wacky demo versions as well. One of the music box medleys on CD #16, "Notes and Notions," concludes with a performance of "Alice's Theme," too. The dedicated CD for Alice in Wonderland in the set (#13), however, offers most of what fans could have wanted to add to the previous product. This extra music includes 21 minutes of finished score, highlighted by "Main Title/Opening" and the previously missing battle music from the end. For casual listeners, much of this material unique to the 2011 set will sound redundant when compared to the rest of the score. Indeed, some of it is clearly a hastily re-arranged version of music from other passages; "Dragons & Swords," for instance, restates substantial portions from the latter parts of "Going to Battle" and "The Final Confrontation." The instrumentation of these restatements is strikingly different in some cases, though, making them legitimate additions to the score. The "Main Title/Opening" is another case in which you hear an intriguing new angle of the familiar music. Most importantly, when considering the fact that the additional music is partially redundant, you have to count that as a positive given that those 21 minutes certainly are not inferior. In other words, it's hard to knock redundant versions of five-star material. At the end of CD #13, Elfman throws in three demo versions of "Alice's Theme" that clearly exhibit its evolution. An added bonus is the first ensemble and choir recording of the theme, minus the lyrics and restrained in the force of the bass elements. The only disappointment comes, not surprisingly due to yet another questionable choice in the assembly of this disastrous set. In this case, Elfman moved one score cue and an alternate version of "Main Title" to the group of music languishing on only the USB stick included with the set. That score cue, "The Parapet," definitely belonged on the CD in the place of the demos (and the same could be argued of the alternate title performance, too). Due to the USB stick's incredibly poor, 192 kbps bitrate presentation, "The Parapet," despite its longing beauty and dramatic conclusion, sounds awfully constrained. This was Elfman's call in the end, and, among many questionable decisions in regards to the presentation of music on this set (including the lack of chronological ordering on the main CDs themselves, something that is standard nowadays for expanded score releases), it will understandably frustrate those who pay $500 for the product. Still, the set provides the raw materials to make a mostly lossless and complete arrangement of the score for its many enthusiasts and remains one of the few reasons for those with expendable income to take the plunge. Ultimately, both the film and score for Alice in Wonderland have gained a tremendous reputation and following, the latter nominated for several major awards. The experience of its creation may have been a crazy, hectic one for the composer, but he accomplished something not heard since Sommersby in 1993: an unequivocally entertaining, five-star Elfman masterpiece. *****
TRACK LISTINGS:
2010 Disney Album:
Total Time: 50:01
2011 Warner Set: Total Time: 83:45
* previously unreleased
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 2010 Disney album includes lyrics to the main theme, but
no extra information about the score or film. The 2011 Warner set features some
notes from Elfman about his choices of music for inclusion on the product.
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