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Only faint hints of Newman's score are touched upon by Giacchino for Cars 2, the sequel score unfortunately completely dumping the previous identities even during scenes that return to the first film's locale. Granted, the general style of the Cars 2 is completely different by necessity, but to hear so few stylistic references and absolutely no thematic quotations from the Newman score by Giacchino is disappointing. In fact, anyone casually listening to Cars 2 without knowing its identity will have no idea that the movie has anything to do with this franchise. Not only does the music for this entry sound like nothing for the concept, but it really has no general automotive connection, either. This music could function as a sequel to Johnny English, but with less than half the personality of Edward Shearmur's equivalent parody music for that film. Indeed, Cars 2 is saturated with parody techniques that make it tiresome after fifteen minutes, the spy element so prevalent that it becomes obnoxious after several cues of percussion pounding, Hammond organ reminiscence, wailing brass motifs, and electric guitar slickness. There's only so much a composer can do with this kind of sound, and Giacchino even falls into George S. Clinton territory for the Austin Powers movies after a few fluttery woodwind accents. When Giacchino does stray away from various incarnations of the spy material (which occasionally includes villain material appropriate to an overblown John Barry score for a 1970's Bond movie), he simply switches the parody dial to either folksy Western tones for Radiator Springs and Mater or Bernard Herrmann-esque suspense material for a more traditional ensemble as Mater finds himself in trouble. Thematically, Cars 2 is sufficiently developed but rather simplistic, too. There is no racing theme for McQueen to rival Newman's rapidly frolicking, descending representation for the character. Instead, the espionage element involving mostly Mater is developed as the primary thematic identity. Unfortunately, Giacchino remains too close to the melody of the song "Secret Agent Man" for comfort in this regard, the initial three notes of the theme an easy reference point throughout the score but hardly original. You get primary performances of this idea in "Turbo Transmission" and "The Turbomater," as well as extended variations in "Towkyo Takeout," "Blunder and Lightning," and others.

The frequent repetition of the main spy theme for Cars 2 diminishes the impact of the less memorable secondary ideas. The villain's melodramatically rising and falling theme is standard ominous fare, heard best in "History's Biggest Loser Cars," "The Lemon Pledge," and at the end of "Blunder and Lightning." The prancing suspense motif that reminds heavily of Herrmann (and, by association, Giacchino's similar inspiration from the composer in his music for the "Lost" television series) is developed in "Mater Warns McQueen" and "Axelrod Exposed." The only cues that barely make veiled references to the style of Newman's themes from Cars are "Porto Corsa," which reprises the spirit of Newman's John Williams-like racing fanfare, and "The Radiator Springs Gran Prix," which opens with faint structural similarities on brass to McQueen's prior theme. Newman's softly contemporary Western identity for the town itself is abandoned completely, Giacchino's replacement material sadly generic in its use of fiddle, banjo, jaw harp, and other usual suspects for the old-fashioned country atmosphere. Strangely, the composer simply adapts the spy theme into "Radiator Reunion" on piano instead of consulting with Newman's wholesome identity for the place. Aside from a generous portion of the score, the Cars 2 soundtrack album also opens with several songs that are heard in the film, including a return of Brad Paisley for another couple of contributions for the franchise. His duet with Robbie Williams in "Collision of Worlds" is a bit bizarre in its merging of the Country genre with a few hints of spy genre conventions, but it's a decent enough end credits song. Interestingly, anyone expecting to hear a touch of Ratatouille in the score for the Parisian locale will only find it in the Giacchino-penned (and seemingly early Andrew Lloyd Webber-inspired) song "My Heart Goes Vroom," performed with zest by Benabar. The only unlistenable song is provided by the Japanese electronica/technopop girl band Perfume, out of place but understandable as the soundtrack's representation of that location. Overall, the songs are fine and the score is merely average, Giacchino's music broader in scope and obviously longer in length than Newman's but lacking in any distinctive highlights or convincing emotional connection. It's simply parody music from start to finish, and it's tough to really become engaged with it when other composers have done it before and arguably done it better.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Michael Giacchino reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.46 (in 43 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.21 (in 23,448 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 63:22