: (John Powell and Harry
Gregson-Williams) After ten years of entertaining movie-goers with his
Oscar-winning short films involving
in 2000, the first feature length film from Aardman Animations.
At a time when the industry had transcended the look of 2-D animation,
Park's distinct claymation style was a throwback and potential obstacle
to success. But with a witty story full of humor aimed mostly at adults,
opened to widespread critical praise. The story is
roughly based on the famed World War II-set film
, but with chickens stuck on a farm with nasty owners. Not
satisfied with lives of laying eggs and eventually becoming dinner, the
chickens enlist the help of a circus rooster (who accidentally enters
the scene) to help them fly over the fence of their pen and enjoy
freedom. The chicken coops include a variety of funny characters that
each have metaphorical purposes, but the voices of Mel Gibson as the
rooster and Miranda Richardson as the evil Mrs. Tweedy are the
production's star power. When Dreamworks bought the distribution rights
to
, it became inevitable that either Hans Zimmer or
one of his many students from Media Ventures would provide the score,
and, in this case, the team that brought a dynamic and funky sound to
returned for the job. Upstart composers John Powell and
Harry Gregson-Williams not only proved through the years to be an
effective team on various animation projects, but they individually
would be recognized as the two most successful Media Ventures products
in their eventual solo careers.
Even as cynics started to admit at the time, Powell and
Gregson-Williams managed to create a superior blend of symphonic style
that deviated from the traditional electronic trademarks of other Media
Ventures composers. While
Antz may have been a solid effort, it
wasn't until
Chicken Run that the collaboration began to really
receive mostly positive recognition. For
Chicken Run, Powell and
Gregson-Williams painstakingly create a satirical salute to famous
scoring styles of eras past and perform them with a vigorous ensemble of
orchestral and specialty instruments. In the various emotional sectors
of the score, you hear inspiration taken from Elmer Bernstein western
rhythms, Erich Korngold sea adventures, Ron Goodwin flight marches,
Jerry Goldsmith war epics, Danny Elfman comedy swing, Lalo Schifrin jazz
appeal, and others. The integration of these ideas is so pervasive in
Chicken Run that the score can almost overwhelm you with its
blatant, endless series of parodies. Luckily, the rendering of the
resulting music is so robust that the enthusiasm of the overall work is
endearing enough to compensate for any flaws a listener may find with
the individual technical notes of emulation. Its sense of humor is
conveyed with an attractive symphonic spirit and a sophisticated range
of solo accents. The orchestra manages to contribute without being mixed
in the manner that tends to make Zimmer-related scores have a harsh,
synthetic edge. There does seem to be some electronically-produced bass
accentuation in the sonic spectrum (aside from the obvious, actual
electric bass used in parts), but the orchestra's sound is crisp and
clean.
The composers' use of kazoos, bagpipes, harmonica,
whistling, and other intriguing elements, adds crucial character, just
as a light choir offers some faux-spectacular moments to the plight of
the chickens. The kazoos in particular are key, because they're so
rarely used in film scores that they clearly stand out. Not since
The
Road to Wellville by Rachel Portman had they been so prominently
used, and they will understandably be a source of significant irritation
for some listeners. Thematically, the score utilizes several themes for
various concepts and situations and Powell and Gregson-Williams
admirably remain very loyal to those ideas. It is in their ranks that
many of the parody references make themselves heard, though in the case
of some of the shorter references, such as the John Williams/
Jaws
quote at the start of "Babs' Big Break," the usage is singular. The
Goodwin-style march that leads the chickens on their quest is
immediately heard in "Opening Escape" and proves to be quite malleable
throughout the score. It can be as tender as the string and woodwind
lament heard in "Up on the Roof" (which has a touch of Alan Silvestri's
Cast Away in tone) or as wildly, snare-ripping frenetic as it
typically is in the action sequences. A march heard most prominently in
the opening minute of "Into the Pie Machine" is a theme for the Tweedys
and their menacing threat of death; although this idea only makes a real
impact late in the score, it's a charged and effective motif. A comedy
motif heard sporadically in the first half of the score, often with
wicked electric bass rhythms, builds to a frenzy in "Building the
Crate," which then offers the construction motif that is arguably the
highlight of the entire score.
Used primarily in this cue and "The Chickens are
Revolting," this determined, classically-inclined theme overshadows all
of the ideas in the score. The remarkably charged presentation of the
idea in the last two minutes of "Building the Crate" makes the cue
amongst the most satisfying and, along with the kazoos in the role of a
chorus, humorously unique in modern cinema. Overall,
Chicken Run
is extremely likable in character and a technical marvel in its
orchestration and outstanding recording quality. It is, however, an
overload of orchestral bombast and energy, with just too much flair to
hold together for some listeners. As well as the composers succeed in
their satirical tributes, it is this exact constant throughout
Chicken Run that makes it a difficult score to enjoy unless
you're looking for music that will consume all of your concentration.
The quotes taken from famous motifs of the past become a burden after
their tenth statements, and the two songs in the middle of the album are
an unfortunate distraction. Still, for enthusiasts of highly
sophisticated orchestral comedy and satire,
Chicken Run will
crank you up. On a side note, Filmtracks has received e-mails (from
three separate readers over the years) claiming that the gorgeous choral
finale starting at 3:08 into the cue "Lift Off" was used in a post-2000
propaganda film involving warring African tribes. Reportedly, the cue in
this "government documentary" accompanies a scene of a desert full of
rotting corpses that resulted from ethnic cleansing, and the music was
intentionally meant to be incongruous with the visuals. The name of the
film and its studio is remains unknown, though similar illegal usage of
film music (and most dramatically with Brian Transeau's
Stealth,
used by Hamas in Lebanon) has been known to happen. Who wants to bet
that there aren't any royalties being paid on those dubs?
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For John Powell reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.28
(in 50 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.16
(in 52,492 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
For Harry Gregson-Williams reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3
(in 40 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 2.98
(in 55,208 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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