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Written 2/25/21
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Buy it... if you are comfortable with Mark Mothersbaugh's zanier
children's comedy styles, his take on The Croods: A New Age
occasionally engaging but challenging in its overblown theatrics.
Avoid it... if you expect to hear either of Alan Silvestri's
wonderful themes for the 2013 predecessor, Mothersbaugh making only mere
allusions to them and his execution far less appealing.
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| Mothersbaugh |
The Croods: A New Age: (Mark Mothersbaugh) A sequel
written by the directors of 2013's hit caveman animation film The
Croods was long in development, delayed until 2020 and returning
most of its cast for further adventures of the Croods family in
prehistoric times. The comedy of The Croods: A New Age serves
much the same purpose as the original, though this entry throws in some
more socio-political implications when the cavemen meet a family known,
not coincidentally, as the Bettermans. These comparatively sophisticated
folks live in a giant tree house with nods towards modern advancements,
bringing friction between the two families. They ultimately face a
common enemy of angry monkeys and, after an hour of ridiculous action
scenarios involving these people, everyone lives on as happy neighbors.
The DreamWorks film was fortunate in that Universal released it to
theatres just before the second wave of the 2020 pandemic struck later
in the year, allowing it to accrue substantial box office returns before
being dumped onto the streaming market. Although the 2013 picture
offered a surprisingly good score from Alan Silvestri, the 2020 sequel
hired Mark Mothersbaugh to again summon a score that could play nice
with original songs for the topic. The timing of the pandemic put
Mothersbaugh in a particularly challenging position, as he had finished
writing the themes when lockdowns started and eventually had to finish
work on the movie's vocals while battling the virus himself, an episode
that sent him to an intensive care unit for 17 days. Mothersbaugh's
previous major entry of the year was The Willoughbys, which,
despite exhibiting all the usual antics of an animated comedy score,
conveyed orchestral prowess not heard from the composer before.
Unfortunately, that robust stance does not carry through to The
Croods: A New Age, which is closer to the structuring of his music
for The Lego Movie and its sequel. While there is some
intelligence to his approach to individual cues, the score as a whole is
a step backwards. More importantly, it's a significant diminishment
compared to Silvestri's overachieving effort for the prior entry,
especially with the songs of this film, one of which written by
Mothersbaugh, nearly insufferable in tone and performance. Whereas
Silvestri's score contained a surprising abundance of melodic grace for
an orchestra, Mothersbaugh takes a less romantic view of the concept.
Without the smoother and more refined style that Silvestri brought to
the concept, the sequel's music instead reveals itself to be a
pedestrian slapstick soundtrack.
The ensemble utilized for
The Croods: A New Age
is much the same, the jaunty orchestra joined by jungle-oriented
specialty contributors and occasional blasts of a marching band.
Mothersbaugh did seem to take note of these instrumental choices made by
Silvestri, and he expands the comical tones far further. There are
moments of massive choral and hard rock band performances layered
together, the vocals sometimes extending to harsh abrasiveness by
design. Thematically, Mothersbaugh sadly drops both of Silvestri's two
wonderful themes for the previous film and instead fashions a new Croods
family theme that seemingly intentionally takes some of the Silvestri
equivalent's progressions, including the first three notes, and twists
them into something new. Whatever the reason for this manipulation, it's
truly unfortunate, because Mothersbaugh's alternative identity, while
easier to identify in its malleable three-note phrases, isn't as
touching. The idea is extensively developed from the outset of "Cave
Diary" and is explored further at 0:35 into "Meet the Croods," 0:52 into
"Welcome to Tomorrow," 0:17 into "House Tour" (only slightly), and at
0:09 into "Scars Joy Ride." It opens "Picture Book/Drunken Arrival" on
acoustic guitar, figures in action fragments in "Working Together" and
"Explosive Love," and supplies a big finale at 1:47 into "Travel
Log/World's First Neighborhood," where the theme adopts some of the
Betterman's slide guitar personality as its own. The melody becomes the
basis for the "We're All Here Together" song performed in part by Jack
Black, a truly hideous recording that will repel even a fair number of
kids. The other theme in Mothersbaugh's score represents the
yuppie-dignified Betterman family, and this idea is defined by its
comparative sleaziness and scheming distrust, often using the slide
guitar to that end. Only fragments of this theme exist in "Meet the
Bettermans," better enunciation coming at 0:05 and 0:33 into "Bettermans
Plan." The composer doesn't use the idea all that much in the latter
half of the score, shades occurring in "Phil, Grug, Lazy River, "
ominous cellos at 1:07 into "Caveman Mancave" and elegant but creepy on
piano at 1:42 into that cue. Snippets follow throughout "Word for
Word/Betterman the Tool Maker," but there's not much more to it. The
action music in the second half of the score is borderline crazy,
Mothersbaugh at his most manic. The "Thunder Sisters" choral motif is
overblown and paced wildly in its appearances. Don't hold out any hope
for the two non-Mothersbaugh songs near the end of the album, either,
for they are insanity-inducing at best. Hats off to the composer for
fighting through COVID-19 to complete this assignment, but the dizzying
result will send you scurrying back to Silvestri's original.
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