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Review of Dinosaur (James Newton Howard)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you regularly enjoy dynamic, entertaining, and
ethnically diverse animation scores that paint with as many vibrant
colors as the films' visuals.
Avoid it... if you require more than an obvious rearrangement of styles and themes from Hans Zimmer's The Lion King and Jerry Goldsmith's The Ghost and the Darkness for this score's highlights.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Dinosaur: (James Newton Howard) After an amazing
run starting in 1989 with The Little Mermaid, Walt Disney
Pictures ended its streak of dominance over animated musicals in 1999
with Tarzan. When the studio offered Dinosaur in 2000
without a single song in its ranks, a new era had begun. The studio
eventually returned to the musical concept in subsequent years, but the
waters were muddied for Disney by superior efforts from other studios.
The story of Dinosaur is unimpressive, basically taking elements
from both Tarzan and The Land Before Time and showing a
mismatched group of dinosaurs forced on a journey to find a new home
when a meteor destroys theirs. The animation caused a stir with its
remarkable, life-like detail that took four years to develop, largely
obscuring the fact that the story was flimsy and predictable. Another
element of intrigue involving Dinosaur resulted when James Newton
Howard was hired to provide the score-only soundtrack for the film. He
had relatively little experience in the genre and had made a name for
himself with 1990's action and suspense films, along with a few
ridiculous comedies and dramas along the way. Dinosaur marked the
beginning of a fruitful, three-film contract between Howard and Disney,
lasting from 2000 through 2002 and following this debut with
Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet. Although
the animated film scores ended there for the composer for many years,
you still hear snippets of all three scores consistently used years
later in advertisements for the American Disney theme parks. The score
for Dinosaur in particular was received very well by both film
and score critics at the time, heralded as a return to 1980's animation
when strong orchestral soundtracks absent frequently obnoxious songs
were a normal event. The score also affirmed Howard's own position in
the top tier of Hollywood composers at the time, opening the doors for
an outstanding level of success for the composer later in the
2000's.
In retrospect, Dinosaur was somewhat of an awkward listening experience at its debut; of his contemporaries, only James Horner had really made a career out of this type of score-only animated venture. Howard's music is quite strong all around, balancing the tested formulas of other composers while instilling just enough of his own character into the work to keep the more derivative parts from becoming the score's sole defining aspect. The predecessor to this work in his own career was 1995's Waterworld, which had been utilized by the filmmakers as a temp score here. The sizable Los Angeles orchestral ensemble is joined by Lebo M. and his associated chorus, a vibrant real and synthetic percussive array, and a slight presence of electronics. The composer was particularly proud of his ability to mix tasteful samples of unusual instrumentation into his organic recordings, and that blend is handled extremely well in Dinosaur. There was no specific ethnicity targeted by Howard for the setting, but a general jungle atmosphere in the percussion, woodwinds, and vocals often prevails. The style of Howard's approach is sometimes criticized for mirroring the vocal and rhythmic techniques of Hans Zimmer's The Lion King, while the action sequences (and typically those involving brass) and some additional ethnic material is obviously inspired by Jerry Goldsmith's The Ghost and the Darkness. Thematically, the score is anchored by one really strong primary theme and a bevy of secondary ideas that never quite congeal, yielding a cloudier narrative than desirable for this kind of film. The main theme represents the central herd of characters and is highlighted by its large performance that serves the film extremely well during the flying scene witnessed in the latter half of "The Egg Travels." While being the highlight of the score, this particular arrangement of the theme also draws the most fire for its resemblance to the two scores mentioned above. It's a magnificent moment in not only the movie but also Howard's career, and it's best to simply try to ignore the obvious resemblances to The Ghost and the Darkness as best as one possibly can. After its memorable introduction in "The Egg Travels," the main theme persists in frantic fragments during "The Meteor" and becomes tender in "Aladar Meets the Misfits." It's softly reassuring in the first half of "Finding Water" and massive with choir in second half of that cue. The idea is redemptive for the ensemble in the middle of "Breakout," explores a noble French horn and string-led version at the end of "Carnotaur Stand-Off," and returns to the original form in "Epilogue." The popular fanfare mode starts the "End Credits" suite in a unique arrangement. Along similar lines is Howard's separate journey theme with the same vocalizations and percussion; it explodes in the middle of "Raptors/Aladar Meets the Herd" but culminates in a stylishly cool rendition with jungle rhythms, vocals, and brass in "The Trek" ("Across the Desert"). This theme is more pensive at the outset of "Finding Water," fragmented in the cue's later action, and follows the raptor interlude at the center of "End Credits." A synthetic demo version with different lines of action is provided in "The Trek (Alternate)." Also related is the composer's celebratory mating theme, summarized in "The Mating Ritual" and reprised in "Comes With a Pool," "Epilogue," and with great joy as an alternative opening to "End Credits - Version 2." The rambling, Caribbean-style percussion and Lebo M. vocals made popular by The Lion King are prominent in most of these performances, and they definitely steal the show in the score. The same lovable rhythms grace the assembly in "The Courtship," which definitely refers to Zimmer's more playfully exuberant parts of The Lion King. The more pronounced electronic and drum pad rhythm in "The Trek" also recalls the hip style of Howard's concurrent Unbreakable. The opposite side of the score contains the brute action motifs for abrasive brass and percussion textures, and these passages can be tough to digest. A three-note motif in "Raptors" on heavy brass sometimes guides the chasing, and it interjects wildly in the middle of "End Credits." A martial motif for the Kron character debuts at the end of "Aladar Meets the Misfits," opens and closes "The Trek," and influences "Aladar and Neera" late, but Howard has difficultly enunciating this theme in the action portions. The somewhat hidden side of the score for Dinosaur is its trio of dramatic themes for the soft underbelly of the tale. The love theme for Neera isn't particularly memorable in its melody, but it provides the right tone. Introduced playfully in "Aladar Meets the Misfits," the theme takes some lessons from Horner in its pretty performance in the middle of "Aladar and Neera." It's warm with cymbalom and solo female voice in "Neera Rescues the Orphans" and follows the main theme in "End Credits." A bit elusive but arguably the more appealing theme is that for nesting, often conveyed by woodwinds. Developed throughout "The Nesting Grounds," this idea recurs in the latter portions of "The Egg Hatches" and transforms into a massive moment of lament in "Arrival on the Mainland." Later, it's resurrected in an expression of solo French horn sadness late in "End Credits," an added trumpet line closing out the theme in the alternate "End Credits - Version 3." A discovery theme is a dramatic revelation on strings at the culmination of "Breakout" and becomes more subdued but pretty at the end of "Kron and Aladar Fight." These somewhat wayward highlights of the score include tender woodwind and string expressions gracefully accompanied at times by deep adult choir compensating for their rather loose structural connections. Aside from the disorganized narrative in these secondary themes, the action music is a surprising detriment in some cues, following templates very similar to previous material that Howard had written for other films and filled with dissonant strikes that maintain basic interest but cannot compete as a listening experience with the more fluid cues for character development and movement. The original 52-minute album will suffice for most listeners, but bootlegs long circulated with much more material. A limited 2024 Intrada Records expansion doesn't contain all the demo cues on those bootlegs, but it offers the full score in outstanding sound quality. There are some noteworthy additions to the extra 30 minutes, including the "End Credits" assembly and the thematic development in "Raptors/Aladar Meets the Herd" and "Aladar Meets the Misfits." These vital cues and the impressive alternate takes will greatly please the score's enthusiasts despite some silly controversy over the raptor theme snippet chosen by the label for "End Credits." On any album, be prepared to consolidate 20 minutes of fantastic though derivative material from this fruitful era for the composer. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
2000 Disney Album:
Total Time: 51:45
2024 Intrada Album: Total Time: 154:35
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 2000 Disney album contains extensive credits and a fold-out poster but no extra
information about the score or film. That of the 2024 Intrada albums contains details about both.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Dinosaur are Copyright © 2000, 2024, Walt Disney Records, Intrada Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 5/6/00 and last updated 11/9/24. |
