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| Giacchino |
Inside Out: (Michael Giacchino) How do you make an
animated children's film about complex neuropsychological concepts
without losing your target audience? Years of psychological tumult for
the film's creators, it turns out. On paper, a project like 2015's
Inside Out seems like an absolutely unmarketable concept for the
Pixar/Disney duo, and yet the resulting story of the personification of
a young girl's conflicted emotions universally pleased movie-goers and
achieved an esteemed place among the year's top critical and box office
successes. Put forth by the team that concocted another heartbreaking
animated triumph,
Up in 2009,
Inside Out must have been a
tremendous challenge in its attempt to accurately address how children's
emotions function and interact with each other in different spheres of
the brain. The plot of the film details the relationships between the
lead character's five primary emotions as they journey throughout her
consciousness and guide her real life actions. It's quite ingenious as
an idea, and the movie supplies enough (literally) colorful metaphors
for hard science to bring frightfully complicated brain functions down
to a child's level of understanding. To say that the film eventually
balances the emotional forces at play and finds peace is unnecessary, as
it is a light-hearted children's movie despite its intent to tackle
tough interpersonal topics, and the score by Pixar veteran Michael
Giacchino made certain to root the tone of the story in the bright,
fluffy optimism that everyone hopes will prevail in the end. The
composer had already experienced a whirlwind of activity in late 2014
and early 2015 that led him to yield one of the most productive six
months of quality output for any composer in recent times, though none
of his work for the science fiction entries during the period could
foreshadow just how different a challenge
Inside Out would turn
out to be. And, of course, it sounds totally different from the other
Giacchino scores of 2015, resurrecting the composer's flighty retro jazz
and excruciatingly intimate styles of writing for a delicately innocent
journey of occasionally timid of usually bubbly exploration.
Interestingly,
Inside Out would have been an absolutely perfect
assignment for Danny Elfman, and Giacchino's music, when not recalling
his own work in the genre, does tend to find common ground with Elfman's
nostalgic ramblings of jazz, at least in summary instrumentation and
tone. It's an affable and highly competent approach, even if it
threatens to drive you absolutely crazy with the exuberance in between
its reflective moments of beauty.
The instrumentation that Giacchino uses to bring
velvety goodness to the emotions of the girl at the center of
Inside
Out will raise Elfman connections even before the rollicking rhythms
cement those associations. The ensemble is often kept light and fleet of
foot, the retro sounds of vibraphone, Hammond organ, electric bass,
harmonica, ukulele, ocarina, percussion, and a variety of specialty
(some seemingly synthetic) tones of yesteryear teaming with an often
restrained orchestral presence to bounce playfully through the primary
material of the score with almost sickeningly upbeat personality,
reminiscent in some ways of the vintage Disneyland source music that
seems wondrous when you're a kid but tries your patience as an adult
(think about the Main Street Electrical Parade music). As expected,
Giacchino applies the piano as the true heart of the score, however,
evoking
Up in the most tender of scenes with the girl. He's
certainly fine-tuning the "less is more" technique even further here,
the piano or vibraphone very plainly performing several sequences
without much accompaniment. While he may contend that
Inside Out
exceeds
Up in its raw musical emotions during these sequences,
it's difficult to agree, as that card has been played enough times by
the composer now to serve its purpose in almost generically expected
ways. The main theme for the film certainly gets a workout, adapted
throughout the various emotional realms while usually retaining its
hopeless optimism. A secondary theme of greater confidence is assembled
throughout the picture before reaching its natural conclusion at 5:25 in
"Joy Turns to Sadness." The end credits cue runs these ideas in
succession through all of the score's emotional corners, including the
sidetracks to large, old-school jazz and the obligatory Elfman-like
moments of organ-defined nightmares. The latter, along with
full-throated orchestral depth of much length, is infrequently utilized,
the trio of "Dream a Little Nightmare," "The Subconscious Basement," and
"Escaping the Subconscious" summarizing the bulk of that material. The
overall tone of the score can be grating at times, the vibraphone
providing a wet environment while the piano remains quite dry. That, in
combination with the happy-go-lucky bursts of uppity rhythmic flair, is
difficult to reconcile in close quarters, as in the sudden transition
late in "Escaping the Subconscious" that shifts quickly from David
Arnold suspense to Carl Stalling prancing. In the end,
Inside Out
is an admirably effective score, but it's extremely challenging to
appreciate in full on album. The CD version includes the non-Giacchino
song from the short "Lava" that was included with
Inside Out. If
you're a parent, this is music to be tolerated for its merits, not
necessarily appreciated for enjoyment's sake.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Michael Giacchino reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.48
(in 35 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.24
(in 17,701 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The CD's packaging cleverly emulates 1950's LP artwork and includes a
note from the filmmakers about the composer, a summary of the film's plot, a
list of performers, and lyrics to the song "Lava."
