: (John Debney) Tread lightly, you
must, when remaking any classic Disney animation tale into a live-action
alternative, and extremely deliberate care was exercised by director Jon
Favreau upon undertaking that process for 2016's retelling of the 1967
favorite,
. Perhaps the biggest risk of the
production came with the decision to film the entirety of the jungle
movie in downtown Los Angeles, utilizing the newest technologies in
motion capture and realistic computer renderings to produce an
environment that looks as real as if it were shot on location. Despite
still looking disturbingly fake in some circumstances, for most viewers
the end result was a success, the remake a fantastic fiscal triumph
that, unfortunately, led immediately to studio talk of sequels. The
original story remains largely intact, though much of the humorous,
light-heartedness of the cartoon has been necessarily diminished in
favor of a more serious take on Rudyard Kipling's original concepts. An
abandoned baby boy, Mowgli, is raised in the Indian jungle by wild
beasts and, during an intense period of drought that brings all the
animals together to available water, becomes the target of a tiger and
is forced on a prolonged chase towards humanity before ultimately
confronting his nemesis and resuming his life among the wild creatures.
For Favreau, one of his first production moves was to bring aboard
composer John Debney, with whom he had traversed several genres,
including the Marvel universe, and who has proven himself a master at
adapting previous music into a new application. Undoubtedly, the pair
made the determination not to try to best the music for the original
, which featured a score by George Bruns and songs
by Richard M. Sherman, Robert B. Sherman, and Terry Gilkyson, but rather
freely incorporate those famous identities into the new picture, all the
while infusing new themes and revising the orchestration to meet modern
expectations. For Debney, this assignment was intensely personal. His
father a 40-year Disney veteran, the composer literally grew up on the
Disney lot and had already established a friendship with the Sherman
brothers and others influential to the 1967 film. Debney clearly
approached
with respect and dignity, ultimately
contributing to the best combination of score and songs that anyone
could have expected for this remake.
It's become common to express frustration and lamentation
about the state of film music processes in the 2010's, a combination of
technological advancements and the advancement of "group think"
ghostwriter mentality in the industry (both inevitably pointing back to
Hans Zimmer's Remote Control operations) yielding scores that seem great
in concept but don't actually deliver the best result for the film at
hand. For
The Jungle Book, Debney has, conversely, done every
conceivable action absolutely right. His infusion of the classic film's
score and song melodies into his work, not to mention the production
seeking out Richard Sherman to alter the lyrics to one of the newly
recorded updates to the songs, is extremely respectful of the source
inspiration. The results make it clear that
The Jungle Book was
an especially meaningful project for Debney, and there's some humorous
irony in the fact that the composer known more frequently in recent
times for his deep relationship with Jesus Christ and the film scores he
produces for Christian movies has managed to, in the process of paying
tribute to his Disney roots, create a score better than those heralded
entries in the religious genre. This score is to Debney what 2014's
Tarzan was for David Newman; these composers languish through
assignments for ridiculously stupid comedies and yet it is the primal
environment and melodic grace of the jungle that brings out the best in
them. For Debney,
The Jungle Book is a triumph that dwarfs his
preceding efforts to such an extent that you have to journey back to
Cutthroat Island to find the same rowdy engagement in one of his
scores. The ultimate workmanlike composer has tapped into a passion to
rival that for the Christ, and in
The Jungle Book, the
enthusiasts of the composer and of Disney will be equally charmed and
possibly overwhelmed by the salvation. The ensemble is an unusually
large 104-piece orchestra joined by choir and adorned with all the
woodwind accents you expect to hear in the adaptation of Bruns' original
work. A bass flute, for instance, immediately launches into Bruns'
material in "Main Titles - Jungle Run" after the duo of Mark Mancina's
Disney logo fanfare and "When You Wish Upon a Star." A vibrant
percussion section is also vital to the jungle environment, and each
element is satisfyingly mixed. The exotic tones are present but not
overwhelming; the same can be said of the deep choral tones, which offer
beefiness without swallowing up the bass region. The balance of the mix
is exemplary.
The true treasure of 2016's
The Jungle Book is
its balance of melodic ingredients. Debney conjures two major new themes
for the score and splits one of them in two directions cover both Mowgli
and the friendly wildlife. Expect the halves of this theme to alternate
quite clearly between smoothly repetitious, tonally obvious John Barry
progressions and equally transparent homages to Jerry Goldsmith. The
latter half of the themes consolidate into a very loyal replication of
Goldsmith's theme for the television show "Star Trek: Voyager," a little
amusing given Debney's involvement in that sphere. (How the hell could
he not have heard the resemblance even before recording it?) You hear
this theme introduced in "Wolves - Law of the Jungle" and developed
nicely in subsequent cues. By "Mowgli's Leaving - Elephant Theme," the
Barry half of the identity clarifies itself, even down to the flute
techniques, and the resolution cues "Elephant Waterfall" and "The Jungle
Book Closes" present the combined idea with majestic levels of elegance.
There's a combination of
Out of Africa and
Medicine Man at
work here that is rather intoxicating despite the melody's "Voyager"
resemblance. The Goldsmith connections continue with Debney's
development of the theme for the evil tiger, Shere Khan. By "Shere
Khan's War Theme" and "Shere Khan and the Fire," there are distinct
trombone passages reminiscent of
The Ghost and the Darkness at
play. Expect to hear intelligent counterpoint conflict between the Khan
and Mowgli themes here. When not referencing the numerous Goldsmith
influences, Debney occasionally strays closer to James Newton Howard
territory and even reprises a few passages of his own work (
The
Scorpion King comes to mind). The choral crescendo leading to the
climax in the final minute of "Shere Khan and the Fire" especially exude
this effective Howard/
The Scorpion King merging. The rhythmic
percussion in the latter portions of "Monkeys Kidnap Mowgli" lean more
heavily towards Howard. The same could be said of "Shere Khan Attacks -
Stampede," the latter portion of that cue utilizing wailing ethnic
woodwinds to the 10th degree. Comedy portions are kept to a minimum in
the new material, with "Honeycomb Climb" representing a few
light-hearted mannerisms typical to an animated movie. Otherwise, the
score is largely dramatic in its stance. Debney allows the placement of
the 1967 movie's themes to supply all the bounciness necessary for the
affectionate moments in this story, and it's in these inclusions of
various themes from the original film that this score's best surprises
exist.
Undoubtedly, the new music for
The Jungle Book
would have been quite impressive without the many nods to the Bruns,
Sherman, and Gilkyson melodies. The intelligence with which Debney
incorporates those ideas, in conjunction with the new recordings of the
famous songs, however, are key. Not only do the Bruns ideas occasionally
inform the score, the songs receive strikingly intriguing stylistic
adaptations throughout Debney's new recordings. Best of all is the
incorporation of "The Bare Necessities" into a pair of wildly disparate
emotional ranges; first, he offers it a yearning, contemplative
performance late in "Mowgli and the Pit" and then allows it explode with
muscular enthusiasm in the short but awesome "Mowgli Wins the Race." The
King Louie melody from "I Wan'na Be Like You" is hinted in "Arrival at
King Louie's Temple" before erupting fleet of foot and with wild
xylophone in "Cold Lair Chase." Meanwhile, the "Trust in Me" theme for
the slithery Kaa is applied slightly in "Kaa - Baloo to the Rescue" but
makes a grand appearance in "The Red Flower," where its hypnotic effect
is offered a nearly militaristic percussive rhythm of force. These, and
the references to Bruns' score, are all delights to behold, and the
recordings of the actual songs are well handled, too. The New Orleans
flavor of both recordings of "The Bare Necessities" and "I Wan'na Be
Like You" (with new Sherman lyrics) are adept, and the vocals are
competent all around. Most intriguing is Scarlett Johansson's exotic
performance of "Trust in Me" that was placed in the end credits of
The Jungle Book, a song perfect for the James Bond franchise
circa 1970. The overall package for this soundtrack is as enjoyable as
anyone could have expected, and endless kudos need to be sent Debney's
way for so respectfully and intelligently approaching this project. It
was the kind of "do or die" assignment that was a slippery slope the
whole way, and even down to the flute accent at the very end of "The
Jungle Book Closes," he succeeds. The only detriment to the score, and
it could be a big one for some listeners, is the blatant influence of
Barry, Howard, and especially Goldsmith on much of it. Those who collect
film music have often commented that Debney is a chameleon that doesn't
really maintain his own stylistic voice, and with all the references in
The Jungle Book to other composers' mannerisms, such talk will
only be fueled further. You have to ask yourself the most important
question, however: What more could Debney have done to improve upon this
score? His approach is damn near perfect, and for that respect and the
perfect balance between old and new, he earns his first five-star
rating, albeit barely, since his enduring classic,
Cutthroat
Island. The man deserves more of these prime assignments.
***** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For John Debney reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.27
(in 52 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.02
(in 45,132 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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