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Review of Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (David Hirschfelder)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you appreciate intelligent orchestral fantasy scores
that are easy on the ears and make few demands during their exploration
of familiar genre territory.
Avoid it... if you seek originality on top of basic pleasure, for David Hirschfelder's technically precise and well performed score references John Williams' contributions to the genre a little too frequently for comfort.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole:
(David Hirschfelder) The next in a long line of children's book series
to be adapted onto the big screen is Kathryn Lasky's "Guardians of
Ga'Hoole," a set of fifteen stories from which the first three are
adapted for the 2010 Warner Brothers 3D venture, Legend of the
Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole. The production features the
somewhat odd teaming of 300's Zack Snyder and the animating crew
of Happy Feet, and Snyder's predisposed favoring of stylish
action is realized in the aggressive application of 3D effects in the
film's extensive flying sequences. The story is largely devoid of
technology despite the impressively detailed synthetic renderings of the
characters; in a society of owls, there are basically forces of good and
evil, the former known as the Guardians and the latter a clearly
Nazi-inspired clan of Pure Ones. The evil half of the species is
kidnapping young owls from the general population in their efforts
enslave enough of a force to suit their desire for world domination.
When an awkward pair of brothers is among the abducted, they defy the
odds to search out the heroic Guardians. The film was not an immediate
smash box office success despite a wide release to theatres, lingering
near the top of the charts during the slow autumn season of 2010 but
taking nearly two weeks of worldwide grosses to earn back just half of
its $80 million budget. Without a doubt, Legend of the Guardians: The
Owls of Ga'Hoole represents the largest international assignment of
composer David Hirschfelder's career. The Australian has maintained a
steady career in his native country but has not achieved the mainstream
success that some expected after his pair of Academy Award nominations
for Shine and Elizabeth from 1996 to 1998. He returned to
the spotlight with his unreleased but highly sought after music for the
2008 epic Australia. His attachment to Legend of the
Guardians came with much anticipation from within the film music
collecting community, as well as a collective sigh of relief that Snyder
did not haul former collaborator and known plagiarist Tyler Bates along
for this assignment (one has to imagine that Warner's forced
acknowledgement of the derivative nature of 300 eliminated any
chance of Bates' involvement here).
As expected, Hirschfelder's approach to Legend of the Guardians is impressively loyal to the orchestral traditions of the children's fantasy genre. The Australian recording features a dynamic mix of all sections of the orchestra and is accented by varied choral employment and several notable instrumental solos. Not a single outwardly electronic element is to be heard in the score (outside of some minimal, separate contributions by Lisa Gerrard for the film). The composer frequently references his soaring title theme and maintains a consistent atmosphere of wonder and adventure throughout. It's a pleasure to hear orchestral majesty of this unashamed heroism in a day when composers so often brood in the depths of the bass region to satisfy modern notions of fantasy ambience. There is, unfortunately, a downside to Hirschfelder's embrace of the genre, and it comes with the familiarity of his inspiration. To a small extent, there are figures that, when combined with specific instrumentation, are reminiscent of James Horner's vintage children's scores, but the primary area of concern involving Legend of the Guardians is its constant references to John Williams' contributions to both that genre and patriotic, family-oriented music from the latter half of his career. The title theme, which is immediately conveyed in several forms to begin the score, is distractingly similar in progression, demeanor, and brass rendering to Williams' Amazing Stories television music and his offshoot Americana concert works of that same era. Of top of these reminders are fragments of counterpoint and instrumentation (especially in harpsichord, flute, and light metallic elements) that recall the whimsy of Williams' Harry Potter scores. Hirschfelder's work seems saturated with the mannerisms of Williams to such an extent that he even employs a secondary theme in the form of the maestro's usual scherzo routine in "A Long Way to the Guardians" and briefly late in the score. Other themes include a rhythmic representation of dread in "Taken to St. Aggeles" and "Welcome to the Pellatorium" that is adequate but not overtly scary due to the disjointed insertion of jazzy bass and percussion interludes in those cues. An eerie theme of mystery also enunciates itself clearly on high choir as the score reaches its climax, first heard in its final form in "Sharpen the Battle Claws." Ultimately, though, it's the title theme at really defines Legend of the Guardians, and it's partly because of Hirschfelder's constant return to the idea that the influence of Williams is so pervasive in the score. Despite the derivative nature of this excursion by Hirschfelder into an established set of genre parameters, Legend of the Guardians remains a technically impressive and generally pleasing score. It does contain enough unique measures to make the whole a recommended experience on album, starting with some notable instrumental solos. The harpsichord is often employed for soft, slow-tempo performances of the title theme. A solo cello in "Sharpen the Battle Claws" is elegantly beautiful. An unexpected role for duduk in a few of the score's later cues provides a timeless quality that, in "Follow the Whale's Fin," actually recalls Dario Marianelli's Agora. The choral applications are often unrestrained attempts at broad majesty, achieving fantastic results (along with the duduk and a harp) in "The Boy Was Right." The voices will please Harry Gregson-Williams enthusiasts at the outset of "Into Battle" and are unleashed in full chanting mode at the height of "My Soldiers My Sons." If there is one overarching concern with Legend of the Guardians (outside of the stylistic references), it's that the score has a tendency to play like sonic wallpaper due to the fact that Hirschfelder tries so hard to push all the right fantasy buttons at every moment. Granted, it's almost always harmonically undemanding, but it also threatens to become somewhat generic as a result. In this regard, it suffers from the same lack of memorable catch as Christophe Beck's Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, another 2010 score of robust fantasy constructs that almost tries too hard to please. Still, both scores are leagues beyond many of their contemporary peers in terms of orchestral intelligence. On the flip side, the album situation for Legend of the Guardians is bafflingly inept (even beyond just the wretched song at the start), limited by Warner's Watertower branch to only a regular download release from the usual major online outlets while offered as a CD (minus the poorer-quality tracks "A Friend or Two" and "Hello Brother") in physical Borders stores for $8. Not surprisingly, with film score fans clamoring for lossless copies of the music, the Borders copies ended up in auctions fairly quickly. Not included on this album is the lovely Harry Gregson-Williams/Lisa Gerrard song "Coming Home," performed by Gerrard as a cue for a flying scene in the film. Also of note is that the download version of the album (and it may be the case with the CD as well) contains questionable editing and mastering. High gain levels caused distortion in the choral highlights of "My Soldiers My Sons" and "More Baggy Wrinkles," as well as in the brass of "Taken to St. Aggeles." An abrupt, badly faded cut at the end of "Into Battle" is also unacceptable. Overall, however, despite these album issues and the score's familiarity, Hirschfelder has delivered a satisfying success.
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 62:11
* download only track, not available on the CD version
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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