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While he always seems to stir debate in the wake of his drama and action assignments, Zimmer's contributions to the children's area are often underappreciated for their deviation from his perceived comfort zone in the aforementioned genres of greater fame. Indeed, some of the composer's best, most compelling material has resulted from his collaborations for animation, and Megamind is an entertaining and lively score of wild enthusiasm that tosses aside Zimmer's usual morbid soundscapes for his action hits. Even so, it's a predictable, lightweight score. But compared to his highly fragmented contributions to films like those in the Madagascar franchise, his efforts with Balfe for Megamind are certain to be a more substantial crowd pleaser. For those familiar with scores like Lauras Stern and The Little Polar Bear 2: The Mysterious Island, the undeniable heart and orchestral sincerity of Megamind will come as no surprise. Everything that typically detracts from Zimmer and Balfe's action tendencies is absent here, including the overwhelming reliance on electronic textures, the distractingly bass-heavy mix, and the related imbalance in orchestration to limit the scope of the soundscape. High style is in abundance in Megamind, sometimes straying toward parody territory but never letting rip with the full, haywire cartoonish tone in which John Powell sometimes becomes ensnared in similar situations. The orchestra and a handful of upbeat soloists dominate the score's rare electronic enhancements, a choir sometimes lending depth to the fantasy or despair. The treble is thankfully represented with gusto in Megamind, trumpets blaring, flutes wailing, and music box effects for cuteness points. On the surface, it may sound much like a more streamlined Powell animated score, though there are some Zimmer trademarks in the genre that continue to shine. For instance, the composer's love of rhythmic bouncing with string ostinatos continues, a perky highlight of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and a device that pushed forward the plot while also retaining your attention on album. Snazzy jazz interludes in Megamind are clearly modeled after Monty Norman's James Bond identity, the famous opening four notes of that theme's brass fanfare used liberally by Zimmer and Balfe, along with sax and thumping bass coolness at times.

Thematically, Megamind won't leave you whistling any one tune, though there are several catchy ideas that probably could have used some more air time and/or development. The titular character is given an extremely optimistic little snare-led march in "Giant Blue Head" that borrows a touch of Danny Elfman zaniness, and this theme is pressed into more heroic variations as the score reaches its climax. Also seemingly inspired in part by the Elfman playbook is the quirky suburbia-related theme in "Tightenville," as innocuously pleasant as possible. A crisp recording with just enough wet reverb to expand the seize of the ensemble a bit really assists the appeal of these cues. A noble brass hero's fanfare introduced in the middle of "Stars and Tights" extends to "Crab Nuggets" and is a somewhat generic but equally effective device. A theme of romance slows the pace from "Roxanne (Love Theme)" to "Rejection in the Rain," a pretty, light keyboarded idea with help from warm acoustic guitar and a slightly loungey rhythmic ambience. The latter cue draws the theme into despair with a solo cello reminiscent of, strangely, John Du Prez's A Fish Called Wanda. The James Bond/Monty Norman references follow tender explorations of the theme from "Giant Blue Head" in "Ollo" and extend to the end of "Black Mamba" and start of "Game Over." The score somewhat degenerates in its final three action cues, never really allowing its themes to evolve and intertwine as hoped. This, the only significant flaw of the score structurally, is exacerbated by the fact that "Evil Lair" closes out the soundtrack's album presentation with no real sense of resolution. Somewhere in these last three cues, Zimmer and Balfe failed to build momentum to a singular finale or other satisfying climactic moment in the way Powell has proven himself so adept. Still, the score is enjoyable on the whole and a worthy addition to Zimmer's collection of animation works. On album, its first two thirds are especially entertaining, though the flow of the entire score is interrupted by a decent collection of songs. The product would have been much better had icons like "Bad to the Bone," "A Little Less Conversation," and "Lovin' You" been assembled after the conclusion of the condensed score cues. Although the Zimmer and Balfe portions don't amount to much more than a half-hour in sum on that album (thankfully a CD release), the music has more than enough personality to make it a safe recommendation for animation aficionados.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Hans Zimmer reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.83 (in 126 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.95 (in 298,889 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars. For Lorne Balfe reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.83 (in 30 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.86 (in 23,446 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 48:10