came yet another claymation fantasy film of lovable weirdness
in the form of 2001's
. Henry Selick once again
explores the darker side of his imagination, posing that when people
slip into a coma, their subconscious thoughts mingle with others
suffering from the same condition. They watch the dreams of active
people from the place they call Downtown, and they're delighted when a
comic strip creator (Brendan Fraser) is injured in a car crash and joins
them. His attempts to return to his body are complicated when his
negotiations between Death and his own comic creation's star dog run
afoul. For
, the rotation of composers for this budding
genre of film stopped with Anne Dudley, who had proven herself to be one
of the most versatile composers of the previous decade. While many
mainstream fans will recognize her name from such darkly dramatic
projects as
, the
lighter side of her skills have always been overlooked. Not only winning
the Academy Award for
in 1997 (which some might
argue as inappropriate due to the songs' success in the film), Dudley
had also composed the popular score for the television fantasy "The 10th
Kingdom" in 2000. With all of these talents readily available, Dudley
produced for
exactly that which you would expect for
the director of the film. The uncanny similarities between this score
and those of Danny Elfman's early wackiness (during the days of
) is clearly evident, and it fits this
particular film well enough. It's funny to think about how this specific
breed of animated film lends itself so well to a sort of "stop action"
musical score or songs that also jump wildly from cue to cue with little
regard for overarching flow.
This score is a hybrid between the old Warner Brothers
style and that of a more genre-bending creativity that Elfman helped
usher into the equation. Unless you explicitly enjoy the frantic and
unpredictable pace of Elfman's early comedy and children's scores, then
Monkeybone could drive you nuts or, at the very least, send you
in search of your stock of pain pills. Dudley takes a moderately sized
orchestra and scores the film with a creative array of comedy cliches
and punchy rhythms. While there do exist a few connecting constructs,
the music has no discernible theme; rather, the choice of its
instrumentation and rhythms carry the personality of the score in the
same manner a theme could otherwise accomplish. The opening of the score
greets you with a contemporary, though still awkwardly silly pop rhythm.
As the setting shifts to the crazy "Downtown," the music gets the full
Elfman treatment, with enough frenetic energy to make your hair stand on
end in certain parts. Volume is surely not a problem with this score.
Bouncing woodwinds, with swinging performances by sax and brass, give
Monkeybone a strangely jazzy touch in parts, while other moments
are punctuated by big band pomp with snare and cymbals crashing in every
measure. As for the jazzy elements, there are various cues that are
reminiscent of Elliot Goldenthal's silliest
Batman Forever
portions. Included as well are all of the expected orchestral hits that
signify funny lines or slapstick action in the film. Perhaps the most
interesting aspect of all of these prancing comedy cues, most of which
are divided into short tracks, is that they remain so consistent that,
after a while, your brain tunes them out if you're not overly
enthusiastic about the music. While the first listen might leave you
seeking peace and quiet, the second one might go surprisingly easily
since the cues all run together in a mesh of comical orchestral rhythms.
The one consistently unique factor is the use of sound effects in
several cues. The downright humorous intent of these effects makes them
unmistakable in the soundscape, sometimes distracting from the live
players.
If you're not the type who can sit through straight,
swingy, orchestral comedy for 50 minutes, then this is definitely not
your album. Its length could be considered one of its major detractions.
The cues "Welcome to Downtown" and "America's Most Disturbed Comic
Strip" feature the same kind of cartoonish lyrics as the
Inspector
Gadget theme song, although it's disappointing that Dudley never
broke this score out into a full score-inspired song. The most engaging
cues of
Monkeybone are the few moments during which Dudley
addresses the cheesy, but equally viable moments of romance and awe in
the film's story. It recalls the same effect that Jamshied Sharifi's
Muppets from Space had, because that score, more than any other,
could spontaneously bust out with a magnificent orchestral theme with no
ties to the rest of the score, used simply as a parody ploy. Dudley
repeats this technique a few times in
Monkeybone, specifically
during the decent and ascent between worlds ("Welcome to Downtown" and
"Journey to the Land of Death") and the romping "A Grand Plan." Also
thrown into the mix is the oddly out-of-place tenderness of "Kitty's
Plan" and "No Tears," which are the only serious breaks the score offers
from the relentless locomotion of the comedy cues. These moments of the
score, even though they are enticing and could bring a smile to anyone's
face, will not be enough to save it for most film music collectors.
Although the same comical rhythms and instrumentation of Elfman's
The
Nightmare Before Christmas are easy to hear, Dudley didn't (or
couldn't, depending on the nature of the film) capture the same
emotional or romantic edge in her endeavors for
Monkeybone. With
that statement in mind, Dudley's ultimately runaway comedy score will
likely appeal to only those who grew up listening to and enjoying the
scores of the
Pee Wee variety. The composer's career in
mainstream film music sadly diminished in the subsequent years, not
allowing her the opportunity to explore her wide talents on as bright a
stage.
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