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Gregson-
Williams |
Mulan: (Harry Gregson-Williams) Little did the
production of a live-action remake of Walt Disney's popular 1998
animated film know the extent of the ultimate nightmare that awaited
along its ten-year journey to what it thought would be the big screen.
The studio lost substantial money on the delays of 2020's
Mulan,
the movie never opening widely in America due to the global pandemic and
frustrating families with a $30 streaming price point when the film
finally debuted much later in the year than anticipated. Beyond that
hassle, however, was lead actress Yifei Liu's inconveniently timed
politically commentary supporting Hong Kong, a lack of ethnic diversity
on the production team, the removal of character Li Shang, a LGBTQ
favorite, from the story, a Chinese cast speaking with distinctly
American accents in the English version of the movie, and filming in the
Chinese province of Xinjiang, where ethnic minorities are still interned
by the government. Add on top of that the fact that director Niki Caro
decided to take the film to far more serious, dramatic levels, stripping
it of its musical status and instead shooting it to a PG-13 rating, a
first ever for one of these remakes of an animated Disney picture.
Parents and enthusiasts of the 1998 entry were perhaps bothered the most
by the last part, the entire personality of
Mulan changed even if
the basic plot elements all remain the same. Middling response from
American audiences was better than the outright disdain that faced the
movie in China, where box office returns were also disappointing. Caro's
decision to excise most of the comedic elements of the story and replace
that charm with solemn and serious explorations of Mulan's pursuit of
loyalty, bravery, and truth has a massive impact on the music for 2020's
Mulan, the soundtrack stuck in a no-win situation trying to
address Caro's vision while also making some token references back to
the soundtrack for the animated favorite. The extended production
timeline for
Mulan allowed composer Harry Gregson-Williams ample
time to ponder these complexities.
The veteran Gregson-Williams was hired based on his
collaboration with Caro for 2017's
The Zookeeper's Wife, and his
experience with the franchise entries for
The Chronicles of
Narnia,
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and
Kingdom
of Heaven gave him a good base for this similarly ethnically
dominated action/fantasy entry. The project was Gregson-Williams' most
substantial mainstream entry since the impressive
The Martian in
2015, and he put an extraordinary amount of time into finding the right
sound for
Mulan. First, however, he had to ban the 1998 film and
its soundtrack from the children in his household; despite his respect
for Jerry Goldsmith's score and Matthew Wilder's songs, he knew his
direction would have to be different. One could argue quite easily that
Gregson-Williams' prospects here were immediately sunk by Caro's
directives. There was really no possible outcome with this score that
could shake the inexplicable disrespect shown especially to Goldsmith's
acclaimed score via its total abandonment. While Alan Menken and Hans
Zimmer were both alive and active for the live-action remakes of their
respective Disney classics of the 1990's, Goldsmith is now long dead,
which must have meant for Caro that his music died with him. Even if you
can forgive the elimination of the songs, neglecting any attempt to
substantially interpolate Goldsmith's score is inexcusable and alone
diminishes Gregson-Williams' achievement even in the best light. And the
decision exhibits laziness, too. Musicals don't have to be childish by
nature, and Wilder was available to assist with the new
Mulan.
Goldsmith's score could have easily been adapted for this new
application, whether by Gregson-Williams, Brian Tyler, or a host of
others. All of that said, Gregson-Williams proceeded as best he could
under ridiculous circumstances, conducting extensive research into
Chinese instrumentation to combine with a 90-piece Western orchestra,
48-voice choir, and his typical electronics. The composer contends that
there is only a small touch of synthetic accompaniment in this score,
but that statement is definitely incorrect, as his electronics figure
prominently in portions. A cynic could argue that he's become so
attached to his synths that he doesn't know how to lay off them
now.
The preparation and production periods of
Gregson-Williams' involvement with
Mulan lasted 18 months,
admittedly the longest assignment of his career, from pre-recorded drum
sequences for use during shooting to substantial recalibrations of the
score as the film experienced changes in tone during post-production.
His application of Chinese instrumentation included consulting with
experts in the region's music, and he ultimately brought woodwind expert
Richard Harvey with him from the United Kingdom to a studio in Bangkok
where they could assemble and record a variety of appropriate specialty
instruments. These contributions included a dizi and xiao (both variants
on a bamboo flute), a guanzi (double-reed pipe), a pipa (Chinese lute),
a guzheng (a plucked, harp-like instrument), a suona (double-reed horn),
and the expected erhu, the two-string bowed instrument most commonly
associated with the region. Thrown into that mix are Taiko drums
alongside various Chinese percussion instruments and Tuvan throat
singing for a villain of the tale. Gregson-Williams cannot resist
applying his synthetic arrays to enhance and manipulate some of these
sounds, which is a tremendous shame, as the highlights of his work here
are in the softer passages when such electronic embellishment is not
needed or desired. It should be noted that Goldsmith's score for
Mulan came at a time when his recordings sounded their most
fantastic; the late 1990's offered his music with expansive spread and
perfect reverb. By comparison, Gregson-Williams' recording for the
remake has gain levelling issues (softer and louder portions not
balanced) and a more conventional mix that does push the bass a little
too heavily at times. There are certainly very impressive moments in the
2020 score for the concept. As in Gregson-Williams' other ethnic
adventure scores, the composer does crank out some lavish and tonally
accessible moments of grandeur. Unfortunately, they are surprisingly few
in
Mulan, and the action and villains' material aren't always
engaging. Gregson-Williams' villain tones are generally unpleasant
throughout, the suspense element often inaccessible and failing to
extend the musical narrative to any satisfying degree. The comedy aspect
is minimized, concentrated in the duo of "Honor to Us All" and "The
Matchmaker."
The themes devised by Gregson-Williams for
Mulan
are plentiful but not always enunciated well. The two representing Mulan
are both reminiscent of other composers' works and are therefore
somewhat negatively distracting. The main theme of the film for the
titular character is an unfortunate lifting of Rachel Portman's primary
theme for the 1993 score,
The Joy Luck Club, which begs questions
about whether or not it was utilized as a temp track here. The
development of the idea by Gregson-Williams is ethnically insensitive as
well. It starts with promise, introduced at 0:08 into "Ancestors" on
various ethnic flutes and secondary phrases expressed by fuller strings.
It's a good summary of the idea in its various emotional and ethnic
modes, and this survey continues in "Tulou Courtyard." Its performances
are omnipresent in the score thereafter, though notable interjections
include a performance on flute at 1:35 into "The Lesson of the Phoenix,"
on subtle French horn at start of "Honor to Us All," and solemn horn
renditions throughout "Oath of the Warrior." The idea starts to become
militaristic in the middle of "Mulan Leaves Home" despite the cue's soft
ending, and extensive variance on the theme throughout "I Believe Hua
Mulan" culminates in massive statements. The theme interestingly
occupies the end of "Chasing the Hawk" rather than Xianniang's theme and
is blatantly victorious at 3:38 into "Fight for the Kingdom." By this
cue and the momentous performance of the theme by symphony and choir in
"Mulan & the Emperor," Gregson-Williams abandons the Chinese
instrumentation for the theme and presents Mulan with only the
Westernized superhero sound. This is a huge disappointment, as it
suggests that the girl has somehow transcended her authentic Chinese
roots and become no different from Wonder Woman in how her music is
being presented. The connections to the Hans Zimmer/Remote Control sound
cannot be refuted by Gregson-Williams as he pounds his drums, shifts the
strings into familiar ostinatos, cranks up the bass, and overlays the
Western fantasy choir for these moments. It's a shameless tactic only
soothed to a degree as the composer shifts back into the pastoral
"Ancestors" instrumentation for the theme early in "The Fourth Virtue."
Sadly, the finale of that cue at 4:47 can't resist the Westernized
conclusion that soars like the end of John Debney's
Dragonfly.
The two secondary character themes of greatest
importance in
Mulan both struggle to declare themselves and
evolve in any meaningful way. The Böri Khan theme has an
ineffectively meandering line, performed by percussion, brass, Tuvan
throat singing, and electronics in fewer cues than you would expect. Its
best expressions come early, at 1:41 and 2:27 into "The Desert
Garrison." Continuing at 0:17 into "Böri Khan & Xianniang" and
hinted early in "The Charge," the theme really has little impact until
its fragments throughout "Chasing the Hawk" and a brief choral statement
at 1:02 into that cue. It finally returns in full at the start of "Fight
for the Kingdom," with menacing brass at 0:41. The Xianniang theme,
meanwhile, is mysterious, sometimes erhu-based, and with suona woodwind
wailing on top like a siren call. Its constructs are more memorable than
those of the Böri Khan theme, four or five-note phrases of
shrillness piercing cues with the help of the suona. While easily
distinguishable, the obnoxious tone of the suona in its higher ranks, as
if some badly tortured, shrieking oboe, proves here why the instrument
is considered endangered. Xianniang's theme can be heard faintly at 0:12
and then fully at 2:15 into "The Desert Garrison," at 0:19 and 0:36 into
"The Witch," and at 2:00 into "Mulan Rides Into Battle." Secondary
themes for other, more positive characters and concepts are where
Gregson-Williams shines in
Mulan. A training motif of sorts is a
nicely unique idea built from Mulan's theme in the inspirational
"Training the Men," which uses the composer's rhythmic percussion in
tandem with the ethnic components towards better results than in most
cues. Gregson-Williams' family theme, something of a father/daughter
motif that extends in part to the phoenix concept, is a lovely tune
inspired seemingly by the unlikeliest of scores: Mark McKenzie's
Warlock: The Armageddon. This absolutely gorgeous identity debuts
on ethnic woodwind at 0:40 into "The Lesson of the Phoenix," building at
1:22 for the fuller ensemble, and returning at 2:23 with more optimism.
It's hinted at the opening of "Mulan Leaves Home" before changing into
the Mulan theme. Gregson-Williams wraps back to this idea expectedly as
"family" is revealed to be the fourth virtue of Mulan, the theme
returning at 2:13 into "The Fourth Virtue" on solo horn and then flute
in nice expansion; those instruments carry the tune nicely at 3:51 as
well.
Also attractive in
Mulan is the theme for the
new love interest, Honghui. The somewhat mystical romance element opens
"Honghui" with choir and solo cello against Mulan's theme counterpoint
by the end. Its shades inform the end of "Training the Men" and are
overtaken by the Mulan theme after a performance at 0:18 into "Mulan &
Honghui Fight." More notably, the theme is reprised at 0:17 into "Return
to the Village" on flute and erhu before again succumbing to the Mulan
theme, only figuring once more briefly at 1:55 into "The Fourth Virtue."
Aside from these new melodies, listeners will encounter a few brazen
interpolations of themes from the 1998 Wilder songs, and these
insertions are sure to be a "love it or hate it" proposition. They stand
out like a sore thumb in 2020's
Mulan, sounding nothing like
Gregson-Williams' own tunes. The "Honor to Us All" song's theme is
reprised in full in the cue here of that name, and it's a likeable use.
But the "Reflections" theme is forced into three places in this score
and is more bizarre in this context. It informs much of "Four Ounces Can
Move a Thousand Pounds," with the primary melody emerging at 3:18.
Subsequently, the rousing, simplistic pronouncement of the theme in all
its glory at 0:18 into "Mulan Rides Into Battle" is distractingly heroic
and different from rest of the score, an issue that also plagues the
later insertion at 4:48 into "Fight for the Kingdom." As a Mulan
self-discovery theme, the identity is not interpolated elsewhere in the
score, rendering it artificial when it is used. The spotting decisions
on this theme were reportedly Caro's alone, and they simply don't work.
Film score collectors struggling to hear any remnant of Goldsmith's 1998
score have latched on to string figures at 2:20 into "Mulan Rides Into
Battle" as a possible tribute to Goldsmith's action motif for that
score, but it's a stretch to make that connection, and mainstream
listeners certainly won't do it. Again, you either apply the existing
themes properly or you don't, and Caro and Gregson-Williams fail
miserably on both the Wilder and Goldsmith fronts. The new Mulan theme
by Gregson-Williams was adapted into a new Christina Aguilera song,
"Loyal Brave True," with the help of several other composers, and the
recording is about as average and unimpressive as one might imagine. The
original 1998 "Reflection" song is performed again by Aguilera, her
performance this time far worse in its inflection than her 1998 version,
and Mulan actress Yifei Liu performs her own Mandarin Chinese
translation with better authenticity. Overall, the entire remake
soundtrack is a mess of poor decisions and inconsistent execution.
@Amazon.com: CD or
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- Music as Written for the Film: **
- Music as Heard on Album: ***
- Overall: ***
| Bias Check: |
For Harry Gregson-Williams reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3
(in 40 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 2.98
(in 55,208 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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