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Without a doubt, The One and Only Ivan is among the most consistently optimistic and smoothly dramatic film scores of its era, Armstrong supplying the movie with a gloriously "Disneyfied" version of his musical persona. All the lightest, carefree, and charming tendencies that have periodically graced his prior music are concentrated without extra concern for significant emotional variance in the story. Perhaps the most astonishing aspect of this music is Armstrong's ability to maintain an optimistic overall tone no matter the emotional needs of a particular scene, whether in the suspense of "Mack and Ruby," the fright of "Ivan's Capture," or the sadness of "Stella Leaves." The composer's tone manages to take minor key passages and express them with the same bright orchestral colors as his more usual major key expressions, the work devoid of any challenging dissonance whatsoever. The orchestrations may seem overly simplistic on first listen, the composer's strings, woodwinds, and piano, as well as his sense of rhythmic enthusiasm, reminiscent of Love Actually frequently. But aside from that core, Armstrong utilizes harp and light metallic percussion extremely well in a range of cues. Sprinkled throughout are trademark Armstrong contributors, including supporting brass that exists mainly to beef up the depth of certain cues in Portman romance style and the lofty choral shades of mystery and death from Moulin Rouge. The jungle drum sequences for Ivan's memories of being in the wild are welcome diversions. Ultimately, however, the composition and recording of The One and Only Ivan remains a lengthy extension of mainly Love Actually, which yields, quite frankly, a glorious result for this film. Kudos have to be extended to Armstrong for providing music so profoundly simple in its appeal to the heart without plundering half a dozen other well-known scores or their composers. This is, despite making no attempt to wow with complexity, a score that is surprisingly unique in Armstrong's unsullied tone and devotion to lyricism. There exist several themes throughout, the development smarter than a casual listener may first notice. Armstrong supplies thematic representation to the hustle and bustle of the mall and the animals' mission to please human visitors, for Julia, the girl who supports Ivan, for Ivan himself in an identity that smartly reveals itself fully only late in the picture, and for the elephant characters in a lesser motif. To Armstrong's great credit, these ideas are frequently referenced but not omnipresent, allowing the tone of the work to carry the day as much as the themes.

The score for The One and Only Ivan opens with the theme for the animal group and its antics, heard immediately in "Through the Mall" and extending its spirited, hopelessly optimistic personality and fluttering harp figures into "Ivan Puts on a Good Show," "Are You a Monkey," "Ivan's Story," "Arriving at the Forest," "Life Returns to Normal," and "Ivan's New Plan," some of these cues infusing hints of Ivan's theme into them as he is the natural leader of the animals. The actual melody of this theme is adapted into a momentous expression of pride in "Ivan's Painting Revealed" and is later reprised with choir in "Ivan Discusses His Plan." The idea for Ivan himself is more oriented towards his freedom, introduced very slowly by Armstrong in the score, the "Ruby Asleep" and "You Can't Be Out Here" cues presenting only the underlying chord progressions on piano. The idea briefly breaks out late with choir in "Ivan's Memories" and eventually dominates the "Ivan is Set Free," "Reflections of Ivan," and "Ivan Orchestral Suite." Armstrong keenly blends the structures of the mall antics and Ivan freedom themes in "The Reunion" as some of the animals meet Ivan in his new environment and thus against his new musical identity. The theme for the girl is a pretty series of five-note phrases that debuts on woodwinds in "Julia" and continues in "Ivan Remembers," "Julia's Theme," "Stella's Story," and "Ivan's Farewell." This theme is rather static but is a nice interlude to the others. Less obvious is the theme that Armstrong supplies to the elephants of the tale, Stella and Ruby, heard in full in "Meet Ruby" and "Mack Trains Ruby," among others. Outward comedy moments include the cute rhythmic moments in "Ivan's Beetle," "Mack Trains Ruby," and "Ivan Refuses to Paint" of lesser consequence. Conversely, Armstrong's muscular, brass-aided jungle rhythm passages for Ivan are quite impactful, including the end of "Ivan Puts on a Good Show" and the impressive "Ivan's Capture," the latter the score's most ominously powerful moment. The ethereal nature of Armstrong's choral layering presents the score's intermittent melodic sadness, the "Stella Leaves" cue a direct descendant of the ascension material from the end of Moulin Rouge. The impact of the final cues cannot be overstated, "Ivan is Set Free" a dramatic tear-jerker for the full ensemble and "Ivan Orchestral Suite," while not always elegantly expressed in its key shifts, offering notable brass. On the whole, The One and Only Ivan is a magnificently effective score with a simple heart and indelibly positive spirit. While some listeners may balk at the overwhelming consistency of its optimistic charm and tendency to understate itself in challenging moments, the score is absolute perfection for its film and remains a reliable antidote for a dreary day.  *****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Craig Armstrong reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.83 (in 12 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.42 (in 46,015 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 59:05