: (John Powell) Let 2015's "Peter Pan" prequel
serve as a prime example of how to mangle an otherwise promising concept
and lose a significant chunk of change in the process. A worldwide
fiscal failure, Joe Wright's
sought to tell the origins story
of the relationships between J.M. Barrie's characters of Peter Pan,
Captain Hook, Tinker Bell, and others, with the most intriguing nugget
being a close friendship between Peter and a young Hook that lasts the
entirety of this film. They team with Tiger Lily and the natives of
Neverland to battle the pirate Blackbeard, who is harvesting pixie dust
to preserve his own youth. At least Warner Brothers took time to avoid
depictions of the natives and their culture that were bait for claims of
racism, as had been the case in several prior incarnations of the tale
on screen. With the relationship between Peter and Hook at center stage,
clearly there was a sequel planned to explain details of the interim
between this story and the classic original, but chances of such an
entry are now diminished. An incoherent narrative and visuals seemed to
be the most panned elements of this project, and its original score by
Wright's former collaborator, Dario Marianelli, was targeted after poor
test screenings. With Marianelli's work removed, Warner turned to
veteran children's film composer John Powell in hopes of translating
some of his
. Not surprisingly, Powell offered a late-hour replacement
score that does indeed reflect much of the musical equation that
formulates the
scores, and that feat
alone is quite commendable. His music didn't ultimately save the
picture, however, in part because of a number of truly obnoxious source
adaptations for use in the film. Someone must have thought that it would
be a good idea for the Blackbeard crew to perform Nirvana's "Smells Like
Teen Spirit" and The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop" in stomp-singing fashion
on screen, and, alongside two Lily Allen songs, the sung material in
is totally incongruent with the remainder of the soundtrack,
with the exception of some attempts by Powell to use stomping percussive
sections for his Blackbeard crew-related score cues as something of a
bridge between the songs and his material. The songs are so awkward,
however, that these efforts are unsuccessful.
Separated from the unfortunate diversions, Powell's
score truly is an extension of his reliable, frenetic action style for
the children's genre, even down to a few of the moments of ethnic flair
he is so fond of slipping into at times. Aside from wholesale renditions
of melodic and instrumental techniques familiar to
How to Train Your
Dragon, Powell provides just a smidge of traditional English flavor
to the proper hymn and fanfare-like passages in
Pan. By contrast,
his occasional meandering into the Latin realm is a bit jarring, but
that's pretty much par for the course in any of these Powell efforts.
The instrumentation will be familiar to the Powell collector, the
orchestra emphasizing the brass layers during action sequences and an
abundance of dynamic percussion aiding the flow of longer cues. Solo
piano and acoustic guitar are also common contributors during character
conversation scenes. Vocals are handled well as usual for Powell, the
ensemble divided between males and females in separate overlapping lines
and solo female emphasis for the mermaid scene, of course. The composer
definitely has the knack for layering different sections of his choral
ensemble in much the same way as he handles the violins, and not just in
complimentary chord formation. These performers, put together, provide
the riotous action sequences you have come to love from Powell all the
way since
Chicken Run, his sense of pleasing, resonant harmony
from his rowdy passages never ceasing to impress. Both "Galleon Dog
Fight" and "A Boy Who Could Fly" offer mass ensemble harmony in the most
satisfying volume, while more "magical" fantasy moments of smooth
resonance reign in "A Warrior's Fate" and "Floating/Neverland Ahoy!" The
downside of Powell's work for
Pan is the relative lack of
memorability for his themes. When they do remain in your consciousness,
they unfortunately do so because of their tendency to remind you of his
prior identities in the genre. Powell seems swimmingly content utilizing
the same progressions from score to score, leaving the second phrases of
his themes somewhat predictable. His theme for Pan features a second
phrase that will sound extremely familiar to the fan of the
How to
Train Your Dragon scores, and a midsection of the family/origin
theme will probably do the same. For identification purposes, you can
easily distinguish the two by their early introductions on piano, the
former introducing the score in "Opening Overture" and the latter
kicking off "Kidnapped."
Secondary, appropriately stomping ideas in
Pan
exist for both the natives and Blackbeard's crew, though these seem more
rhythmically present and emphasized by orchestration, as in the
beginning of "Flying Ship Fight," which will remind any Powell collector
of the villain's theme from
How to Train Your Dragon 2. That cue
does feature some outstanding percussion and choral layering, the
percussion in its later half reminiscent of Debbie Wiseman's percussive
wonder,
Arsène Lupin, in the best of ways. None of these
actual melodies and rhythmic motifs actually really stands apart in the
score, however, even with Powell certain to wrap the score's solo piano
performances into a neat package with appropriate reprises. The theme
for Pan especially is littered throughout the score in a seemingly
constant series of guises, the family/origin theme not far behind, and
yet they're not particularly memorable themes outside of whatever recall
effect they have for Powell's prior music. Another arguable detriment to
the
Pan score is its rather flimsy musical narrative, the score
not really exhibiting conflict, growth, and resolution to anywhere near
the extent of the ultimate of Peter Pan scores: John Williams'
Hook. Comparing anything to
Hook is perhaps an unfair
proposition, and Powell doesn't come close. Still,
Panis an
exemplary last-minute replacement effort that manages to exude much of
the best of his style even though the composer enlisted the efforts of
several other contributing writers and arrangers to finish the deal. At
the very least, this score is a solid sibling of
How to Train Your
Dragon 2 (one has to wonder if
Pan liberally used that score
as its temp track), and you can't go too wrong with that proposition.
Powell continues to prove his remarkable chops in this genre, even his
less inspired scores still blowing away most of the competition. Expect
to hear strong, vibrant four-star material throughout the score even if
it doesn't quite stand apart as a unique effort. On album, you have to
dodge the songs thrown throughout the listening experience; all of them
except "Something's Not Right" (Allen's non-pop recording) are
unlistenable. One must wonder what Marianelli's score must have sounded
like, because unlike the predictable Powell solution the production
sought and received, there was more mystery surrounding how Marianelli
would handle the topic. That said, film music fans shouldn't quibble too
much with this entertaining "bonus" Powell outing.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
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(in 50 reviews)
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