is its reportedly clear
response by the filmmakers to the inevitable comparisons that viewers
and critics had made between
trilogy of the early 2000's. On every level,
fared poorly in that comparison, with
Disney's version of the first of C.S. Lewis' stories in the series never
capturing the popularity or awards of the J.R.R. Tolkien adaptations.
The seeming intent to steer the franchise of
towards Peter Jackson's vision of a similar fantasy world is
a result, and that movement applies to Harry Gregson-Williams' score as
well. Nominated for a Grammy and Golden Globe for the first film,
Gregson-Williams adapts for
. The story of the sequel allows him to do this without
sacrificing everything he accomplished in the first score; the children
and many of the elements in Narnia carry over, despite the 1,300-year
difference in time and a new set of heroes and villains. Director Andrew
Adamson remains loyal to the general plot of the original story, meaning
that there are naturally more battle sequences and less of the outward
religious allegory. In fact, one of the ways in which Adamson follows
Jackson's lead is in the extension of the battle sequences to give them
the sense of scope and importance they deserve. This is good news for
fans of Gregson-Williams and the franchise, because anyone familiar with
the score for
knows that the
action music in its final cues is easily the highlight of the score.
Gregson-Williams also takes the opportunity in
to
clarify his intentions with his several themes, guiding them into paths
that make more sense with the perspective of both scores together.
Despite its strengths,
The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe remains a disjointed, incohesive score. It's impressive in
parts, but that's due to Gregson-Williams' ability to let rip with
powerful action music for orchestra and choir at any given moment. The
score was aimless in both theme and identity, a problem exacerbated by
awkward choices in instrumentation (especially electronic) that probably
made Lewis turn over in his grave. For
Prince Caspian, these
difficulties were largely solved for Gregson-Williams by the change of
pace and attitude of the franchise, and he responds by tempering the
electronics and providing more of exactly what we want to hear: massive
action music. The clarification of the themes is the other major
accomplishment in
Prince Caspian. The main themes for Narnia and
the children return, as does the triumphant theme that prevails during
the battles late in the first film. The first two are diminished in
their roles, interestingly, and largely replaced by the triumphant theme
that now defines itself as the title theme. Whether this heroic theme
represents the action concept in general or is a more specific musical
identity for Aslan or Narnia's future remains unclear, though there's
enough of a messiah spirit to the theme to perhaps attach it to Aslan
and the spirit of faith and goodness. As opposed to the previous film's
themes for Narnia and the children, which are mostly relegated to
lovely, full performances in the cues "The Kings and Queens of Narnia"
and "The Door in the Air," the triumphant theme is given significant
treatment at the forefront of
Prince Caspian. As such, if you
really enjoyed the final score cue on the album for
The Lion, the
Witch and the Wardrobe, then you can anticipate hearing several more
such monumental performances of that theme throughout the score for
Prince Caspian. Its usage in "Arrival at Aslan's How," "Battle at
Aslan's How," and "Return of the Lion" are particularly compelling in a
straight-forward, harmonic sense. Not only does Gregson-Williams offer
the theme in extended, bombastic, choral-aided performances, but he also
more intelligently weaves it into the fabric of the score's other
cues.
A few new themes join the previously established ideas
for
Prince Caspian. The most obvious of these is the theme for
the Prince himself, though due to the character's inconsistent screen
time, don't expect this theme to play a truly important role until the
next film,
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Introduced in the
opening, "Prince Caspian Flees," this theme returns in "The Duel" and
really flourishes in a Howard Shore-like crescendo of choral power at
the outset of "Return of the Lion." It's an adequate thematic
representation for the Prince, but when you hear it followed by the
triumphant theme in "Return of the Lion," you get an uneasy sense that
the young Prince is still overshadowed by larger forces, even if in the
score this difference only exists because of the memorability of the
themes. Sub-themes for the Telmarines and a few auxiliary characters
were written but are not featured prominently on the album release. More
curious the lack of a strong motif for King Miraz, though the "Miraz
Crowned" cue contains enough sinister tones in the lower registers,
especially with the help of the choir, that his purpose is served. The
album's selection of score cues is partially to blame for the lack of
transparency of the new secondary themes. The hour of score on the album
is dominated by the battle music featured in the film, which makes it a
more coherent listening experience but excludes Gregson-Williams' finer
graces in the effort. For the most part, these numerous action cues are
all strong, though some listeners may be bothered by some "cut and
paste" tactics employed by the composer for both "Raid on the Castle"
and "Sorcery and Sudden Vengeance." Extended rhythmic movements from
these cues, as well as individual moments in others, are seemingly
lifted directly from the previous score. Luckily, Gregson-Williams
compensates by better integrating the prominent themes of both films
into these cues, providing interesting, but consistently harmonic
interpretations of the ideas with satisfying results. Sure, some of the
progressions in these themes are a simplistic homage to the days of
Media Ventures, but when they sound this well rendered, they defy those
origins.
The most impressively bombastic battle cue comes in
"Raid on the Castle," which is a fine example of a time at which
Gregson-Williams incorporates the two main themes from the first film
into new roles here. The performance of the Narnia theme on trumpets at
5:15 into this lengthy cue moves remarkably fluently in between the
triumphant theme in its new primary role. There really exists no weak
battle cue on the album for
Prince Caspian. The electronic
elements are persistent, and at times they (including the awkwardly
continuing role for the electric violin) border on becoming obnoxious.
But Gregson-Williams has a tendency to restrain them before they can
irritate, affirming their secondary role to the choirs, orchestra, and
the latter's rowdy percussion section. The most interesting aspect of
the synthetic accompaniment in
Prince Caspian is how similar it
has become to imitating Craig Armstrong's library of sounds. The
combination of slapping percussion (in a wet mix), synthetic thumps, and
choir late in "Battle at Aslan's How" is eerily familiar to the
Plunkett and Macleane cues famous for their role as regular
trailer music. A strong balance between all of these elements is
precisely why Armstrong's sound is so distinctive, and Gregson-Williams
manages to accomplish the same smart mixture here. Another instrumental
contributor worth mentioning is Richard Harvey, whose woodwinds at the
end of "Journey to the How" and "Arrival at Aslan's How," as well as the
middle of "Return of the Lion," are superb. Lisbeth Scott's solo voice
returns for some distant harmonic atmosphere at times, but her
performances are sadly undermixed. Overall,
Prince Caspian is a
definite improvement over its predecessor. The three choirs are
gorgeously integrated by Gregson-Williams in a mix that exists at a
depth somewhere in between
Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas and
Kingdom of Heaven. The four songs at the end of the album are
unrelated and unnecessary, failing to capture the spirit of the film's
actual underscore. That score, on the other hand, is a highlight of 2008
so far and only an album presentation without a rounded representation
of the score's new material keeps it from the highest rating.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| 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 55,210 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
