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Review of Puss in Boots (Henry Jackman)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you have no issue with tongue-in-cheek plundering of
traditional Latin musical techniques and several film music genres and
individual scores as long as the new package lets rip with a likeable
personality.
Avoid it... if you're looking for even one ounce of originality, for Henry Jackman blasts through seemingly obvious temp-track influences with little intent to extend such ideas into a cohesive new direction.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Puss in Boots: (Henry Jackman) Intended originally
to be a straight-to-video offering after the second movie in the
Shrek franchise, Puss in Boots was eventually slated for a
2011 theatrical release by Dreamworks. Since it was under production at
the same time that Shrek Forever After was being developed, the
film was careful to remain faithful to only its title character,
supplementing the story with an entirely new cast of supporters in an
effort not to conflict with the franchise's overarching storyline. The
lovable Zorro-inspired cat is shown in action before the events of the
Shrek films, following his quest for golden goose eggs and
partnering with shady characters (many of whom standard fantasy
concepts) who eventually betray him. Puss ultimately takes the ethical
route and becomes a hero to the locals in expected Zorro fashion, all
the while maintaining his alluring outlaw status. Due to a shortage of
labor and animation expertise, Dreamworks outsourced some of the duties
on Puss in Boots to India, a somewhat controversial move that
understandably saved significant costs and opens the door for similar
shipping of American jobs overseas by the studio for future endeavors.
The music for the Shrek universe has always remained in the arena
of former Hans Zimmer associates, and now following veteran composers
John Powell and Harry Gregson-Williams is rising Remote Control graduate
Henry Jackman. While the English composer has impressed with a few solid
entries in the children's genre over the previous few years, his
collaboration with Zimmer goes back to the 2000's and includes several
major blockbuster titles. His experience in wholesale children's music
and the parody element associated with that genre proved useful for
Jackman in Puss in Boots. Gregson-Williams had always treated the
character to a certain flair of Latin personality, utilizing basic
connections to classical Spanish musical traditions that have been
referenced since in many forms for original soundtracks. The most
notable such flavor in the digital age of film music has existed in
James Horner's pair of highly acclaimed Zorro-related scores, The
Mask of Zorro in 1998 and The Legend of Zorro in 2005, both
of which memorable in part because they represent such a pointed
departure from the composer's usual career sound.
For Puss in Boots, Jackman does remain faithful to the same techniques and instrumentation of traditional Latin music, but he also exposes significant connections to both of Horner's scores as well as the kind of stereotyped spaghetti western sounds associated more recently (in Rango, most specifically) with Zimmer's fondness for poking fun at such vintage Ennio Morricone methodology. The final result is a parody score that sounds like extended temp-track emulation, and while it basically functions because of its personality, its narrative is diminished because of its total lack of originality. Although Horner accessed the same traditions for his Zorro scores for near parody reasons, he managed to give that sound the depth of authenticity necessary to resurrect it in a serious context. Jackman, meanwhile, seems to have approached Puss in Boots with the silly plundering of such traditions in mind, yielding a score that conveys the empty shell of such Latin music without much more than standard children's genre slapstick to back it up. And even then, Jackman wanders all over the spectrum in terms of his tone and instrumentation, augmenting the acoustic guitars, trumpets, and castanets with the sounds of choir, harpsichord, and harmonica while blasting through Powell's standard fantasy modes, some of which taking the music to classical and even Middle Eastern realms before finally arriving back at a major fantasy theme that is, ironically, yanked from the style of Horner's efforts in the genre in the early 1990's. Jackman provides two themes to the title character, one a snazzy trumpet affair that has more Morricone written on it than Horner, but the other a romantic alternative that resembles the latter composer's work completely. The format of "A Bad Kitty" even opens with the same clapping and foot stomping over castanets and guitars in the aggressively rhythmic initial format of The Mask of Zorro, and by the time a senseless shakuhachi flute makes an appearance in its usual puffed mannerisms, the emulation of Horner is total. Several of the progressions in the two main themes do little to obscure these blindingly obvious temp-track placements; certainly, Jackman could have done more to put a unique stamp on Puss in Boots. He almost concedes the connections as though the Antonio Banderas crossover merits them. For spaghetti western enthusiasts, cues like "One Leche" and "Confronting the Past" are equally shameless, whistling and chimes combined with deep male choir in the latter cue (and "The Puss Suite") to twist it in a distinctly Zimmer-like angle. Despite the head-spinning instrumental and structural aspects of Puss in Boots that make it one of the more outlandish parodies of its era, Jackman does offer several secondary themes that do distract from the Latin elements, especially in the second half of the work. A quirky, carnivalesque theme for the villains, Jack and Jill, appears in the cue of that name and "The Wagon Chase," among others, and has a knack for reminding of Toto's Dune. An offshoot of this theme exists for Humpty Dumpty and figures in the action material in the center portion of the score, culminating in a spooky rendition in "I Was Always There" and one of defeat in "The Great Terror." The magical element, including everything from the "Jack and Beanstalk," castle in the sky, giant, and golden goose, begins in "Planting the Beans" as though it's going to follow strictly Powell lines (in fact, that cue is pure Powell in nearly every regard), but by the end of "The Magic Beanstalk," it has morphed into a solid tribute to Horner's early 1990's children's music. The pair of "Castle in the Clouds" and "Golden Goose of Legend" becomes so saturated with Horner's mannerisms by the latter cue that the connections truly distract. An offshoot of this theme in "The Giant's Castle" is similarly retrospective, though in the latter half of this cue, Jackman's full string performances of the idea focus squarely on Horner's romantic portions of Krull. After the once domineering Latin tones largely exited in the middle of the score, Jackman returns to them in "Farewell to San Ricardo," an absolutely blatant structural pull from the conclusion of The Legend of Zorro. When you step back and look at Puss in Boots as a whole, the temp-track imitation is so obvious that it often dilutes the effort, a cue like "Honor and Justice" simply encouraging the listener to revisit Horner's music rather than continue to be struck by tongue-in-cheek parodies of the same general sound. Ironically, the best portions of the score are the non-Latin ones, but they too don't exhibit much originality. All of this said, Jackman has provided the film with what it basically called for, and most of the distracting references are the kinds of things that reveal themselves far more outside of context. The Rodrigo y Gabriela guitar contributions are reportedly newly arranged re-recordings of their previous work, and if they perform in the original score, they don't have a notable impact. Still, their appearance here is better suited than in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides earlier in the same year. The overall package of Puss in Boots will likely become a guilty pleasure for many listeners, but for Powell, Morricone, and especially Horner collectors, it may send you seeking the original sources of inspiration. Been there, done that.
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 65:51
* written and performed by Rodrigo y Gabriela
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes an extended tagline for the film but no extra
information about the score or film.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Puss in Boots are Copyright © 2011, Sony Classical and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 11/23/11 (and not updated significantly since). |
