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Review of The Secret Life of Pets (Alexandre Desplat)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you desire Alexandre Desplat's equivalent in the retro jazz and romance genres to Michael Giacchino's similar ventures, this take on the same idea better executed in technical precision.

Avoid it... if wildly schizophrenic children's music that bounces between genres at will makes you never want to have kids, because there is a case to be made that this score, just like your kids, can drive you crazy in just a few minutes.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

The Secret Life of Pets: (Alexandre Desplat) One must wonder if director Chris Renaud, who had made a name for himself as a bankable talent with the Despicable Me and Minions movies, realized that he was thoroughly aping the storyline of Toy Story when he created The Secret Life of Pets, but audiences more than forgave him for this transgression either way. The plotline of the 2016 film replaces toys with common house pets and gives audiences a glimpse into what they do when their human masters are out of sight. In the case of one dog owner in New York, two initially hostile dogs use a journey around the city and back again to learn to like each other and their master, and it's their adventure amongst the many other animals of the city that brings each episode of humor to life. There are love interests, chase sequences, and even a plot by a gang of abandoned pets to annihilate the human population, and together, The Secret Life of Pets survived some uncertain critics to became a massive box office hit. The music for the film, while perfectly suited to succumb to a song-dominated soundtrack, was tailor-made for a jazzy adventure score right up the alley of Michael Giacchino, and the lack of his name on this movie's poster was initially a surprise. Instead, the assignment went to Frenchman Alexandre Desplat, which shouldn't catch anyone off guard despite the limited number of forays into the animated genre for the highly respectable drama master. Desplat has conveyed an immense sense of humor in his wilder music (The Grand Budapest Hotel remains a work best appreciated perhaps while on hallucinogenic substances) and achieved much acclaim for The Fantastic Mr. Fox, not to mention that he has professed his admiration for jazz masters of eras past many times. His approach to The Secret Life of Pets, therefore, is exactly as one would have expected to hear from Giacchino based his prior similar entries, except with Desplat's own unique voice and arguably superior flair for orchestration. You also have a more vibrant mix of the jazz and traditional orchestral elements in Desplat's take on the idea, Giacchino's flatly dry ambience replaced with a wider, dynamic soundscape by Desplat. There is much to appreciate in Desplat's instrumental and melodic techniques for The Secret Life of Pets, even if the schizophrenic pacing and frantic tone turns you away as predictably as any other wacky children's score.

It would be easy to define Desplat's The Secret Life of Pets as a series of tributes to classic American and European jazz masters, because many of the snazziest portions of the score certainly pilfer that genre with zealous glee. The flute work alone in this score is exquisite. The main theme is extended through several subgenres within jazz and is pleasantly simplistic, allowing for the flair of the brass and woodwind performances to really carry the work. Desplat certainly feels comfortably at home in this mode, though being that The Secret Life of Pets is also essentially a journey movie with a slew of secondary characters, the composer is compelled to venture into other territory, and this is where he really excels. The militant element to the "Flushed Pets" contingent occupies a significant portion of the middle of the score, Desplat handling these portions in almost a Georges Delerue fashion. Perhaps "Flushed Out to Brooklyn" best exemplifies the distances travelled by Desplat here, starting with full-fledged, soaring adventure tones before espousing the brass and snare militarism and then transitioning to lovely piano romance before returning to the softer, flighty jazz in the end. The same could be said of "Gidget Meets Tiberius," which maneuvers through several genres of music but more importantly serves as a good starting point for identifying the many themes that Desplat inserts into the work. There's a buddy theme for the main duo of dogs, of course, but the secondary themes for the element of mystery and romance are more intriguing. The composer takes these through both Latin tones ("Telenovela Squirrels") and Americana nostalgia ("You Have an Owner?") before diving into outward suspense ("The Viper"). By "Sausages!," the frantic pace of the jazzy incarnations reaches Danny Elfman zaniness, and the trio of "Duke's Old House/Captured," "Brooklyn Bridge Showdown," and "Rescuing Duke" contains full-fledged, rowdy action material with only struggling hints of the defining, descending jazz phrases that make up the main theme. A little classic rock awaits in "Blue Taxi," as does a horrifically obnoxious snippet from Grease. Desplat sends audiences away with a mixture of the softer American romance and European hip style in "Welcome Home," completing a challenging but ultimately cohesive journey. Scores like The Secret Life of Pets are not easy to digest for some listeners, certainly, but they exist as best as any score in this context can. While this wildly optimistic journey through genres can drive anyone nuts, the technical prowess with which Desplat accomplishes this adventure cannot be dismissed.  ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 52:31

• 1. Meet the Pets (2:37) • 2. Katie's Leaving (0:55) • 3. Meet Duke (3:36) • 4. Fetch Me a Stick (3:09) • 5. Telenovela Squirrels (1:24) • 6. Hijack! (2:00) • 7. Gidget Meets Tiberius (4:56) • 8. Initiation Time (1:01) • 9. Rooftop Route (1:27) • 10. The Viper (1:49) • 11. You Have an Owner? (3:04) • 12. Good Morning Max (1:29) • 13. Sewer Chase (1:09)

• 14. Who's With Me? (1:21) • 15. Me Like What Me See (0:54) • 16. Traveling Bossa (1:56) • 17. Flushed Out to Brooklyn (2:47) • 18. Sausages! (1:13) • 19. Duke's Old House/Captured (3:03) • 20. Brooklyn Bridge Showdown (2:34) • 21. Rescuing Duke (2:46) • 22. Wet But Handsome/Blue Taxi (1:24) • 23. Max and Gidget (1:36) • 24. Welcome Home (1:57) • 25. We Go Together* (1:24)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes a list of performers but no extra information about the score or film.

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