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| Debney |
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water: (John
Debney) The Nickelodeon television series "SpongeBob SquarePants" has
endured an endless barrage of colorful criticism through the years, and
yet here it still amazingly persists. Running on television since 1999,
the concept is unbelievably a favorite of parents ranging from President
Barack Obama to Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the franchise spewing forth
one film in 2004 and finally a sequel in 2015. A synopsis of the sequel
is not really merited for the sane mind (after all, a 2011 University of
Virginia study published in the journal "Pediatrics" concluded that kids
who watch "SpongeBob SquarePants" experience "short-term disruptions in
mental function and attention span" and "were operating at half the
capacity compared to other children.") outside of the need for this
review to explain that there is a heavy pirate emphasis to the plot. The
fact that the asinine cast of characters, accused famously by American
Evangelical publicity-hogs of instilling homosexual subversion upon the
children of God, is obsessed with food and extremely infantile humor is
all the rest you need to know. Parents of intellectual concern could
view the concept with about as much confidence as something like "Yo
Gabba Gabba," a frightening thought. The 2015 cinematic sequel,
The
Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, is animated for most of its
length but sprinkles in some live action with CGI renderings of the
deviant cast. The hapless live-action foil is played by Antonio
Banderas, his "Burger-Beard" character in pursuit of a magical notebook
that can make its words become granted wishes. Let's hope his payday was
significant. Critics and other audiences embraced the film and gave it
enough eye-popping revenue to immediately lead to production
commencement of another ungodly abomination of a SpongeBob adventure on
the big screen. The music for the 2004 film was handled by the acclaimed
veteran of the television show, Gregor Narholz, but the adventurous
score for
The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water fell to
experienced children's feature score writer John Debney. Also mixed into
the film's soundtrack was some original song material contributed by
Pharrell Williams and his band N.E.R.D., though Debney's score was
released separately on its own. For the experienced composer,
The
Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water represents an easy but fun
assignment, one plundering a number of genres of music in the process of
recording a passable and occasionally entertaining parody score.
The first thought any film music collector should
conjure regarding
The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water is in
regards to whether Debney could resurrect any degree of the
swashbuckling magic from his classic hidden gem,
Cutthroat
Island, for this wretched affair. The truthful answer is "no," but
the parody angle here didn't really attempt to go that far. The pirate
material, centered mostly in the first half of the work, is admirable in
its silly nods to the classic
Sea Hawk style of writing
("Stealing Formula Back" is quite shameless), but you'll find the jaunty
portions more reminiscent of various pieces of
Hook,
The
Little Mermaid and assorted vintage Bruce Broughton music. It's easy
listening but insubstantial. On the other hand, the score is mostly
comprised of Debney's continuing elaboration on the Warner Brothers
methodology of children's comedy music, sometimes deviating into splashy
sidebars of genre defiance in John Powell mode. A sudden shift into the
Elmer Bernstein Western realm occupies the middle of "Beachfront Antics
/ Bike Path Encounters," followed by a pirate's solo cello interlude
complete with whistling. The orchestra is the centerpiece of the work,
but Debney, as per usual, adds a variety of electronics ranging from
mysterious ambiance ("Intro Bubbles") to outright sound effect
employment ("Inside SpongeBob's Brain"). The orchestral element is
competent but not spectacular, some of the low woodwind work for
Banderas' character of interest. For every rowdy adventure cue like
"Burger Beard on Island," there's something truly hideous like "End
End/Get Him," which takes electronic manipulation to truly unlistenable
levels. (Recall the "disruptions in mental function" from the academic
study) Debney does remain loyal to his swashbuckling main theme, the duo
of "Stealing Formula Back/Pirate Ship and Food Truck" summarizing the
idea quite well. Don't look to be impressed by the choral accompaniment,
which sounds sparse and could have used some overdubbing at the very
least. Better is a cue like "Sandy Proposes Sacrifice," which takes the
choir to 1990's Hans Zimmer masculinity while throwing in echoing
electronic effects similar to what Jerry Goldsmith employed in his later
Star Trek scores. And speaking of
Star Trek, be on red
alert for the opening of "Bubbles to the Rescue," a not-so-transparent
homage. On the whole, there are many things to admire about Debney's
continued mastery of the children's genre in
The Spongebob Movie:
Sponge Out of Water, but this kind of music will test your tolerance
for the genre after twenty minutes. A limited CD release was afforded
the score by Varèse Sarabande, and while you may be impressed by
the techniques you hear in those 49-minutes, be prepared for the mental
function issues it may cause.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For John Debney reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.33
(in 56 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.1
(in 49,948 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes a list of performers but no extra information about the score or film.
