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| Williams |
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the
Unicorn: (John Williams) Little introduction to the French-language
comic book series "Les Aventures de Tintin" by Belgian artist Georges
Remi needs to be made for Europeans, though the long history of the
concept on paper and in adaptations may be unknown to those elsewhere.
Under the pen name of Herge, Remi maintained his distinct visual style
and sense of humor while exploring the adventures of a young Belgian
reporter named Tintin for many decades. The comics were in active
production mostly from the 1930's to 1960's, and their immense
popularity (despite some controversy over Remi's socio-political
leanings) led to over 350 million sales of "Tintin"-related comic books
and several series of animated and live action screen adaptations from
the 1950's to the 1990's. Director Steven Spielberg discovered the
comics only when his 1981 classic,
Raiders of the Lost Ark, was
compared to them, and he subsequently obtained the cinematic rights to
the concept. Conflicting production schedules and wrangling between
several studios caused the project to be delayed until the late 2000's,
when Peter Jackson joined Spielberg and the duo aimed to make three
motion-capture animation films based upon combined storylines from the
comics. After the nervous studios distributing Spielberg's product were
finally convinced that the animation technologies would be well
received,
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn was
finished and embraced by largely warm critical reviews and excellent
theatrical returns in the concept's native European countries. Loyalty
to the original concept is key to Spielberg's approach, the look of the
characters painstakingly matched to their comic counterparts and their
personalities meant to be equally authentic. The fearless Tintin, who
finds his way to adventure far more than to a typewriter for his
stories, traverses the globe on wild excursions with his Wire Fox
Terrier, Snowy, and his hilarious friend Captain Haddock while
encountering recurring secondary characters like the hopeless
investigators Thomson and Thompson and opera diva Bianca Castafiore. The
setting of the stories is contemporary to the time of the comics' debut,
though elements from the past are typical to the concept as well, and
this timeless European quality is perfectly suited for Spielberg's
fondness for rooting so many of his tales in 1940's sensibilities.
For
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the
Unicorn, Spielberg sought to combine the early 1940's comics of "The
Crab with the Golden Claws," "The Secret of the Unicorn," and "Red
Rackham's Treasure" into one narrative, utilizing an enhanced
swashbuckling angle to visualize this first franchise entry. For film
music enthusiasts, this opportunity not only meant that the
collaboration between the director and composer John Williams would
continue, but that some hope that a score of
Hook quality would
result. Neither man had tackled the animated realm prior to this
project, and there was understandable concern about Williams' ability to
maintain his standard of excellence while approaching 80 years old and
absent from film scoring for most of the latter half of the 2000's.
Since his outstanding year of production in 2005, the maestro had only
written
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in
2008, though enthusiasts of the composer note that he was still active
composing new material in the classical genre and most visibly for
President Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009. He also continued to
conduct his own famous themes during this time, maintaining his good
humor and public visibility despite a lack of new feature scores.
Williams enthusiasts were teased for several years with the knowledge
that the composer was set to return with at least four major scores in
2011 and 2012, and the duo of
The Adventures of Tintin and
War
Horse, released within weeks of each other in late 2011, represented
a sudden treasure trove of this new Williams music to behold. While the
tone of the two scores is completely different, they both assuage fears
that the 79-year-old composer has lost any of his compositional
capabilities. Few mainstream composers continue such mastery at that
age, and the simple fact that the complexity of these 2011 scores from
Williams is indistinguishable from his music written decades prior is a
fortunate stroke of luck in a movie business otherwise defined by
cynical melodrama and pathetic exits from fame. Indeed,
The
Adventures of Tintin is an especially intellectually mindboggling
composition during its entire length. Whereas
War Horse remains
more inclined to resurrect the broader strokes of Williams' long-lined
melodic grace in its addressing of the historic drama genre,
The
Adventures of Tintin is an impressive summary of the composer's
lighter comedy and adventure tones from both the bronze and digital ages
of film music.
Every moment of the score is absolutely saturated with
Williams' trademark structures and instrumentation, though the level of
complexity in the composition transcends even the composer's most
densely packed prior achievements. One might get the cheerful sense that
Williams used this opportunity to specifically thumb his nose at those
who might question his ability to continue, for he manages to combine
the intricate and challenging structures of
The Terminal and
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with a rich thematic
tapestry that makes
Hook sound comparatively simplistic. Simply
put, no other composer is concurrently writing with this level of
intellectual, classical style. So few of today's film scores will
challenge an orchestra attempting to record its highlights, though you
constantly get the feeling with
The Adventures of Tintin that the
majority of its parts would require substantial rehearsal to accurately
replicate it. This density is a treat in and of itself, especially for
listeners tired of hearing mundane blockbuster scores absent such
nuanced activity. The Los Angeles performers are exquisite for this
recording, their orchestral ensemble aided by harpsichord, accordion,
and brief contributions by exotic instruments for two or three cues and
a choir for one short sequence. Rather than relying upon bizarre tones
for this worldly affair, Williams conjures his excitement through
unconventionally difficult passages for woodwinds and piano. A slight
infusion of jazz and European comedy exists in an otherwise standard
orchestral adventure stance, though two notable source-like cues push
the European elements, especially the French flavor, to the forefront.
The comedy music is robust in the same manner heard in
Harry Potter
and the Prisoner of Azkaban, while the suspense and action sequences
most closely emulate the Indiana Jones scores. The harshest critics of
the score will likely pounce on the fact that Williams attempts nothing
stylistically new in the details of
The Adventures of Tintin, and
this is perhaps a valid complaint. Also of potential harm for some
listeners will be an emphasis of technicality for individual scenes and
themes rather than an easily accessible overall personality. Those
casually perusing the score for the first time will not encounter the
composer's usual knack for overwhelmingly memorable thematic expressions
of grandeur arranged into obvious concert fashion. Williams handles the
many themes in the score with far more attention to singular moments,
and the wide spread of melodic duties complicates matters for those
seeking the blazing identities they fondly recall from the composer's
classic works.
The depth of thematic development in
The Adventures of
Tintin is dazzling, but not in such a way that will cause any single
idea to be blasted from stadium speakers at sporting events down the
road. There are roughly ten themes and motifs constantly at play in the
score, with rarely a moment that does not utilize at least some fragment
of this palette. Each character receives a thematic identity, as do
locales and other integral concepts, and many of them are afforded
interlude sequences that are applied, as in Hedwig's theme from the
Harry Potter series, to different secondary elements. The themes for the
three major lead protagonists most prominently factor into the score,
though they surprisingly aren't among its most enticing. The titular
character's identity is ironically underplayed by Williams, a strange
choice given likely inevitable franchise to follow this movie.
Translated into the wildly haphazard, jazzy personality of the "Knight
Bus" sequence in
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the
opening cue for Tintin is the score's most blatant nod to the time
period of the tale, and the woodwind performances here are commendable.
Unfortunately, the two phrases of the theme's primary construct are damn
near lost in this style of performance, leaving later action sequences
to better illumine the idea. The "B" phrase in Tintin's theme is
interspersed in several early cues before "Escape From the Karaboudjan"
finally allows it to flourish in fragments. Its main sequences of five
and six-note phrases aren't fully paired until a satisfying brass
performance about a minute into this cue, and subsequent revelations of
these two phrases exist in "The Flight to Bagghar," "The Pursuit of the
Falcon," and "The Return to Marlinspike Hall." The theme's obvious
highlight is its victorious
Amazing Stories-like expression at
about 4:15 into "The Pursuit of the Falcon." More memorable is Snowy's
theme, in part because Williams' main concert arrangement for
The
Adventures of Tintin exists in the track of that name on the album.
The piano performances in "Snowy's Theme" are truly remarkable, though
they supply bubbly supporting rhythms underneath the strings' conveyance
of the actual theme. The perky nature of this idea is infectiously
upbeat, representing Williams' closest maneuver towards traditional
animated children's music in the work. Pieces of this theme occupy
several early and late cues, both "The Secret of the Scrolls" and
"Escape From the Karaboudjan" making fragmentary use while "Introducing
the Thompsons, and Snowy's Chase" extend the concert rendition to a
better degree. The idea returns with similarly affectionate tones in
"The Clash of the Cranes" and "The Return to Marlinspike Hall."
The third major theme in the score reaffirms that Williams
envisions deep woodwind tones as the identity of skullduggery and sea
captains of dubious merit in general. The standard bassoon, tuba, and
accordion treatment of Haddock is first revealed with easy clarity in
"Captain Haddock Takes the Oars" and the idea ends up being manipulated
in tone more often than any other. Its transformation exists over the
course of "Capturing Mr. Silk" to "The Flight to Bagghar" and, most
poignantly, "The Captain's Counsel," by which time the theme is
literally sobered up and takes on a sentimental side. The character's
connections to the Marlinspike Hall setting is keenly suggested in
several ways by Williams, first in twisted and even inverted form in
"Marlinspike Hall" and finally in more straight forward reminders in
"The Return to Marlinspike Hall and Finale." Of the less frequently
referenced identities in
The Adventures of Tintin, the easiest
and clearest is that for the Thompsons. A lazy Franch jazz atmosphere of
silliness and slight sleaze in "Introducing the Thompsons" is
reminiscent of
The Terminal if only because of prominent
accordion and clarinet usage, and the idea is pushed into the latter
halves of "Capturing Mr. Silk," "The Captain's Counsel," and "The Clash
of the Cranes." From there, the themes' direct attributes to characters
and concepts are a tad muddier, though the clear winner amongst these
other melodies is Williams' sneaky representation of the Unicorn, a
sunken sailing ship of fabled treasure that is the target of everyone in
this tale. This creepy theme is a highlight of
The Adventures of
Tintin in each of its frequent applications, ranging from devious
allusions within other themes (and those themes' incongruent
instrumentation) to outward expressions of resounding majesty.
Reminiscent of Williams' darker progressions from his Indiana Jones
scores, the Unicorn theme's two phrases are introduced in "The Secret of
the Scrolls" and are most prominently conveyed in "Sir Francis and the
Unicorn," undoubtedly the score's most powerful resurrection of
Williams' trademark bravado from years past (and an idea that wouldn't
have been out of place in everything from
Hook to the
Star
Wars prequel scores). Williams cleverly previews this theme on
harpsichord in the latter half of "The Adventures of Tintin" and reminds
of its allure in "Marlinspike Hall," "The Milanese Nightingale," "The
Pursuit of the Falcon," and "The Clash of the Cranes." Memorable
recapitulations of the idea exist appropriately in "Red Rackham's Curse
and the Treasure" and "The Return to Marlinspike Hall and Finale," the
latter setting the table for another adventure.
The secondary themes associated with the history of the
scrolls, treasure, and villains in
The Adventures of Tintin
produce some engaging though nebulous material. A rising series of
progressions on strings for Red Rackham first appears in the middle of
"Sir Francis and the Unicorn" in sonic battle with other identities and
is similarly extended in "Red Rackham's Curse and the Treasure" and "The
Clash of the Cranes." Also heard early in "Red Rackham's Curse and the
Treasure" is a churning, almost hypnotizing identity for the target
treasure itself, and a reminder of this theme pops up again in "The
Return to Marlinspike Hall and Finale." A theme seemingly for the
exotic locale of Bagghar, performed in part by kemenche and tanbura,
occurs near the ends of "Escape From the Karaboudjan" and "Red Rackham's
Curse and the Treasure." In the middle of the latter cue, Williams
reveals his swashbuckling motif for pirates in battle, its frantic
string figures answering each other seemingly in a bit of swordsmanship
within the ensemble. He expands upon this passage in the entirety of
"The Adventure Continues," a curious choice with which to close out the
score until you remember how fond Williams is of rollicking scherzos
(and false endings). The final motif in
The Adventures of Tintin
is questionable at best; during the Red Rackham portion of "Sir Francis
and the Unicorn," there are phrases that suggest that Williams may have
intended to provide Sir Francis with his own motif, though this material
may simply be an offshoot of the identity for the Unicorn. Of all of
these themes, perhaps it's not surprising that the Unicorn theme
prevails in your memory. Its timpani-pounding minor-key force is to
The Adventures of Tintin what the Buckbeak flight cue was to
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, a short throwback to
the grandeur of Williams' best days. It proves that even in a score as
overflowing with bubbly spirit as
The Adventures of Tintin, the
dark, sinister descendants of the map room cue from
Raiders of the
Lost Ark continue to rouse imaginations most effectively. This
attachment is particularly important to the 2011 score because the
thematic duties are spread out so widely during the entire score.
Ultimately, with the lighter themes forming a general impression only in
their sum after the score has finished playing, it's the resounding
component of mystery that endures. It is truly unfortunate that Williams
has seemingly abandoned his previous standard of presenting several of
the major themes in his scores in a cohesive concert arrangement (for
the end credits or otherwise), because the album presentation of
The
Adventures of Tintin could truly have benefitted from such a
summary.
The only other aspect of
The Adventures of
Tintin in need of discussion is the pair of source tracks that
exists back to back on the album. The sappy French romance personality
from viola, accordion, and swooning strings in "The Milanese
Nightingale," sprinkled with other tones of vintage jazz, is a pleasant
though unsubstantial diversion (until a hint of the Unicorn theme at the
end). The other source track uses the nuisance of its character's
operatic vocals to break bullet-proof glass in "Presenting Bianca
Castafiore," courtesy of Williams' adaptations of Gioachino Rossini's
"The Barber of Seville" and Charles Gounod's "Je Veux Vivre" from "Romeo
et Juliette." Renee Fleming's performance leads to a high note at the
end that is accompanied by the sound effect of shattering glass, though
perhaps more troubling than the effect in the music's mix is the
terrible splice in the performance at the start of that note. At least
Williams' humor leads to an extension of "Je Veux Vivre" into the start
of "The Pursuit of the Falcon." Overall, these two source cues can be
skipped and the remainder of
The Adventures of Tintin on album
will yield a strikingly intelligent handling of the topic. While the
intricacy of the composition will be the first thing you notice, the
most important aspect of the score to its cohesiveness in the absence of
simple thematic dominance is its perpetual sense of movement. Along with
the density of notes in this score consequently comes propulsion that is
rarely heard for such length in film scores of this era. Even if you
have no interest in keeping up with the multitudes of thematic
references that sometimes dance through the score at a dizzying pace,
the rhythmic flow of the entire package yields a demeanor of breakneck
adventure that will grip you. The other aspect of the album that will
impress is the astounding mix of the ensemble, perfectly balancing the
clarity of each element with a vibrant atmosphere of reverb to address
the fantasy of the concept. It's the type of score that demands a
lossless presentation, and unfortunately Sony's American release of the
CD follows its European counterpart by two months, forcing Americans to
lose the dynamic edge heard immediately in the solos of the first two
cues if they choose the flatter MP3 download alternative. Ultimately,
there are downsides to how Williams arranged his themes in
The
Adventures of Tintin, and for some, the magic of the maestro's
classics will be missing in this frenetic romp. Rarely does the score
soar in ways that will meet expectations made unreasonable by Williams'
absence. In short, it is no
Hook. And yet, you can't help but
marvel at his ability to so intelligently annihilate his competition in
the industry of film music even when approaching the age of 80. Blessed
we be.
@Amazon.com: CD or
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- Music as Written for the Film: *****
- Music as Heard on the Album: ****
- Overall: *****
| Bias Check: |
For John Williams reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.8
(in 75 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.67
(in 349,418 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The insert includes a long note from Spielberg about Williams and the
score, including a brief discussion about the major themes. Some pressings
of the CD add a comma into the name of the fourth track ("Introducing the
Thompsons, and Snowy's Chase").
