 |
| Newman |
WALL·E: (Thomas Newman) Advertised as the last of
Pixar's original story ideas from the mid-1990's,
WALL·E is the
tale of a robot (whose name is based on his purpose: Waste Allocation
Load Lifter - Earth-Class) who is left behind when mankind is forced to
leave Earth. Taking place around the year 2815,
WALL·E lovingly
develops the character of the cute little robot and follows him on his
quest for romance and his discovery that the planet may be ready for
humanity to return. After exploring the personality of the titular
character, whose vocalizations consistent entirely of sound effects, the
film becomes a race to find the humans and inform them of Earth's new
condition. After the critical success of
Ratatouille didn't
materialize into the commercial success that Disney and Pixar were
hoping for,
WALL·E enters the scene with positive buzz and a
healthy marketing campaign. Writer/director Andrew Stanton struck Oscar
gold for
Finding Nemo in 2004, and the film earned composer
Thomas Newman one of his eight Oscar nominations as of the release of
WALL·E. It was, ironically enough, on the night of the 2005
ceremonies that Stanton mentioned the concept of
WALL·E to Newman
as a cross between
Hello Dolly and science fiction. Neither of
those two ideas really mesh with Newman's career, but, not surprisingly,
he joined the crew of
WALL·E and worked with another Stanton
connection, Peter Gabriel, on a song and some mutual score material for
the production. Unlike his brother, David, the more successful Thomas
Newman had never scored a science fiction film until
WALL·E. The
connection to
Hello Dolly relates to the robot's fascination with
an old VHS tape of the 1969 film that he watches during the story, and
it doesn't have any impact on Newman's score. What does have an
immediate and pervasive impact on the music is Newman's unique sense of
creative instrumentation and endless overdubs, as well as the composer's
usual knack for rhythmic movement that well matches the narrative of the
film.
If you're expecting to hear a score with the sci-fi
bombast of David Newman, then you'll be in for a disappointment.
Likewise, if you're expecting to hear a truly cohesive score with easily
identifiable motifs and continuous character development, you'll be even
more disappointed. Newman instead handles
WALL·E with
considerable restraint, especially compared to Michael Giacchino's music
for recent Pixar films. Everything about this music is saturated with
Thomas' own "Newmanisms." Slight, jaunty rhythms with sparse, but
pinpoint orchestration set an appropriately mechanical mood for
WALL·E, with static progressions and sharp instrumental colors
that imitate a robot's mentality. Nearly every cue in
WALL·E
features instruments being plucked, struck, keyboarded, or puffed. The
harp is an immediate and interesting highlight of the ensemble. The
typical array of plucked and struck strings and novelty percussion
instruments carry over from numerous other Newman scores. Keyboarded
contributions include a few synthetic sound effects of metallic or
electrical character ("Mutiny!"). The woodwinds and brass are often
presented in slow, staccato puffs to push this idea even further. A
bouncing electric bass in some cues will remind listeners of Danny
Elfman's comedy works. An orchestra is present, as is a choir in later
fantasy cues, but the ensemble rarely is allowed a fully fluid
performance of over 30 seconds in length. Thematically,
WALL·E is
unfortunately devoid of distinctive character. A clucky motif for the
robot in "WALL·E" and a love theme of sorts co-written by Gabriel (in
two cues) for the "EVE" robot are never developed with any consistency.
Both are clever in their imitation of the robots' style of movement, but
Newman emphasizes the textures of the themes throughout the score rather
than the actual melodies to be potentially harvested from them. The
rhythms themselves begin to form a cohesive bond in their combined
efforts, but with so many cues at or under a minute in length, even
these bright and affable rhythms suffer from a consistency
problem.
There are many parts of the score for
WALL·E
that are highly entertaining. But there is little to truly hold them
together other than Newman's plucking style of instrumental expression
and the extremely creative mixing job that was done to bring all of the
separately recorded elements together. In a technical sense,
WALL·E is quite accomplished. But for all the personality in many
of the short bursts of rhythm, there remains surprisingly little
enticement after the conclusion of the score. Individual highlights
remain, including the outstanding chord shifts and plucking harp of the
opening "2815 A.D.," a cue that serves as the only truly convincing
fantasy moment in the score (although the "Horizon 12.2" cue returns to
the same general idea at the end). The straight comedy is good; the
Francis Lai-style of "la-la" vocals in "First Date" and the jingle of
"BNL" are both funny. A short burst of Aaron Copland-style adventure
exists in "Septuacentennial." Wild plucking and swinging style in some
of the cues remind of the atmosphere of
Fried Green Tomatoes,
especially in "Repair Ward." The rhythms in "Foreign Contaminant" and
"M-O" beg for more development. As for the action cues, the introduction
of brass in "EVE Retrieve," as well as the fuller ensemble performances
in "Rogue Robots" and the five cues that follow, are interesting but not
really engaging. The exception might be "Hyperjump," though Newman's
not-so-harmonious heroic stature in this cue isn't an easy fix. Overall,
the score is likable, but somewhat frustrating given its reliance on
texture for its identity. On album, the Gabriel song likely won't
interest Newman collectors, and its tone doesn't match the score. The
two Michael Crawford performances of
Hello Dolly material offer
the singer at his highest, most nasal reaches, at which he definitely
doesn't appeal. The album also features sound effects at the start or
end of several cues, which surprisingly works well with Newman's equally
creative music (though in "Repair Ward" they do become excessive). The
score has more than a dozen highlights, but their only loose relation to
each other and the score's lack of thematic cohesion lowers it to the
ranks of average. And this, given the potential here, has to qualify as
a minor disappointment.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Thomas Newman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.14
(in 37 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.18
(in 60,753 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The insert includes extensive information, including a note from the director,
extensive credits (with a complete list of performers), and lyrics to the Gabriel song.
The packaging advertises the fact that it uses 100% recycled cardboard instead of a
standard plastic jewel case, as well as 30% recycled material in its paper insert. The
cardboard packaging does pose a risk for scratching the CD, and this is compounded by
the fact that it is somewhat difficult to retrieve the CD out of its folded pouch.
One of the trailers for the film uses a cue from Michael Kamen's 1985 score for Brazil,
which is interesting because Kamen was set to score the Pixar film The Incredibles
before his untimely death in 2004.
