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It's difficult to tell the exact boundaries of where Nott's contribution begins and ends. He reportedly wrote all of the themes and action motifs before "allowing" the various other composers to flesh them out. The salvation here, though, is that the assortment of young Zimmer clones has actually produced a score that fits perfectly with Nott's original sounds, thus making the whole "Various" situation a better target for comedy than ridicule. It should be noted that Nott himself was satisfied with the experience, and his fans should be as well. The delightfully bouncy title theme from the shorts is offered many times throughout the score, first in its original orchestration and then in several satisfying variations. From the big band interpretation in "Fluffy Lover Boy" to the heightened march format in "Every Dog Has His Day," the theme's attractive spirit of adventure elevates this score above most others in this genre simply due to its consistent identity. The orchestrations are crisp and clear, providing a fully orchestral comedy score that waltzes, marches, and tip-toes through each scene while avoiding the pitfalls of typical parody or animated comedy efforts. Several subthemes are introduced for this particular film, including an Anti-Pesto company fanfare and a classically-inclined instrumentation for the Lady Tottington character. The most enjoyable sub-theme is the one for the were-rabbit (and the general concept of scary stuff) that bursts through the opening title sequence and then really gets its footing in "Harvest Offering" and "Arson Around." With a pipe organ and adult chorus, the theme is reminiscent of some of John Debney's faux-horror music for similar films (Chicken Little is coincidentally running concurrently with this film) and even has a tribute to Bernard Herrmann's four-note Cape Fear theme at the outset of some of the more evil cues. The sound quality of recording has one odd quality: some of the brass seems to be mixed at the forefront, with very dry, crisp sound, while the strings, percussion, and choir are given significant reverberation. You can hear the difference best in "A Big Trap" and it seems to be a rather odd mixing mishap (or perhaps it was intentional for some reason). On the whole, however, this score is seemingly targeting the crowd of listeners that defend Chicken Run to the death, and to their pleasure, they will find Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit to be a generally superior and more consistent effort.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Total Time: 48:11