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| Bowers |
The Wild Robot: (Kris Bowers) The final animated
movie slated to be produced entirely within DreamWorks, 2024's
The
Wild Robot tells a highly unique story against a blend of
traditional animation techniques. Guided by a hand-painted,
two-dimensional look, the movie postulates that humans have invented
mass-manufactured robots to serve all their needs in a future in which
oceans have risen substantially. A delivery of these robots crashes on
an uninhabited island in the Pacific Northwest, and one of them largely
survives. With its innocent but focused programming telling it to serve
its master by completing tasks, the robot realizes that the only masters
on this island are animals. After getting its butt kicked by the
animals, it learns the various species' languages and eventually earns
their trust. Named Roz, the robot adopts a runt of a goose hatchling and
becomes its parent by accident, setting up the parental and acceptance
narrative that ultimately must include the goose, Brightbill, migrating
away. Roz then becomes the protector of the island against the retrieval
robots sent to collect it, setting up a clash of cultures that the
animals are destined, of course, to win. The story is a tear-jerker but
relies on audience acceptance of countless logical fallacies and the
inherent evil of humanity. Viewers seemed able to navigate these issues
and make
The Wild Robot a remarkable financial success, its
originality, heart, and unique aesthetic overwhelmingly positive.
Director Chris Sanders has collaborated with two of the most notable
composers of a generation, Alan Silvestri and John Powell, for his
string of cinematic ventures, but for
The Wild Robot he tapped
rising star Kris Bowers instead. Sanders' films had inspired Powell to
write two of the best scores of his career, and he does the same with
Bowers. Among the few African-American composers writing music for
mainstream films in the 2020's, Bowers had shown tremendous improvement
in his orchestral chops in the years leading up to
The Wild
Robot, and it's clear that this assignment inspired him and his
robust crew to emulate the instrumental and thematic prowess of Powell.
The fact that he succeeded so well is an astonishing treat for
listeners.
There is no doubt that music plays an incredibly important
role in the success of
The Wild Robot, the score and a pair of
original songs increasingly carrying the dramatic weight of the story as
it progresses. The two songs were initially supposed to be just one,
American singer Maren Morris recording "Kiss the Sky" for the critical
scene in which Brightbill is trained to fly. After production on the
film was largely finished, though, she also recorded "Even When I'm Not"
for the end credits, with Bowers working its melody and lyrics into the
choral conclusion of the score. The songs are upbeat and modern pop
entries of a rather intimate nature, an acoustic guitar carrying most of
the instrumental backing for much of them but adopting contemporary rock
norms elsewhere. Outside of the neat pinnacle of connectivity between
songs and score at the end of the picture, Bowers' steers clear from the
two Morris melodies. The composer wrote over 80 minutes of music for the
movie, which is rarely left without any. He was careful to balance the
location and futuristic concepts against hearty character elements, with
uniquely attractive success. The forest is supplied vaguely
jungle-appropriate tones that are not openly exotic. Bowers hired a team
of four percussionists called Sandbox Percussion to strike glass
bottles, teacups, planks of wood, metal pipes, oxygen tanks, log drums,
and cowbells during select comedy and chase scenes, along with the
initial identity of the fox character, Fink. Their integration with the
orchestra is superb, the mix of elements well handled. The same praise
applies to the synthetic sounds for Roz, sometimes openly analog but not
aged to the 1980's like you hear so often in retro-styled scores of this
era. Importantly, while there is digital manipulation at work for
specific reasons (malfunctioning robots or robots that cannot process
their surroundings), these post-production techniques don't affect the
organic instrumentation most of the time and supply just the right
amount of futurism to the music. The bass is boosted well in later cues
of inspiration to give these passages the power of a Hans Zimmer anthem,
but again, this accent doesn't overwhelm the soundscape. It blends
remarkably nicely with the choral usage, which only really has a
fantasy-oriented impact during the cues at the story's climax.
In its blend of drama, comedy, and action, Bowers' score
for
The Wild Robot aspires to be a Powell score in its
instrumental timelessness and thematic passages, especially as it
emulates the veteran composer's woodwind techniques and use of bass
brass to accent those themes. Action cues like "Rockmouth" and
"Unauthorized Lifeforms" are impressively mature and leagues better than
the equivalents in
Haunted Mansion the prior year. The last third
of the score is an emotional powerhouse, the set of themes maturing for
remarkable performances of intense appeal. The narrative set forth by
Bowers is smart from start to finish, his ideas deconstructed well when
needed, thrown into romping action without missing a beat, and knowing
when to simplify their harmonies to provide familial warmth. The first
third of the work is occupied by its comedic mode while the middle third
explores its tender melodicism. The drama and action in the final third
are the obvious payoff that will send audiences off with the main theme
clearly in mind. Bowers' primary theme represents the concept of family,
originally just between Roz and Brightbill but eventually encompassing
all of the animals of the island as they band together in an unlikely
predator/prey alliance. It consists of an optimistically rising,
four-note phrase repeated several times with different harmonies
underneath, two notes elegantly varying in the even-numbered statements
of the cycle. Bowers applies this theme in two different speeds
depending upon whether the idea supplies heart or inspiration, with both
on display in succession during the its moment of sublime maturity in "I
Could Use a Boost." This theme yields the best harmonies in the score,
too, suggesting warmth and resolution at the most poignant moments. It's
rare that composers conjure truly memorable, simplistic themes that
audiences can latch onto and immediately translate to their pianos, but
the family theme here is exactly that kind of functionally catchy yet
unassuming identity. It is introduced with hope on strings at 0:39 into
"The Accident," builds in the middle of "Hatching" with a nearly
triumphant moment interrupted by suspense, weaves in and out of the
Brightbill theme in "You're His Mother Now," and rises out of the lovely
bed of rhythms in "Bedtime Story."
The middle third of the score forces Bowers' main family
theme through a variety of challenges. It dances in fragments throughout
"Activating Interspecies Outreach Protocol," extends out of the
Brightbill material again in "Swimming Tests," and becomes mildly
touching on strings in "That Thing." The theme then builds throughout
"The Confession" before enunciating itself dramatically in the latter
half of the cue, tickles the edges of "In the Wrong Place," and informs
the light string drama during "Non-Negotiable." As mentioned before,
though, it truly reaches its destined prowess as an inspirational force
in "I Could Use a Boost" for the full ensemble (and mainly brass) as
Brightbill emotionally joins his first migration, a stunning moment of
musical impact on screen aided by monumental percussion accompaniment.
The family theme culminates in a driving climax during "Task Complete,"
helps propel the action of "Unauthorized Lifeforms," and shifts to
action mode in the middle of "Rescue Mission." It supplants the Roz
theme with notable choral moments in the middle of "Truce," concludes
"Vontra" with abbreviated hope, and overtakes the ruckus about a minute
into "Robots vs. The Wild" with the choir, where it joins the Roz theme
in the piano performances at the end of the long cue. A single phrase
from the family theme offers a reminder early in "Back Online" before it
regains top inspirational form again with choir in "I Have Everything I
Need," a clear highlight of the score. Bowers then takes that mode to
softer but still poignant volumes in "You Don't Have To," where it
builds into another momentous statement with vocalized lyrics of the
"Even When I'm Not" song at its climax. The chords of the idea inform
the middle of "Roz's Story" until brass finally states the theme in
jubilation to close the score. Not surprisingly, the composer balances
the vital family theme with that of Roz, the main character, throughout
the entirety of the story. It's a theme that you hear right off the bat
in the score and is interpolated in a variety of guises instrumentally
to represent the robot's transition from machine to living, truly
sentient parent. The bouncing tune may not be very memorable, but it
suffices when clearly enunciated. Most listeners will recall it
transformed into an adventuresome fanfare with synths in "Roz's Startup
Music" and the repeatedly heard and source-like, happy, cartoonish
fanfare in "Universal Dynamics" that dies out in a digital meltdown per
the story's needs.
In the narrative of
The Wild Robot, Bowers
suggests the Roz theme right away and uses hints of it in the
setting-establishing rhythms in "The Island." Its first phrase becomes
rhythmic in "Activating Learning Mode" on synthetics over winds, and
that propulsive formation continues on woodwinds mostly in "Deploying
Rescue Transmitter" while the rest of the orchestra teases out secondary
lines. It transforms in its fuller form to an action mode at 0:27 into
"System Breach" but is stunned in atmospheric, synthy haze at the outset
of "The Accident." As Roz finally achieves a purpose, the theme turns
bubbly and optimistic on strings throughout "Roz Builds a Home" and
takes a redemptive turn at the end of "Choosing a Name." It is briefly
explored in "Activating Interspecies Outreach Protocol" but largely
replaced by the family theme as the narrative demands. The Roz theme
then starts to reassert itself in the electronics of "Task Complete," a
solo piano at the end of that cue offering thoughtful contemplation
after the family theme reaches its catharsis. The idea enjoys a more
streamlined presence early in "The Migration," becomes diminished again
to solo piano at the start and end of "Truce," and achieves a redemptive
return to fuller ensemble form in "Return." The sadness of the solo
piano defines the theme again late in "Vontra" but it's not long before
the full action mode again erupts at 0:16 into "Robots vs. The Wild,"
driving several moments in the cue before the motif devolves down once
more to the solo piano. Roz's theme struggles to emerge in "Back Online"
but takes a lightly redemptive tone with elegant piano and the ensemble
in "Roz's Story." The numerous conveyances of this theme by the piano in
the latter cues expresses the emotional heart of the robot as only that
instrument can accomplish, especially in the lovely "Truce," though
listeners will likely remember the theme solely for its brightly
optimistic, partially synthetic fanfare mode that emulates the
character's startup chime. With intelligence, Bowers manipulates this
theme to represent the sadistically evil retrieval robot, Vontra. This
sinewy offshoot of the Roz theme is primarily explored in the creepy,
conversational cue of "Vontra" but recurs in the middle of "Robots vs.
The Wild" on whiny violins and then muscular brass. As the action
culminates, the composer shifts back to those violins for the motif in
the latter half of "Back Online," the structural resemblances between
the Roz and Vontra motifs diverging as the latter is sent to a fiery
demise.
Three other secondary themes exist in
The Wild
Robot, though the identity for Brightbill isn't as clearly
enunciated as it could be, the weakest idea in the work and easy to
miss. It's fleet on foot and with wholesome spirit throughout
"Brightbill," mingles with the main family theme in "You're His Mother
Now," and is altered for a variant with the same rhythmic motion in
"Eat, Swim, Fly." The theme rambles wildly in "Swimming Tests," matures
its rhythmic formations in "The Migration," and brings its rambling
affection to the middle of "Return." By comparison, the theme for Fink
the fox is well developed throughout the score and experiences the
greatest evolution of any theme. It sneaks its bluesy base form into the
early action of "The Egg and the Fox" and closes that cue with a brief,
clearer statement. That bluesy jazz mode extends over wild percussion in
"Fink" but changes from there as the character softens and adopts Roz as
its parent as well. The Fink theme figures briefly at 0:57 into "Roz
Builds a Home" but comes forth on clarinet in the much different "Good
to See a Friend" sans the bluesy attitude. It achieves an action mode at
2:15 into "Robots vs. The Wild" and diminishes again on clarinet in the
middle of "You Don't Have To" for a quick moment of solace. Meanwhile,
marginal is the theme for Pinktail the opossum mom, a quirky comedic
melody for percussion and woodwinds in "Pinktail." Aside from these
Bowers themes, the composer utilizes the "Even When I'm Not" song melody
clearly on strings at 1:30 into "You Don't Have To" before shifting back
to the family theme, later adapting the tune at the cue's choral passage
at 2:26, which emulates the sequence at 1:08 into "Even When I'm Not."
Some listeners might think this melody's chords are vaguely hinted in
the first minute of "The Return" as well, but the connection is not
clear. Overall,
The Wild Robot is an outstanding animation score,
balancing the frenzy of action and appeals of the heart with skill and
achieving the same impressive peace between the organic and synthetic
elements. While the two songs work decently well and are certainly
unoffensive at the worst, it's the score that definitely shines in the
story. Listeners will require some patience when appreciating the
healthy 68 minutes of score on album, as the comedy and early action may
not connect as much as the pronounced thematic presence in the second
half. The payoff is well worth the wait, however, the family theme's
powerful dominance of the soundscape in several late scenes ensuring the
score's position as among the genre's best. Task completed brilliantly.
***** @Amazon.com: CD or
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