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Jackman's applications of the vintage arcade elements clearly dominate the resulting score for Wreck-It Ralph, adding both exhilarating pizzazz and obnoxious nostalgia to music that sounds in many places similar to his prior major children's work and, at times, other Remote Control-related ventures by his peers. With this procedural approach in mind, you have to admire Jackman's output for Wreck-It Ralph. It's difficult to functionally layer the 1980's arcade samples with the orchestral material and pass thematic representations between both sides of the mix. The pure enthusiasm factor in this score can't be ignored, and the composer balances his brightly optimistic heroism with a fair amount of tongue-in-cheek fun. At the same time, Wreck-It Ralph is the kind of score that could drive a listener to insanity because of these same elements, especially when the 1980's personality dominates. Stylistically, the music traverses a very wide swath, entering parody territory at times, and the overall impact will be tiring for those not accustomed to appreciating this kind of effort apart from the film. The score moves like a frantic stream-of-consciousness kind of work, so this review will tag along with it for its major cues. Jackman opens with a softer, light rock theme that exists somewhere in between Basil Poledouris' Wind and a contemporary Naoki Sato drama work. In the subsequent "Life in the Arcade," the composer unleashes the most faithful, source-like 1980's arcade material, a frightful reminder of wasted hours past. As the action picks up in the next few cues, some influences begin to emerge; at about 3:40 into "Rocket Fiasco," Jackman very explicitly revisits vintage Zimmer music, namely The Rock. This material yields to immensely irritating parodies in "Royal Raceway" that literally alternate between stuffy royal tones and rocking arcade theatrics. The themes take a while to establish themselves in memory, and the main descending melody of villainy is cemented by its organ performance at the start of "Cupcake Breakout." The parody material returns in "Laffy Taffies," which touches upon both John Powell and Danny Elfman techniques, the latter's Wonka-related "la-la" vocals closing out the cue. Powell collectors may, as in Jackman's previous works for children's films, hear similarities in the style of the composers' orchestral flourishes.

In two cues for Wreck-It Ralph, Jackman seemingly synchs his score with the choppy structures of the popular car-related Rihanna song "Shut Up and Drive" (included on the album), the first of these throwing an arcade-laced instrumental variation of this song up against vintage game show jazz in "One Minute to Win It." The opening of "Vanellope's Hideout" returns to the soft theme from the score's start, and a similar treatment is heard early in "Out of the Penthouse, Off to the Race" (with more Saito-like sensibilities in the latter). The end of "Messing With the Program" features a great crescendo that masterfully balances the orchestra, choir, and arcade elements. A longer crescendo for violins in the middle of "King Candy" uses the main, descending phrase as counterpoint in the middle, a nice touch. This theme becomes more pronounced, albeit remorsefully, in "Broken-Karted." The last minute returns to the awkward royal arcade material, complete with a short reprise of the "Shut Up and Drive" references. Jackman saves most of his best action material for the final two orchestral cues; "Sugar Rush Showdown" especially combines the ensemble with the arcade's rhythmic loops quite well, and the main theme gets a healthy workout at the end as well. Bursts of awe in "You're My Hero" lead up to a snippet of smirk-inducing, Craig Armstrong-like choral melodrama at 2:35 before the big villain theme on organ is forced to translate into a brassy heroic performance to close out the scene. The soft rock character material from the start of the score returns pleasantly one last time in "Arcade Finale" before launching into a wretchedly hip version of the arcade tones. At least Jackman does allow the orchestra to sentimentally take the final moments to a quietly sappy close. Overall, this wild ride is amusing and entertaining in its parts but difficult to qualify in its whole because the wacky instrumentation really does dominate the structures. You don't leave the score with a clear picture of Jackman's thematic intentions; while the representations exit, they are muddied by the fast pace and inconsistent instrumental colors. As mentioned before, this score is admirably smart enough to earn four stars, but when heard on album, its ultra-frenetic personality and surprisingly elusive themes, along with the mostly original but unrelated and irritating songs (several of which meant for the end credits), pull Wreck-It Ralph back to three-star reality.   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

• Music as Written for the Film:  ****
• Music as Heard on Album:  ***
• Overall:  ***

Bias Check:

For Henry Jackman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.8 (in 15 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.7 (in 5,036 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 70:47