: (John Debney) Hopefully everyone
who ventures to see this newest Walt Disney 3D animated adventure will
remember what got Chicken Little into trouble in the first place. Having
created havoc in the original fable by mistaking a falling acorn for a
falling sky, our little hero opens this film appearance as the
troublemaker who's trying hard to redeem his reputation in his small
town. He succeeds in doing it, too, by winning a big baseball game with
a home run. Unfortunately, he also discovers that something a little
more ominous is falling out of the sky, and while at first cautious
about who he tells about his revelation, he eventually organizes a team
of misfits who will endeavor to save the world from alien invaders. In
the
is an odd combination of old songs
relevant to chickens, the end of the world, or victorious parties, as
well as ensemble cast songs and original underscore. The songs are the
kind of Patti LaBelle, Diana Ross, and R.E.M. combination that was a
little lighter on the reuse fees for Disney and will likely succeed only
to the extent of the film's run in the theatres (does Diana Ross help
sell albums on her own merits anymore?). The songs performed by the
ensemble cast are as atrocious as anyone might imagine. No offense to
these performers, but to hear them perform "We Are the Champions," a
Spice Girls song, and other stuff is by no means pleasant to the ears.
Then again, if anybody's just itching to hear Joan Cusack and Patrick
Stewart belt out a pop song with a bunch of other barnyard animals, then
this might be your dream come true.
The last six tracks on the commercial Disney album are
straight orchestral score cues by Disney veteran John Debney, with a
running time of about 15 minutes. The contribution is short, but
certainly memorable. If you can't handle parody interpretations or
shameless, intentional rips from the temp-track containing other
alien-related scores, then Debney's equally shameless (and likely
equally intentional) parody score will drive you nuts. The first cue is
the standout invasion piece, containing significant structural and
thematic references to David Arnold's climactic battle cues in
Independence Day. Constant snares and bombastic brass motifs
yield to tacky synth effects and heavy chanting for the end of world
(similar to adult choir material in
Scorpion King). The other big
ticket cue is "The Big Game," in which Debney takes a different approach
from his usual sporting event tactics and gives us a full blown Western
cue with fresh new trumpet fanfares. Even in this cue, though, a
significant statement of Arnold's "patriotic theme" from
ID4 is
performed by strings near the start. The same acoustic guitar he used in
the concurrent children's film
Dreamer is used in this cue and in
"Dad Apologizes" to set the locale in a bluegrass sound for the town of
Oakey Oaks, though the latter cue leads to plucking string comedy
rhythms more recognizable in the cartoon genre.
The "Chase to Cornfield" cue is a rousing piece that
once again features adult chanting and clanging of percussion over an
electric bass reminiscent of
The Tuxedo and
My Favorite
Martian. The wild orchestra hits in "Dodgeball," set over hip guitar
rhythms and deep sax meanderings would make George S. Clinton proud.
Interestingly, with the obvious amount of humor that Debney injects into
this score, it's no surprise that he lifts ideas from
End of
Days, but if you want to go all the way, why not bring a little
Passion of the Christ into it too? There must be limits. On the
whole, Debney once again impresses with his superb knowledge of previous
scores and his ability to reference them while remaining not only legal,
but also refreshing in a pure and pleasant setting. His interpretation
of the theme of "We Are the Champions" not only strikes in the bombastic
cue at the outset, but also in the soft, piano/flute-driven character
cue finishes the album. This material truly makes
Madagascar by
Zimmer and his gang sound outclassed, and collectors of Debney's vast
works in the comedy genre can only hope that a fuller
Chicken
Little score finds its way onto a promotional album like the
majority of Debney efforts inevitable do. On the commercial album, the
score is obviously an afterthought given how it is gracelessly faded
into the first track mid-cue. And yet, compared to the pleasant, but
conservative music for
Dreamer,
Chicken Little is far more
entertaining even in its brevity.
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- Score as Written for Film: ****
- Score as Heard on Album: **
- Overall: ***
| Bias Check: |
For John Debney reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.33
(in 56 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.1
(in 49,960 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
