Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,186
Written 6/29/09
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Buy it... if you are an established admirer of John Powell's
consistently effective but not remarkably unique slapstick comedy scores
for the animated children's film genre.
Avoid it... if you're searching for more of the infectious
enthusiasm of Powell's music for Ice Age: The Meltdown and have
little interest in a beefed up version of that score with a handful of
better realized action cues.
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| Powell |
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: (John Powell) While
most animated franchises deserve a death in the straight to video realm
of obnoxious commercial treachery, the Ice Age films have endured
throughout the 2000's and, with the third entry in 2009, transcended to
a higher level of critical acclaim. With Ice Age: Dawn of the
Dinosaurs, 20th Century Fox toys with pseudo-3D technologies, though
more important than this trick is a script that emphasizes action and
character development in an effective mix that is meant to satisfy both
adults and children equally. The story of Scrat and his elusive acorn,
once considered the only interesting aspect of the entire concept,
continues with an added twist, and the trio of unlikely friends at the
heart of the original narrative has moved on to the perils of family
life and even higher existential discoveries. The most pertinent of
these finds includes, of course, the civilization of dinosaurs that has
apparently survived in a world beneath the surface, and the interaction
between creatures leads to not only further self-discovery but to a
higher frequency of straight action scenes. While Ice Age: Dawn of
the Dinosaurs, by the nature of this plot, retains its corny
elements, the infusion of heightened action not only affects the flow of
the film, but its music as well. Along with a returning crew comes John
Powell, whose career in slapstick music for animated films has been
solidifying for over a decade. With the involvement of Powell in the
third film comes a sense of musical continuity that did not exist
between David Newman's original Ice Age and Powell's first entry
in 2006. As to be expected, the composer doesn't change the equation
significantly for his second venture in the franchise, once again
balancing straight orchestral comedy action routines with humorous
references to pop tunes of the past and hints of contemporary movie
music standards. If you found the music for Ice Age: The Meltdown
to be tediously predictable in 2006, then you're not the intended
audience for the related follow-up score. The major difference between
the two scores is that whereas Ice Age: The Meltdown strongly
emphasized the cuteness of its thematic constructs and orchestrations
within its prancing, genre-defying rhythms, Ice Age: Dawn of the
Dinosaurs achieves a muted dose of the same character while beefing
up the environment for the existence of the world of dinosaurs with
action material that is more robust than anything heard in the previous
entry.
For many casual listeners, the difference between
Powell's two scores for the
Ice Age franchise will be too
negligible to really notice. For such people, the duration of the
constantly shifting tone in the work will be its most defining,
memorable characteristic. For die-hard enthusiasts of the first score,
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs may be a mixed bag. Powell does
reach back and reference his previous thematic material, though the most
striking difference between the two is the lack of fully realized
performances of the infectious title theme from
Ice Age: The
Meltdown. This idea, which owed much to the charging enthusiasm of
Chicken Run (especially in its second phrase), is largely
replaced in the newer score by the variation of the theme that
represented the main trio of characters. Given the familial elements of
the third film's plot, this shift to the less jovial theme is
understandable, but it hinders the level of spirit heard in the early
cues on album. The constructs are all there, but not with the same
swinging, finger-snapping personality as before. Most interesting in
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs are the fresh identities for Scrat
(and his companion) and the dinosaurs. For the former, a variation on
the badly dated Lou Rawls song "You'll Never Find Another Love Like
Mine" is a sleazy representation. Even the acorn gets its own adaptation
of a theme from an era past. The adaptation of "Adagio from Spartacus"
makes another brief appearance in between these Scrat-related
representations. The realm of the dinosaurs receives awe-inspiring
choral crescendos that, in true Powell fashion, never last as long as
anyone would wish when hearing them on album. Some faux-brutal pounding
of a new theme for these creatures is perhaps best finally developed in
the latter half of the lengthy "End Credits." While this material is
impressive in its scope (the depth of the chorus seems more resounding
this time and the bloated French horn section never hurts), its presence
(and domination of the second half of the work) sacrifices the pleasant,
smile-inducing personality of the previous score. In fact, until the
dinosaur material blasts through in the mid-section of the album, the
score plays like a pedestrian regurgitation. The overall impression
Powell leaves is one of workmanlike craftsmanship. You can't fault him
for providing this effective music, but for those who don't pay close
attention to the slight variations in these types of works, all of it
will continue to sound the same. Approach its extremely lengthy album (a
hindrance here, perhaps) only if you maintain a healthy collection of
Powell's streamlined music for the genre.
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Bias Check:
For John Powell reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.31
(in 51 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.16
(in 52,894 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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