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Review of Mars Needs Moms (John Powell)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you appreciate the impressive evolution of John
Powell's music for animated films over the past few years, for Mars
Needs Moms is a highly cohesive and entertaining follow-up to How
to Train Your Dragon.
Avoid it... if you have difficulty casually enjoying well executed scores when they constantly reference specific techniques and the general styles of a variety of composers in a seeming temp track manner, the only real detriment to Powell's work for Mars Needs Moms.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Mars Needs Moms: (John Powell) It's unfortunate
that the humor in this film's title will go unnoticed by the majority of
today's generation, though kudos to the filmmakers will likely be
afforded by anyone who remembers Mars Needs Women and its peers
in vintage sci-fi schlock. The 2011 animated production of Mars Needs
Moms is a spin-off of the Robert Zemeckis technique of performance
capture, and one of the famed director's peripheral collaborators, Simon
Wells, returns to the genre for Disney rather than Dreamworks. In the
likable but rather vacuous story, a nine-year-old boy's mother is
abducted by Martians, who are in dire need of good mommy skills on their
own planet. The boy stows away on one of the Martian rockets and travels
to the red planet, where he teams up with misfits and other kids to
rescue his mom and, of course, strengthen his relationship with her in
the process. Although Mars Needs Moms did not open to stellar
reviews, Disney did sink $150 million into the project, once again
allotting a fair sum of money towards the music for the film. Wells had
collaborated three times with James Horner for his early career entries
in animation, all of which during Horner's fruitful 1980's and 1990's
period of work in the genre. Since his most definitive success, The
Prince of Egypt, however, Wells has utilized the services of Hans
Zimmer and his associate composers, the usual choice of Dreamworks.
Wells' contribution to the studio's films goes all the way back to
Antz and Chicken Run, so it's no surprise that he retained
the services of John Powell for this newest stint with Disney. Powell's
prolific quantity of assignments in the past few years has led to a
period in 2010 and 2011 dominated by large-scale music for animation,
and Mars Needs Moms is clearly representative of the ongoing
fine-tuning of his capabilities in that regard. Whereas the composer's
scores for animated films earlier in the 2000's often ran wild in style
and were challenging listening experiences on their own, Powell has
finally found a way to create truly cohesive and compelling scores for
such projects, the pinnacle of which being the highly lauded How to
Train Your Dragon in 2010.
There is no doubt that Mars Needs Moms represents yet another very positive step in the evolution (or maturation, some might say) of Powell's writing for animation. If you compare this score to franchise entries just five years ago, you can hear a better establishment of thematic foundations, development, and memorable conclusion. The orchestrations of his lines are more palatable as well, and cues often extend for several minutes of satisfying exploration without feeling the need to address comedy with tired mechanisms from old Warner Brothers cartoons. Powell enthusiasts are going to absolutely love this music's easily accessible personality and well executed instrumentation. There is an abundance of monumental flourishes of harmonic majesty to be heard, while dissonant stingers are held to a minimum and the funnier moments mixed on the mastering of the album to blend in rather than distract (for instance, the theremin on headphones may dominate, but on a large stereo system, it works much better as a nuanced ensemble contributor). On the other hand, Mars Needs Moms does have one, possibly significant detraction, and that is its reliance on what seems like a pretty familiar temp track. There are an abundance of moments in this score when Powell references techniques by either James Horner or Jerry Goldsmith, as well as a plethora of connections to his own prior successes. Fortunately, he competently rearranges these ideas into a largely refreshing package by infusing them with a consistently affable personality and robust depth. The score is mostly orchestral, though Powell does employ his usual programming of synthetic elements to augment the bass region and rhythmic drive. Most notably, he applies a theremin effect and several cute Danny Elfman-like samples to appropriately represent the zaniness of the Martians. Live specialty instrumentation, including percussion, is not as expansive as heard in How to Train Your Dragon, but duties are spread dynamically between sections of the ensemble. The standard choral accents yield expected cooing for the fantasy element and deep male interludes for ominous passages. The recording sounds fantastic, though as only a download release, fans will unfortunately not able to appreciate the score's full range as clearly noticed on the lossless copy provided by Disney for this review. Thematically, Mars Needs Moms is rich with predictable but entertaining motifs. Their references are almost constant, keeping up with quick pacing on screen with precision in fragmented reminders. Several minor ideas are explored as contributors to the score's three major themes, sometimes disappointingly neglected at times, but these minor motifs at the very least maintain your interest in every cue. The first half of the score is dominated by Powell's Martian theme, a series of faux-scary descending phrases that is often performed by woodwinds or solo tuba to keep it light. The resemblance between this idea and Horner's early-90's equivalents is unmistakable (The Rocketeer comes to mind); in fact, with the exception of the sound effects, the first minute of "Mars Observers" is so reminiscent of vintage Horner material that this aspect of the music is majorly distracting. By "Abduction/Trashworld," the theme is finally afforded a full-blooded theremin-inspired performance of grandeur. Not surprisingly, the frequent application and easily recognizable progressions of the Martian theme (even in fragmented variations) make it arguably the score's most memorable idea, though even in the opening few cues, Powell lays the groundwork for the protagonists' themes in Mars Needs Moms. There is, as expected, a main theme of heroic intent to represent the boy's adventure, first heard in full form in "Enjoy the Ride" and soaring with ensemble fortitude and a cool, slapping percussion layer. The major group performances of this idea, such as those heard in "Transformation" and the end credits suite, take rather obvious inspiration from Powell's own X-Men: The Last Stand. While these moments will mostly likely represent the score as a whole, Powell's softer renditions of the idea are far more interesting. In the intimate performances of the theme, its secondary phrase becomes much more familiar to How to Train Your Dragon, especially in the melodramatic piano and woodwind versions in "Gribble's Loss" and "Firing Squad." Unquestionably, the heart heard in the piano performances in "Gribble's Loss" are a highlight of Powell's entire career and are destined to connect with listeners to the much of same degree as "Forbidden Friendship" did in the previous year's score. Nothing sets the senses tingling like a romantically rambling piano over deep string harmony. The last major thematic identity in Mars Needs Moms exists for the family bond in the story. This idea is conveyed in "Mars Needs Moms" with some of the same instrumentation as in "Forbidden Friendship," another positive connection. The family theme's performances are a bit more fleeting than hoped, but they do extend from heroic variations (as at the end of "Firing Squad") to mammoth expressions of love (as in "Transformation" and "Family Reunion"). These performances are often written with sensibilities very clearly inspired by Goldsmith. The opening minutes of "Family Reunion" contain several moments of pure Goldsmith magic, even down to the use of woodwinds at 0:55 into the cue, a fluttering technique heard several times in this score (it was Goldsmith's replacement for his synthetic element in The Edge, though Alien is also a factor). The soft middle portion of the lovely "Gribble's Loss" is tinged with a passage of darkness with muted trumpet over piano that reminds of Elfman's addressing of Bruce Wayne's childhood in Batman. Individual cues stand out as additional holdovers from Powell's previous works as well, "Gribble's Plan" an oddly intriguing merging of the percussive rhythm, quirky progressions, and synthetic whistling effect (likely the theremin sound in more subtle ranges) from Antz. Additionally, there are snippets from Chicken Run to be heard in several places as well, especially in Powell's usual chord progressions. The composer's adagio mode in "The Sacrifice" uses the choir in trademark Horner fashion before treading into X-Men territory. Overall, Mars Needs Moms is a highly familiar score because of all of these references to previous film music. Some listeners may therefore be underwhelmed by the lack of originality in the score. However, the inspiration Powell utilizes is often top notch and he executes the pieces of the puzzle very well. For a film score novice, Mars Needs Moms will seem quite original and be highly entertaining. Veterans should still find it fruitfully engaging and cohesive in its smart development of themes and application of instrumental colors. The album presentation is consistent in flow and has no detriment until the insane source track, "Martian Mambo," thankfully placed at the very end (a holdover from Elfman's Men in Black, no doubt). Compared to How to Train Your Dragon, which remains uniquely fresh, Mars Needs Moms has too many (likely intentional) connections to the past to earn the highest rating. But make no mistake about it; this is an outstanding score worthy of repeat appreciation. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 49:00
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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