Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #247
Written 7/17/98, Revised 9/19/08
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Buy it... if you want to hear Hans Zimmer actually write some material that,
unlike his work for the Pirates of the Caribbean scores, embodies a
marginal swashbuckling spirit.
Avoid it... if you are deterred by the composer's predictable 1990's style
of bass-heavy electronic and choral masculinity accompanied by quickly-paced,
staccato rhythms.
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Gregson-
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Muppet Treasure Island: (Hans Zimmer) How far we have
progressed in our entertainment industry? Well, try to imagine how Robert Louis
Stevenson would react if he saw his classic story mangled considerably for the
purpose of adapting singing Muppets to the big screen. The Muppets have always been
a hit or miss species of entertainment, either capturing you with their lovable
personalities or causing you to seek out the nearest stuffed doll for destruction.
The film and score for Muppet Treasure Island, one of several Muppet-related
films to follow in the following decade, will probably divide people along the same
lines. There is unquestionably some truly hideous material to be found here. And
yet, for collectors of Hans Zimmer's film music, there might be some reward in it.
Zimmer was a year off of his Academy Award win for The Lion King and the
same crude equation would be put to work for Muppet Treasure Island, though
with Barry Mann composing the songs this time. Zimmer's role in the project wasn't
too demanding, with only a minimal amount of score required for the picture (he
would, however, dedicate the score to his young child). Although the songs by Mann
vary from creative to dismal, Zimmer's score is very consistent in style. Over 25
minutes of score material appears in one section on the soundtrack album, and
resembles the readily recognizable brassy and synthesized style that fans will
recall from Crimson Tide and The Peacemaker. When you combine this
sound with quirky and jaunty pirate-inspired rhythms, the resulting score is the
love child you'd get if you combined Crimson Tide's popular sound with
Pirates of the Caribbean and Kermit the Frog. Even though it can exhibit too
much of a carnival atmosphere in parts, it retains many of the electronic and
(male) choral elements that fans will recognize as the stylistic norm from Zimmer
in the mid-1990's. With the exception of the parts of the Muppet Treasure
Island that overtly convey a swashbuckling sense of humor, a significant amount
of this score could be easily interchangeable with other Zimmer works. The composer
does, thankfully, avoid the parody styles that haunted future Muppet-related film
scores (which on occasion have served as little more than field studies for veteran
collectors to identify the sources of each reference).
The most interesting long-term point of interest regarding this
music is how Zimmer, for some reason, managed to insert more convincing
swashbuckling style into
Muppet Treasure Island than he would in his
(contractually uncredited) sound for
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the
Black Pearl, which offered little to no relevance in the genre at all. Still,
the general purpose of Zimmer's score is to pour on a heavy bass and avoid
significant thematic development. It's the kind of constant and predictable action
music that will keep you alert all night if need be. The themes that Zimmer does
present are very simple stereotypes of the genre, which doesn't make them any less
enjoyable on album, but also reminds of the general stupidity of the film. The tone
is slightly more sensitive than Zimmer's most militaristic efforts, and the
composer even provides a few tender moments. The lengthy action piece heard in
"Rescue," exhibits a wide range of Zimmer's typical mannerisms, reprising the
beginning of the
Crimson Tide theme in a sort of Muppet mockery (many of the
chord progressions are exactly the same). Contrasting the score on the album are
nine ensemble and pop song variants. Of the seven character tracks, only two are
really listenable: "Shiver My Timbers" (which comes directly following Zimmer's
stirring prologue music) and "A Professional Pirate" (which begs a full, orchestral
performance of this theme in place of Tim Curry's lazy vocals). The other songs
represent some of the very worst Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy vocals ever heard
in public performance (which is saying something, given the existence of the
absolutely dreadful Kermit the Frog/John Denver Christmas duet special that
continues to compete for the designation of "worst recording ever"). The two pop
songs at the end are stale, and on the whole, all the songs lack the magical touch
of those in
The Lion King (which, perhaps, is no surprise given that Mann is
no Elton John). Zimmer's score will be a rewarding listening experience for those
fans who enjoy his bass-heavy electronic and choral scores with quickly-paced,
staccato rhythms. It doesn't have any moments of pure harmonic delight, such as the
opening of
The Rock or the pulsating themes of
The Peacemaker, but it
rivals the best of the filler music in those scores (along with its use of a
muscular mix of orchestral power and synthetic elements). The Zimmer material will
indeed please his fans, but will somebody please end our misery and shoot the pig
and the frog?
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For Hans Zimmer reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.85
(in 128 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.96
(in 299,193 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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