PRINTER FRIENDLY VIEW
(inverts site colors)

•	Regular Edition

•	Deluxe Edition

For enthusiasts of Newman's music, Saving Mr. Banks represents a striking return to his 1990's style of lighter drama, a genuinely heartfelt and traditionally melodic score that applies touches of his 2000's rhythmic and instrumental creativity without sacrificing the orchestrally dramatic portions of the work. The even bigger hurdle that Newman had to jump for Saving Mr. Banks was the balance between the excitement of the movie industry (and the Disney world) in the early 1960's and Travers' own significant personal troubles. Newman handles the former by approaching it with his plucky sense of rhythmic enthusiasm that defines so many of his best works, his slightly off-kilter chords and meters literally suggesting a different era while enunciating these ideas with brightly optimistic tones. Disney himself is provided a sprightly fanfare in "Mr. Disney" and "The Magic Kingdom." The other half of the score represents the difficult dichotomy of Travers herself, at times her pompous, stubborn nature represented by equally spirited, slightly jazzy personality in "Mrs. P. L. Travers" while elsewhere the painful history of the woman bringing forth nearly ambient, very slight renditions of themes, sometimes with dissonance, in a cue like "To My Mother." By "Ginty My Love," Newman's dramatic string theme for the character finally asserts itself with traditional dramatic smoothness. There are times when all of these different facets of the score's melodic and structural puzzle pieces combine effectively, the opening "Travers Goff" an excellent cue that highlights the score's most accessible material, followed closely by "Walking Bus." This, as well as the like-minded cues for illustrious action, whether from Travers or from the movie industry, is fantastic throwback Newman music. The specialty instruments complimenting the strings also remind of the 1990's, some of the glassy elements replaced with the piano and woodwinds representing that era for the composer. Expect the glockenspiel to reflect the "magic" of the kingdom involved. The album presentation of Saving Mr. Banks provides upwards of 40 minutes of rather light but involving Newman material. Sprinkled in the midst of it are performances by Jason Schwartzman and B.J. Novak as the Sherman brothers, along with some humorous Thompson retorts. A second CD on a "special edition" product includes demo versions recorded by the Sherman brothers (and quite well performed, it must be said) for the original production, along with a selection of songs from the finished mix of Mary Poppins. For Newman collectors, the listening experience will be one that requires some rearrangement to condense the various, disparate emotional portions into suite-like presentations of the otherwise fleetingly short cues. It's an intelligent score that traverses the shadow of the Sherman brothers very well and it should disappoint no one in the film music world to see Newman receive an award or two for this effort.  ****   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Thomas Newman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.14 (in 37 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.18 (in 60,837 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.