Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,984
Written 11/19/19
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Buy it... if you lower your expectations for a basically sufficient
but badly schizophrenic extension of Alexandre Desplat's playful tones
from the prior film in the franchise.
Avoid it... if you adored Desplat's big band jazz and main theme
from that film, for that identity and tone is largely lost in the
disjointed, caper-oriented sequel score.
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| Desplat |
The Secret Life of Pets 2: (Alexandre Desplat)
Despite ripping off the basic premise of the Toy Story franchise
and applying it to domestic pets, the 2016 animated movie The Secret
Life of Pets cleaned up at the box office and yielded a 2019 sequel.
The second chapter only performed half as well in grosses and didn't
particularly endear itself to critics, the concept taking the characters
from the first film and offering them an even broader set of locations
and action circumstances. Following three separate storylines for the
various animals and bringing them together in the end, The Secret
Life of Pets 2 attempts to further milk the idea that all our cats,
dogs, and other beloved creatures break out into song and dance, as well
as superhero antics, whenever we are not looking. The gag only goes so
far, though. The script's response for novelty takes the animals through
both a farm and a circus en route to a final chase sequence involving a
train that elevates the superhero element. It's rather pedestrian stuff,
and that ho-hum predictability extends to a soundtrack for The Secret
Life of Pets 2 that includes a variety of hip hop and rap placements
for humorous animal performances and another affable score by veteran
French composer Alexandre Desplat. The two halves of the soundtrack
absolutely do not jive at all, unfortunately, diminishing the score
significantly. The personality of the first film allowed Desplat to
conjure a big band jazz atmosphere that was rightly infectious, merged
with witty orchestral accompaniment that gave the animals the
larger-than-life personality and lifestyle boosts needed for the comedic
element. For the sequel, the composer largely abandons that entire
equation and instead tackles each of the new plot's general locations or
character personalities individually. The result is a sufficient but
haphazard score that loses all the cohesive aspects of the prior work
and instead plays like a frenzied combination of animated stock
techniques from Randy Newman (the Cars movies, specifically),
Michael Giacchino (The Incredibles caper element), and Danny
Elfman (the circus zaniness). There's nothing inherently wrong with any
of these inspirations, but Desplat struggles to combine all of them into
a sensible narrative that will leave you with the same lasting
impressions of the predecessor, which itself was more style than
memorable substance.
There was reportedly never any doubt in director Chris
Renaud's mind that Desplat would be asked to return for
The Secret
Life of Pets 2, which makes it somewhat odd to hear very little of
the first score's identity survive. The snazzy primary theme with
distinct, descending lines is seemingly absent from the sequel, and
while the composer did conjure themes for several of the individual
characters and story arcs, none is a standout. The most appealing might
be the farm-related theme of faintly wholesome Americana spirit heard in
"The Farm," "Herding," and "Goodbye Farm," but don't expect much depth
to these passages. Then, you have the superhero antics of the Snowball
character, for which Desplat borrows heavily from Giacchino's
The
Incredibles scores and Newman's similarly rendered ideas from
Cars 2 in "It's Snowtime, Baby!," "Snowball's Workout,"
"Snowball's Swirl," and the end of "Train Chase." Given the obvious
inspiration, it's somewhat amusing to read Desplat state the following
about this material in the film's production notes: "It was an
incredible moment to hear the fantastic musicians play the music that
I'd heard and dreamt of in my head all along." Okay, then. As a side
note, the source usage of John Williams' iconic theme from
Superman for this subplot is not reflected within Desplat's score
and is not on the album. The third subplot worth Desplat's attention is
the one for the circus, which embraces its inner-Elfman in "Sergei's
Circus" with a rather demented motif that is challenging to tolerate. An
off-shoot of this mode crosses into the theremin and choral suspense of
"Gidget's Dream" and "Herding" that follow. The closest this score comes
to the lighter jazz fare of the prior work is the retro lounge
atmosphere in "Cat Lessons." The outright action portions of the score
are competently rendered but totally anonymous, cues like "Inner
Rooster" and "Train Chase" straying towards the caper side of the
equation without offering anything of lasting interest. There is
absolutely no narrative flow to any of these ideas when presented apart
from the film. Not even the minor motifs for several of the specific
characters, while mostly tied to instrumental flair, carries over
clearly. The whole thing is overflowing with consistent antics but lacks
one overarching personality with which to leave a lasting impression.
Perhaps the caper tones will serve in that capacity for some listeners,
but these passages occupy only a fraction of the score. In the end,
The Secret Life of Pets 2 is a breezy and proficient effort from
Desplat, but approach it with patience and lowered expectations.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For Alexandre Desplat reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.41
(in 32 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.22
(in 16,610 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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