Anyway that left two other very good scores for very poor movies. First up is Pan, yet another telling of the Peter Pan story. I don't think anyone was clamoring for that, but we got it anyway. The score was composed by John Powell, a very talented composer we don't hear much from these days. He was very active in the 2000s and gave us some wonderful scores. My favorites are his one-two punch of How to Train Your Dragon and its sequel. His work in Pan was nearly as fun as those two and well worth seeking out. But ignore the songs for this film... they hurt.
You've also got Victor Frankenstein another reinterpretation that no one was begging studios for. Craig Armstrong stepped up to deliver a knockout score full of gothic darkness and plenty of excitement. Armstrong is another composer who usually delivers and has a very good working relationship with Baz Luhrmann. So even though this film bombed, I'm sure Baz will still bring him along for his next project.
Of the two, I have to give the award to Pan. It has a bit more of the swashbuckling attitude that enjoy in my scores and Powell certainly delivers. Check out Kidnapped/Galleon Dog Fight which starts off nice and sweet before diving into a percussive action track packed with fun moments and plenty of classic swashbuckling energy with a modern twist.
Quite a lot of pep for Pan. I don't think Fred and Ginger could have kept step to it.
ReplyDeleteYeah Powell can actually drive things pretty frantic when he needs to. What I like about him is that he never loses control even when he goes for broke. You can always follow the musical storytelling.
DeleteA few of those films that are remakes or re-imaginings, Pan and Frankenstein should be under the headings of how did that get made. Although I get it, they are pretty much tailor made for the youth market and that market is pretty big and thirsty.
ReplyDeleteReally the same is true for all those films you mentioned. I don't think the same principles apply towards artistic achievement as say money making. Not that that's bad. I agree about How To Train Your Dragon though, good film. But that's an interesting topic, good scores, bad movies.
Yeah when "Pan" came out I remember discussing this same question: how did it get the green light. Peter Pan movies have not done very well in the last few iterations. "Hook" is often considered one of Spielberg's weakest films and did poorly at the box office. There was a straight up version of "Peter Pan" in the early 2000s that was pretty good, but got a general "meh" at the box office too.
DeleteSame thing goes for all these Roald Dahl adaptations. "BFG", "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Fantastic Mr Fox" were not big money makers and yet someone keeps giving his work the green light. The last real popular adaptation was the 1971 "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".