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Q-Review
I tend to cringe a little when I see cartoon characters that I grew up with brought back with a more
contemporary look and style. Such tragedy seems to plague television commercial cartoon characters more than any where else. Tony the Tiger, Trixx the Rabbit, Lucky (the leprechaun), Count Chocula, even Captain Crunch has been revamped for the new millennium...and it breaks the heart.
The question
that looms in the case of The Adventures of
Rocky & Bullwinkle is "Just how true to the original will they be this time?" Bringing these,
somewhat antiquated, characters to a new generation is not easy
a proposition.
The composer selected to write the score for this film faced the challenge of paying homage to the original characters and themes, while making the music approachable to a brand new audience who come with a different palette of entertainment-expectations. This became the challenge for veteran TV and comedy feature film, composer, Mark
Mothersbaugh.
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The
Bottom Line
Mark Mothersbaugh underscores the film with a lively bit of music that spans a musical range of big band to full orchestral underscore.
Mothersbaugh, in general, respectfully utilizes the original Bullwinkle Show theme.
The score carries an Elfman-like feel with
expansive synths and chorals mixed with the
sort of animated-insanity a Tim Burton project
would call for.
The
score is a solid effort for an animated film
with an expected amount of
cartoon-peculiarities. Among them the
upbeat, guitar rendition of Rocky: The
Flying Squirrel (3) and the Russian influenced
vocal tune, Hail, Hail, Pottsylvania (15).
Overall,
Mothersbaugh does an exceptional job of
providing music appropriate for the subject
matter. Outside of that context, one
would have to be in a slapstick-mood to
appreciate the score.
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Composed by Mark Mothersbaugh
Orchestrated by Bruce Fowler, Suzzette Moriarty, Ladd McIntosh, Carlos
Rodriguez, Walter Fowler, Elizabeth Finch, Chris
Guardino, Tom Heil, Larry Dominello, Kevin
Kliesch, Benoit Grey