John Ottman's career has been highlighted by more than its share of heroic superhero-styled scores: the two Fantastic Four films, Superman Returns and X-Men 2. Strangely, despite the high level of action and multiplicity of rich characters found in these productions, Ottman's music for them comes nowhere near the heroic heights he achieves in the 3D anime adaptation Astro Boy, a curious project to result in such an entertaining career highlight for Ottman.
Optimistic, Heroic Theme in Astro Boy
Centered around an addictively positive, optimistic fanfare for heroic brass and full orchestral accompaniment (introduced magnificently in "Opening Theme" and explored in full concert arrangement in "Theme from Astro Boy"), the score reaches levels of energy which are never tiring, due to their cohesive structure and thematic continuity.
The score's attitude of humor is constant and ever-fresh in its innocent charm, and the instrumentation (resoundingly deep in its mix, with choir added sparingly and tastefully) is a swirling concoction of rhythmic, shimmering woodwinds, propulsive timpani, and soaring brass. The enthusiasm with which the score is performed is truly marvelous as well, with action passages rendered with a spark of exuberance which surely must have left the musicians breathless.
Lighter Moments and Specialty Sounds in Ottman's Adventurous Score
Much of the score is also given over to quieter cues of humorous mickey-mousing, and these passages owe a great deal in inspiration to Carl Stalling and (much more recently) John Powell in their skittery, lighthearted mannerisms, although Ottman manages to make them rather more fluid and listenable than such music normally is.
Electronics and various specialty instruments make token appearances, as in the delightfully wacky "One of Us/Meeting Trashcan," bringing the comedy and mechanical aspects of the story into focus simultaneously. A low ethnic flute in "Cora's Call" is a beautiful accent, while the catchy, off-the-wall grooves of "Undercover Robots", underline by jazzy piano riffs, proves one of the wackier moments in the score.
But the score's real highlights are not in its comedic or tender interludes (as strong as they are), but in the the immense wall-shaking action cues. The brimming adventure of "Astro Flies!" is but a shadowy preview of the gargantuan orchestral and choral ruckus which appears in "Egg on Hamegg," the latter half of "Toby's Destiny" and continues on to the soaring, climactic set-pieces "Saving Metro City" and "Final Sacrifice," the latter being surely one of the most intensely satisfying cues of 2009.
Conclusion
In the end, the success Ottman has achieved in his score for Astro Boy is truly curious, and not a little intriguing: the ingredients are all standard, the themes are few and simple, the film it accompanies is unremarkable. Yet Astro Boy manages to truly thrill and engage the listener in ways few scores for children's films do.
Is it the score's hopelessly optimistic and even naive air of innocence? Is it the fantastic exuberance which is so readily apparent in the performance? Is it the robust depth of the audio mix or the tastefully applied specialty instruments?Or is it all these things and something more?
The passion with which Ottman has written and recorded this score is undeniable, and no matter your taste for the film, John Ottman has penned and unexpected masterpiece for 2009, a year which has yielded many more quality film scores than anticipated. Astro Boy comes highly recommended.
Ottman's wonderful score album can be purchased at Varese Saraband, Amazon.com or the iTunes store.
David Abraham Dueck - I live in MN and do not surf or collect Hello Kitty paraphernalia. I instead play ice hockey, write articles for my blog, read tons of ...
