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HORTON HEARS A WHO!
Fun album, but it's time for Powell to stretch himself a bit
 A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Music composed by
JOHN POWELL

Rating
* * * 1/2



Performed by
THE HOLLYWOOD STUDIO SYMPHONY
conducted by
PETE ANTHONY

Orchestration
PETE ANTHONY
JANE ANTONIA CORNISH
RICK GIOVINAZZO
RANDY KERBER
DAVE METZGER

Engineer
SHAWN MURPHY
Produced by
JOHN POWELL

Album running time
59:38

Released by
VARESE SARABANDE
Catalog number
VSD-6888

Album cover copyright (c) 2008 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation; review copyright (c) 2008 James Southall

Dr Seuss is apparently some sort of children's author, who is evidently more famous in other people's childhood households than he was in mine (A.A. Milne and Michael Bond being the authors of choice when I was a wee lad) and there have been numerous attempts to bring his books to the big screen, most seemingly not satisfying many people.  Horton Hears a Who! is the latest, an animation from Twentieth Century Fox, with the voice cast led by Jim Carrey and Steve Carell.  Reviews have been generally positive; and Fox Animation continues their productive relationship with composer John Powell, whose Robots and Ice Age 2 scores were both impressive (particularly the former).

Not long ago I reviewed Powell's music for Jumper and said there was a danger he was returning to the same bag of tricks too many times, and he was in need of some fresh ideas; it's a different bag of tricks he has for animations, but the same statement is still true.  In a blind tasting of random tracks, would people really be able to pick them apart?  Generally they're all highly-enjoyable albums, but Horton Hears a Who! is just another extension of exactly the same thing - and clearly that's what gets him hired on these films in the first place, but I hope he is able to find something new to inject before long (or, perhaps better still, leave the animated world behind for two or three years) lest it all becomes boring.

That hasn't quite happened yet, fortunately - there is such energy in this music, even if one has heard it all before, it's hard not to be taken in by it.  There are a few separate themes here, but this sort of music isn't really about themes - it's all about the style, the infectious spirit, the joie de vivre - and it has plenty of that.  It is rarely a promising sign when a 60-minute album has 34 tracks, but that's somewhat deceptive here because a lot of them play continuously, running into each other (which makes me wonder why they weren't just presented as single cues, but I guess it makes no real difference).  For sure, it's manic, and can tend to go all over the place a little, but  Powell just about manages to keep everything together so it doesn't have a bitty feel.

As I said earlier, you pretty much know how it's going to sound before you even take the CD out of the case, if you've ever heard any other scores for animations by this composer - bright, breezy, charming, very slick - and that's how it is.  There are some great choral passages here which are perhaps the score's highlight - and some direct quotes from previous Powell scores (not to mention Randy Newman's Toy Story 2) which are the lowlight.  What's in between is all good fun - possibly not quite fun enough to sustain attention for a full hour - and will please a lot of people.  This comes recommended, then - but I hope next time round, Powell manages to do something a little different.

Tracks

  1. Fall From Tree (1:06)
  2. Cave of Destiny (:32)
  3. Jungle of Nool (:47)
  4. Horton Takes a Luxurious Bath (1:42)
  5. Enter the Kangaroo (1:13)
  6. Banana Wars (1:03)
  7. Saved (2:22)
  8. Into Whoville / Breakfast with the Mayor (3:04)
  9. Club Nool (1:41)
  10. The Town Council (1:13)
  11. Hello (2:17)
  12. Dr Larue (1:17)
  13. The Quest (1:36)
  14. The Bridge Work (2:29)
  15. Horton Dance! (:24)
  16. Handle with Care (1:21)
  17. Bedtime (1:56)
  18. Snow Day (1:18)
  19. Horton Tells of the Kangaroo's Duplicity (2:30)
  20. Vlad Attack (1:54)
  21. Power Grab (2:45)
  22. Kite Flying Day (1:22)
  23. Mountain Chase (2:08)
  24. Clover Field Search (2:16)
  25. Memory Game (1:04)
  26. For the Children!!! (:59)
  27. Angry Mob (2:40)
  28. Roping and Caging (1:03)
  29. We Are Here (1:04)
  30. Symphonophone (1:12)
  31. JoJo Saves the Day (2:22)
  32. Hall of Mayors (1:31)
  33. Horton Suite (6:52)
  34. A Big Ending (:53)
    35.