Animated scores are so…. Animated.

Animated films nearly always bring out the very best in composers. Looking back over the last 30 years or so, some of the absolute highlights in several film score composers careers have been animated films. James Horner created a masterpiece when he scored The Land Before Time (and his scores to An American Tail amongst others are also remarkable). Arguably the greatest score in Hans Zimmers career is The Lion King and Alan Menkens animated disney scores such as Beauty and the Beast are classics etched in peoples memories, regardless of whether they are film music fans or not.

Even recently, composers have written career highlights or even bests when they have scored animated films. Michael Giacchino burst onto the film score scene with his eccentric jazz score for Pixar superhero film The Incredibles before winning the Academy Award for Up. Thomas Newman, again for Pixar scored two of the greatest scores in his career for Finding Nemo and Wall-E. And in 2010 John Powell wrote the greatest score of his career and arguably the greatest score of the entire year (it won the IFMCA award for both animated score of the year and score of the year) for How To Train Your Dragon.

This year we have another case of animated films bringing out the best in composers. Alexandre Desplats score for Rise of the Guardians is nothing short of sensational! From its robust and magical main theme, to the exquisite orchestrations and to the harrowing dark themes and action it is again an absolute career highlight (and considering the magnitude of his output this year one wonders how he does it!)

The question therefore remains, what is it about animated films that brings out this inspiration from composers? In a day where technology is at such a high standard that practically anything is possible in live action films (and indeed, massive productions are almost continuously being released) you would really expect these films to be the main source of inspiration for composers. Yet a vast quantity of these film scores seem to be scrutinised for being generic and at times seem half-assed; even reduced to nothing more than formulae, whereas scores for animated films really shine through. Perhaps it is this focus on technology by live action films, in combination with their darker film tones and “realism” that is the reason behind this.

Animated films are after all kids films. Whether or not adults can enjoy them their stories are aimed at kids. Their plots are focussed on stories of hope, magic and feature fictional characters that are totally fictional (i.e. their humour and actions are not something you would see from anyone in a live action film or in real life). Therefore this gives composers absolute freedom. They can be as whimsical as they want, and they don’t need to worry about their music coming across as cheesy (hell if the music wasn’t bold and light hearted in some places it would probably be inappropriate!). The plots also feature events that really allow for some absolutely breathtaking music; flying, being thrown into an ocean current, standing on top of a rock gazing at a kingdom as Mufasa utters the words “remember”…

And in some certain cases composers haven’t just written beautiful music; they have written truly inspired music. Thomas Newmans Define Dancing is a stroke of genius, and John Powells “Test Drive” is one of the most enthralling yet well crafted pieces of music you will ever likely hear. Again, it comes down to the plots: fantasy, adventure, love (in its absolute purest and fictional form).

Therefore whenever a composer is attached to an upcoming animated film it really is something to be excited about. I’ll finish this blog with some clips of some truly fantastic cues from past animated films and a suite of Alexandre Desplats new score for Rise of the Guardians.

Thanks for reading!

Hans Zimmers score for The Lion King is not just arguably the greatest animated score of all time. It’s in many peoples opinions the greatest score of his career and one of the greatest scores of all time. Beautiful doesn’t do it justice…

Thomas Newman had already shown how animated films could inspire him when he scored Pixar film Finding Nemo. But I don’t think even Pixar could have predicted he would write something like this when they hired him for Wall-E.

Like Newman, John Powell was hardly new to writing animated scores (his collaborative efforts for Chicken Run, Shrek and Kung Fu Panda just to name a few!) but just like Thomas Newman, nobody could have predicted what he would come up with for How To Train Your Dragon.

Alexandre Desplat is the latest composer to score a career highlight for an animated film!