Capturing the Spirit of Narnia
Howard Shore's The Lord of the Rings trilogy of near-perfect scores certainly has raised the bar these days on what to expect
from movies based on epic fantasy sagas by popular twentieth century British novelists. Harry Gregson-Williams' original score for this C.S. Lewis tale is unmistakably wondrous, magical and enchanting. Young children will enjoy reliving the movie through the The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
soundtrack (Disney Records), however, those of us at Edmund's age and older may not be so enchanted (and might even throw a fit) over much of the bland and somewhat misplaced musical elements. The scary musical growl of the opening track ("The Blitz, 1940") is good, underscoring WWII's darkest manifestations. A short time later, however, the children are railed to the countryside to an uninspiring wordless vocal over a malapropos electronic beat. Things do get better, though, after Lucy discovers Narnia (with the help of the Hollywood Studio Ahhhhhhh Chorus) and meets Mr. Tumnus, who introduces a beautiful thematic musical moment playing his double-barreled Y-shaped flute ("A Narnia Lullaby"). Besides a few on-screen horn calls and the pounding drums seen in "The Stone Table" sequence, the omnipresent music resides off-screen and typically scores as it should: unsettling tones for the White Witch, epic music and chorus for the great battle, etc. A majestic theme for the splendor of Deep Magic and the world of Aslan provides an uplifting spirit, subconsciously ushering in the children's acceptance of their prophetic roles as Narnia's hoped-for sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. The handful of obligatory pop songs tacked onto the end of the movie and album interpret various Narnia perspectives on their own terms, succeeding in the ears that behold them.
PK (4/2/2006)see all reviews, or add a review
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