Of course, not all animated films could be included here, so there's no room for arguing which scores were left off the list. The only criteria we followed for selecting the choices were to include not more than one score by any given composer. The results include great scores by Jerry Goldsmith, Leonard Rosenman, James Horner, James Newton Howard, Mark Mancina, Michael Kamen and Hans Zimmer.

Was it difficult for you to select a favorite? Die hard Goldsmith fans should have had no problem.... All of the scores are superb in their own right - can you tell us what you selected and why? And perhaps which would be your runner-up favorite?

Let the discussions begin....

P.S. If you want to continue discussing animated scores outside of the few listed in the poll, please visit this thread, recently created by the evolving Kimiakane.

Where's MAD MONSTER PARTY?? Or THE HOBBIT?? Or any of the CLASSIC Disney films?? (The DID make movies before 1994, ya know.....)

Dan

Np: The Phantom (David Newman)

Yes, I know, I know - there are tastes of all kinds, as there are different approaches to animated films, whether they are less or more realistic - but if a poll is named "Best Animated Score", it should include animated films at their BEST, not at their worst - LORD OF RINGS and LAND BEFORE TIME being some of the absolute worst animated features ever seen. And I don't mean only the animation itself, but also the films as "wholenesses" (- as I usually do with any film, animated or not). The problem with LORD OF RINGS and LAND BEFORE TIME is that they stumbled upon their own seriousness; to create realism to any film is the most difficult thing to achieve, because films are ALWAYS fantasy.

Yes, we are talking about film music here - but please remember that film music wouldn't live without its original purpose, the films - although even I admit that there's a lot of film music that stands better on its own...

- - - But one thing is yet to be said:
Musically speaking (and even as a film wholeness) MULAN is the most troubled of all Disney Studio's productions since 1973 ROBIN HOOD. The songs by Wilder & Zippel are in the familiar Disney-style, but Goldsmith's score is from another planet with its coldness and seriousness. In my opinion even Goldsmith's THE OMEN is warmer and even magical compared to the ugliness of the MULAN score. (And the original Walt Disney Records' "soundtrack" is another chapter in the troubled album releases).
So, all in all, it was indeed a surprise to find MULAN in a poll for the Best Animated Score - when all Goldsmith did for it was adapting the song melodies into his "clash & bang" method.

quote:

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Posted by Ken S: So, all in all, it was indeed a surprise to find MULAN in a poll for the Best Animated Score - when all Goldsmith did for it was adapting the song melodies into his "clash & bang" method.

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Wow. Was that ALL he did? Seemed to me that he actually served the story of Mulan more than the lame 'by-the-numbers' songs which were only bearable in Goldsmith's orchestral arrangements of them.

Goldsmith not only gave Mulan an ethnically correct atmosphere, one which brilliantly portrayed the dark drama of the story, but also an ethnically correct main theme that changed style along with the character of Mulan, sprouting up in emotional and action form.

Well hey Peter I'm a Zimmer fan. I can't help it. Also why didn't you put Episode I on there it's practically animated. Oh and yes I can read I didn't stay in school to third grade for nothin'.

Np: Anna and the King (George Fenton) *****/*****

Jz

Damn, another double post embarrasment. Me and this board need some time apart, methinks.

NP: It's My Party (Poledouris)

[Message edited by Bill R. Myers on 10-03-2001]

As far as I know, Disney's SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS was again released on CD with new gorgeous cover art - so atleast I'm not talking about bootlegs, Peter

Peter, with all the respect for you and for your marvelous site -
I CAN READ, and that's why the poll's title seemed not quite the right thing. And besides, I believe I wasn't exactly "arguing", just pointing out a few things in civil manner, not forgetting the sometimes ruthless humour which is quite usual on these Message Boards But it felt quite bad you referring us to "circus clowns".

Sincerely,
KEN

quote:

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Originally posted by Ken S:
As far as I know, Disney's SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS was again released on CD with new gorgeous cover art

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I have a 1993 release from Walt Disney Records, with 26 tracks and quite good sound quality for a score of that age. The cover shows the 7 dwarfs... Appropriate, though I wouldn't call it gorgeous.

As for Mulan, it's excellent, but NIMH is better.

And my vote goes, not surprisingly, to Rosenman's LOTR. Not just a major masterpiece, but one of the finest scores ever written.

quote:

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Originally posted by Marian Schedenig:
I have a 1993 release from Walt Disney Records, with 26 tracks and quite good sound quality for a score of that age. The cover shows the 7 dwarfs... Appropriate, though I wouldn't call it gorgeous.

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I think he was referring to this cover: http://disney.go.com/disneyrecords/soundtracks/original/soundtracks.html?cd=snowwhite

Dan

With nearly 1200 registrants on this board over a two year time span, this thread is a good indicator as to why most don't people hang around here after signing up. There's nothing cohesive here, aside from a bunch of loose sense of humors, or is that senses of humor?

quote:

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Originally posted by PeterK:
There's nothing cohesive here, aside from a bunch of loose sense of humors, or is that senses of humor?

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Senses of humor.

And I'm afraid it's so difficult for me to choose that I can't.

Marian - don't torture me, please
...And speaking of the SNOW WHITE cover, I've seen the newest one many times on the main page of this marvelous MM site - so check it here, if you still haven't (- compared to the 1997 re-release this new one is simply beautiful; although I also like the cover of the 1993 release and even the original 1937 poster, as well as the 1984 and 1987 posters Stop it, Ken).

Dan, thanks for the link (although my computer apparently had some troubles showing the cover) - I hope it's the right one IT IS !!! (later added).

And Peter - thanks for the response
I would even say that here at MM com the discussion is notably more "cohesive" than on FSM boards - here atleast people TRY to create conversations, whereas on FSM there are mostly Top Ten lists. (In my opinion again).

I guess I'm graduating my master's degree in this off-topic writing

KEN

quote:

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Originally posted by dgoldwas:
I think he was referring to this cover:

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Nope. The content seems to be the same, but my CD has just the texts "Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" on it, plus a picture of the dwarfs walking on a row across a tree trunk. No Snow White to be seen anywhere. The back cover is in a light yellow tone.

NP: Alan Silvestri: The Back to the Future Trilogy (Royal Scottish National Orchestra, John Debney)

I own every one of these scores (including the Mulan boot and Tarzan promo!) except The Lord of the Rings, and I wouldn't give any of them below a **** rating, except The Lion King for it's poor album release. Anyway the point is I enjoy every one of these scores immensely, and though I too would like to add a few here and there, I think Peter did a fine job at adding a select few.

I personally chose The Land Before Time, simply because it brings back childhood memories and, well, it's a fantastic score. It might seem a bit too much like Willow or Khan to some, but for me it's as good as either.

I almost had to go with The Iron Giant because of my obsession with the film; Kamen's score truly added a whole 'nother level and was as effective on screen as any of these others.

Agree with Al here, Mulan is MUCH more than clash/bang as you put it, KenS... Wonderfully complex score with just about everything, great action and some lovely emotional cues... Would probably be my second choice.

Gotta say I loved Dinosaur too, definitely one of my favorites from JNH. However the film was pretty lackluster and the score doesn't have the long term value some of the others do in that respect.

Loved Mancina's score to Tarzan as well, it's too bad the commercial release was so bad. The promo shows off a lot of his talents, and I actually play it quite a bit. Wish Mancina would score more films

Then there's The Lion King, which is in all respects a wonderful score. I love every bit Zimmer composed; I'm not sure how you can claim it as not being "magical" or whatnot. Anyhow if there was a full score it would indeed be one of my favorite Zimmer albums.

The point is I looked at this list and didn't click on the button immediately
I must have took a minute of just staring at the list, only to come to the conclusion after serious thought... Good list, eh?

quote:

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Originally posted by Ken S:
MARIAN, what is your point ?
I happened to talk about the NEWEST release of the same contents, but with NEW cover. Please check it out - the COVER !!!

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Uhm...yeah, the one at the MM.com store has the same cover Dan linked to above. It has the same content as my disc, but mine is the 1993 with the cover I discribed.

I think there must be a misunderstanding somewhere?

We're BOTH totally confused about what the other one is talking about, so maybe it's time to stop it and give room to people who talk about the topic.

The poll is intended to be difficult.

Recently, I've been playing Dinosaur far more than any of the scores listed in this poll, yet it won't get my vote. I don't want to see the film, as the one in my head is guaranteed to outperform the weird one Disney ended up with (seeing the trailer has almost destroyed my version as it is).

Kamen's Iron Giant is a great score with plenty of "simple" complexity, and one of the best scores written in the last three years, animated film or not. The film is just as outstanding, a personal favorite.

The Land Before Time is fine, but not my favorite... although it is one of James Horner's best when it comes to his work in this field.

The Lion King is a great score, for sure, but my voting tendencies lean towards the wholeness of the solo composer's contributions as I judge the merits of one score over another.

Mark Mancina is the only composer to have written significant portions of two of the scores listed. His collaboration with Phil Collins on Tarzan resulted in one of the best openings of an animated film I've ever seen. But again, my temporal bias of voting for non-collaborative efforts leaves no vote for this one.

I'll admit Rosenman's Lord of the Rings has been included in this poll if for no other reason than to throw just one more LOTR thing out there... many may not vote for this one as a result of having never heard it. I only hope people may seek to own a copy to discover the music, or, to keep it simple, add to the growing pile of LOTR junk in the corner of the room.

With that, I'm left to vote for Mulan. The film has a beautiful score, and when compared in totality with the other films and scores, Mulan squeeks by The Iron Giant, with Tarzan two car lengths back. The rest? Four furlongs away.

Hell, I could just say I voted for Goldsmith, simply because he never gets the most votes in any popularity contest.

(On the other hand, I'm one of those who adore Goldsmith's Mulan.)

NP F.I.S.T.

quote:

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Originally posted by Marian Schedenig:
[b]Nope. The content seems to be the same, but my CD has just the texts "Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and "Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" on it, plus a picture of the dwarfs walking on a row across a tree trunk. No Snow White to be seen anywhere. The back cover is in a light yellow tone.[/b

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So.... I think that clarifies the ensuing confusion, right?

Dan

A few moments in The Simpsons.

As for the Scores

The Land Before Time is one of my personal favorites and is probably the greatest childrens score by Horner to date. However I am not a huge fan of Horner but I may hold off my vote for it.

The Iron Giant seems to not be getting very many votes this is most likely becuase there are many better scores on the poll however I do enjoy this score.

Mulan presents us with one of the greatest score by Goldsmith to date. Plus the release is better than most Disney's albums. But however The Lion King is Calling.

But to The Lord of the Rings I have only heard snippets of this score and from the snippets I didn't enjoy it very much. So I'm going to ignore this score.

Dinosaur is probably in the top three childrens scores ,along with Mulan and The Lion King, Howard presents us with one of the most awe inspiring themes for a Disney film.

The Lion King is definetly my favorite on the poll although I enjoy The Prince of Egypt more The Lion King is a classic and was the score that through Zimmer into main stream attention. With ground breacking action music, The Lion King without a doubt get's my vote.

Tarzan is perhaps a fun score it is not a orchestral score. Now don't get me wrong I love the score it however is not the smoothest listen in the world.

Ok I'll shut up now.

quote:

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Originally posted by John Zimmer:
Well as for me I think that Peter chose great scores for the poll. He just didn't include all of Zimmer's animated score

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But given the choices, I'd go with a tie between TARZAN and THE LION KING. (Leaning a little more towards the latter one....)

Dan

(Ok, so ASIDE from LOTR and TLBT.....)

quote:

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Originally posted by PeterK:
The poll is intended to be difficult.

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Then you failed: It's easy.

Mommy Joan: Snow White is songs and score. And a very good score, I might add!