Starting in 2003 with LOTR's first-ever Best Picture win for a fantasy film, things have gotten out of hand in a good way.

A friend of mine who loves fantasy scores recently sent an email about what's coming this year:

TREASURED ISLAND (Nicholas Dodd)
THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES (James Horner)
INKHEART (Javier Navarrete)
HORTON HEARS A WHO (John Powell)
NIM'S ISLAND (Patrick Doyle)
NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN (Harry Gregson-Williams)
SPEED RACER (Michael Giacchino)
KUNG FU PANDA (Hans Zimmer)
WALL - E (Thomas Newman)
THE MUMMY 3 - TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR (Randy Edelman)
CITY OF EMBER (Douglas Pipes)
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE (Nicholas Hooper)
THE TINKER BELL MOVIE (Joel McNeely)
THE NUTCRACKER - THE UNTOLD STORY (Tim Rice & Eduard Artmiev & Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)
SNOW PRINCESS (Alan Williams)
THE LITTLE MERMAID III (James Michael Dooley)
BUNYAN AND BABE (???)
GNOMEO AND JULIET (Elton John & Tim Rice)
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (???)

Can't wait for Doyle.... there may be hope in Horner (it's his best genre), and Navarrete? You bet.

Pre-orders for Treasured Island are good... I can't tell just yet, but that will likely go the way of George and the Dragon quickly. If so, order yours before it's too late:
http://www.moviemusic.com/soundtrack/treasuredisland

Now, on to the discussion.

Of the 2007 fantasy scores, I don't think they came much better that Jane Antonia Cornish's De Fortabte sjæles ø (The Island of Lost Souls) and Joe Hisaishi's Taio Shijinki (Four Gods). I also enjoyed Yang Bang Ean's score to Yobi, the Five-tailed Fox and James Newton Howard's score for The Water Horse.

NP: Watashitachi no Kyokasho (Taro Iwashiro)

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Originally posted by PeterK:
THE NUTCRACKER - THE UNTOLD STORY (Tim Rice & Eduard Artmiev & Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

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Originally posted by dkfz:
Pre-orders for Treasured Island are good... I can't tell just yet, but that will likely go the way of George and the Dragon quickly. If so, order yours before it's too late

After reading your warning, I thought I should, until I read the reviews at imdb. Apparently this movie is "absolute rubbish" and "beyond bad", and should be avoided at all costs. Of course that doesn't mean the music is bad... but when I buy a soundtrack from a bad movie it's usually because I like the composer. Here we have a bad movie (according to three one-star reviews) from an unknown (to me) composer.

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Well, you could try listening to the sample to make an informed opinion:
http://www.moviescoremedia.com/audio/treasured.mp3

James

dkfz, I saw that too, the "rubbish" comment, about Treasured Island. But then, I don't recall any comments about George and the Dragon other than it's good for 6 year olds... and look, that CD sold out quickly. BUT, if you know David Arnold's work, you know very well what Nicolas Dodd sounds like!

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BUT, if you know David Arnold's work, you know very well what Nicolas Dodd sounds like!

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Keep in mind people said the same things about films he orchestrated for CLINT MANSELL and one of the DANNA's and I for one through stuff like SAHARA was mediocre compared to the classic Arnold stuff that Dodd has worked on...but maybe its just me.

I'm really excited for Inkheart. After
"Pan's," Navarrete's on my radar.

And of course Narnia, Wall-E and Potter...but a new Hisaishi? Sign me up for that! I wish more of his music would be released State side.

He does still show off his skill for adding that extra touch to the orchestration, those personal flourishes of bells, harpischord, etc. Or rather, his orchestrators still show off their skill for it. But it's a bit of a treat to the ears when those little details are lacking from a lot of modern film music.

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Originally posted by Lancelot:
Mentioning Joe Hisaishi had me thinking...

Was there ever a US release of "Tales from Earthsea"?

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Were you asking about the score or the film? In either case, the answer would be no. The film is still held up because of a rights issue caused by the Sci-Fi Channel Earthsea miniseries, which of course means the score never came out her either. If I'm not mistraken, there was actually an English language dub track and subtitles on the Japanese DVD, and if you want Tamiya Terashima's score without paying over $20, you could always get the fully licensed Korean release of the score.

http://us.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/code-j/section-music/pid-1004479599/

It's pretty good, though I don't think it even begins to compare to Hisaishi's Ghibli scores.

Those closing credits are a wonderful string symphony that slows to an absolute crawl at the end. If we are listening intently, it means we're removing ourselves from the chaos of the world... hopefully not looking at a computer or experiencing any other distraction. It's a simple passage that takes hold of us for a few moments. It's a great effect, especially if you are a busy monster and allow this to make you stop everything.

"Flight of the Griffin" did explode a couple of times, but did not soar... "So Many New Worlds Revealed" is particularly good in understated discovery... but then the best moment arrives with a beautiful theme that lasts a mere 20 seconds in this glorious form... I haven't checked my Casper theme, that might have been it. Liked it, though.

Spiderwick I enjoyed more than expected. I admired the tight script and was surprised to see John Sayles credited as one of the screenwriters. And oh, how nice it is to have a fantasy film that is wrapped up in around an hour and forty minutes, as opposed to being spread out into multiple films.

I was also surprised at how the problems I had with Horner's score on album disappeared when I heard it in the film. First of all, the film is a little over an hour and a half, so Horner's 70 minute score practically fills the entire film - and still managed to hit every note perfectly. That's an accomplishment in itself.

Also, it now made sense that this wasn't in the same bold vein as his 80s fantasy-scores, as this movie was a more intimate affair - most of the action is centered around the house, so the lack of huge themes works in its favor. And that Flight of the Griffin cue I was complaining about? Doesn't quite soar on CD, but it does the trick on screen. And the quoting of Casper's lullaby, while I still think is a tad shameless, lends the accompanying scenes with considerable weight.

Overall, solid work all around, and it's with joyful relief that I find myself actually enjoying a modern Horner score again.

Perhaps my expectations have hit rock bottom for him, but this was surprised me.

Naturally, I'm lost for words to explain STARDUST's ongoing appeal, or the score of BEOWULF for that matter.

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Originally posted by franz_conrad:
Naturally, I'm lost for words to explain STARDUST's ongoing appeal, or the score of BEOWULF for that matter.

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That's because you're Australian. Or Austrian. Or whatever.