Search - John Powell :: Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who!

One Of John Powell's Greatest Achievements

Kaya Savas | North Hollywood, CA | 03/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"John Powell has always had a unique style and sound ever since his days of starting out under the guidance of Hans Zimmer. He is now one of the best composers working in the industry and IS the best animation composer working today. His impressive resume of animation films include movies like Antz, Chicken Run, Shrek and more recently Ice Age: The Meltdown and the breathtaking Happy Feet. By being able to diversify himself within genres of music he is able to bring bits and pieces to the table every time. I definitely heard some cues that reminded me of his score to X-Men: The Last Stand. Towards the end, especially in the "Horton Suite" you will hear some Spanish themed music especially with horns, which of course is a specialty of his (Rat Race, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Road To El Dorado).



With Horton Hears A Who Powell again proves he is one of the greatest composers and not just in animation. Upon listening to this score you will notice how he is able to keep it light yet include tear inducing moments of swelling emotion. If I had to put a finger on it then this score would be a combination of Ice Age: The Meltdown and Happy Feet. He also incorporates some beautiful melodic themes that thrive on their simplicity. There are moments of sweeping strings backed up by that signature Powell percussion and peaking flutes. Towards the end of the score album the emotion arrives in grand swelling orchestrations and Powell incorporates a large chorus, which he usually does. Don't let the short track times ward you off. His animation scores are usually compiled of short tracks in high quantity. Most of the album is gapless meaning that there are no breaks between most tracks. For instance, the first 3 tracks are continuous and don't have breaks. So, it's grouped in that fashion.



All in all this score took me by surprise because I didn't expect such an amazing and full sound for a Dr. Seuss adaptation. If you're a Powell fan then this is a must buy. For people who don't know Powell then this is a great place to start because this score is truly 100% John Powell."

Horton Hears a Hit!

gordonblu | USA | 04/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Seuss has not been well served by Hollywood in the past. You know that and I know that so I'm not going to go into it; with the exception of the music.



Seuss books have a very odd tone to catch. They are inherently strange and wacky yet the characters don't realize that. To them this is life and as such there is inherent drama as well. That is not an easy tone to catch. James Horner veered uncomfortably between Titanic-type schmaltz and unsuccessful craziness for the Grinch. David Newman wrote some nice sentimental music for the Cat in the Hat but that got buried by crazy, over the top "catch the action" cartoony scoring.



Both of those films were live action, yet it is a cartoon that yields the best Seuss Music since the Classic Grinch holiday special(also a cartoon..hmmm).



John Powell has always been one of my favorites and I was excited to hear he was on this project (even though Jim Carrey was also involved).

I knew his music would be good. I didn't know it would be PERFECT!

He got it. He got the tone. He succeeded. Am I Surprised? Actually no, but I am Ecstatic!



The best cues on this album are hard to point out beacuse the entire album is a best cue, but here goes; The Mountain Chase(A wonderful nod to Ennio Morricone's "Ecstasy of Gold" from the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly),Into Whoville/Breakfast with the Mayor(A Good example of being both wacky and yet real), the enitre finale which covers tracks 26 through 31, the Horton suite, and last but certainly not least, Clover Field Search.

When I was little, this particular scene made me cry(in a good way) and when I heard this track all those feelings came flooding back and I was in tears yet again(Yes, I'm 28, Male, and not ashamed of crying). After hearing that cue the rest of the album could have stunk and I still would have given it a 5 star rating (thankfully the rest was just as good).





It is still early in the year and there are other scores and films coming out, but unless something really blows me out of the water I have to name this as the best album of the year! You Rock, Mr. Powell!

"