Puss in Boots

An adventure nine life times in the making, is quite a stretch of truth for the movie. Don't get me wrong the movie is far far away from being bad its actually quite good to be honest and while the plot gets a little frantic at the end the thing I will remember about this movie is the amazing visuals and an equally amazing soundtrack.

When people think of the composers in Dreamworks animation they think Zimmer, Harry Gregson-Williams, or the ever great John Powell but low and behold that a new name may finally be added to that list: Henry Jackman. Once an additional composer who worked beneath Zimmer finally has moved from beneath Zimmer and is starting to make a name for himself in the film industry. If anything this film affirms that the man can write and unlike some of the other RC composers their is actually little additional music composed by another composer.

So what is it exactly that makes this soundtrack so infectious? well it is clearly Puss's Theme which is first introduced to us in 'A Bad Kitty' and is repeated through out the score, the theme is littered with awesome Latin percussion and the emphasis strictly on the string and brass sections further flavors the theme. The only downside to this theme is that to those like me who have listened to James Horner's Zorro movies and to go further the Zorro theme, it may sound similar and will unfortunately turn some people off to the score. To me it sounds more like an homage to Horner's work especially the B section to the theme. Though to me the puss theme is a little bit more energetic than Zorro's theme.

Next we have the villains theme in 'Jack and Jill' which has a darker kind of Hispanic flare to it and while it is enjoyable to me it really only lasts 20 seconds and never gets the to be fully developed. In fact much like the villains themselves the theme disappears and only shows itself again in the cue 'The Wagon Chase' where is played against Puss's Theme.

The characters of Humpty Dumpty and Kitty Softpaws get a theme but both are never really explored a lot. Humpty's theme kind of comes in on the cue 'I Was Always There' with it's creepy plucked solo strings. while Kitty's light melody is shown to be of love but like Humpty her theme makes a limited appearance in 'Planting the Seeds' and Kitty-Cat Escape'.
so these theme are considered minor to the narrative which is actually contradictory to the importance of both the characters.

Next we have the theme for the beanstalk and the giants castle. It first appears in 'The orphanage' and works into grandeur in the 'golden goose of legend'. Now this theme works on two thematic levels within the film. It works to satisfy the fairytale portion of the film and expressing the elusive, majestic and solitary nature of the castle in the sky but it also represents the bonding of the characters Humpty and Puss. The reason that they became friends and blood brothers is because of the legend of the castle. Indeed the theme is uttered when the two talk about their childhood. though the theme becomes more bitter sweet in the end title cue 'The Giants Castle' if you seen the movie and know what happens to Humpty you know what I mean.

The interesting thing to note is the tracked in music from Rodrigo y Gabriela which is a relief because of all the conventions that they could have taken from the Shrek series is absent from the album. The blending of both Jackman's material and the duo flows so well that without the album or the credits telling me I would not have told the difference. The only pop song tracked in is Lady Gaga's Americano (what they used in the trailers) which was used at the very end and actually worked well in film, unlike some of the shrek films. Though those wanting the song will find that they did not put it on the album which is fine because it is really Jackmans' work.

To me the credits were where some of the best of the music is, with the Puss suite giving the most of his theme and percussion. The last cue 'The Giants Castle' is actually my favorite and much like Powell's HTTYD's 'The Vikings Have Their Tea' is meant as a send off of the movie. But unlike Powell's cue this one actually plays in the movie end credits. its a simplistic version of the beanstalk theme played gently with strings and light vibraphones. It really does induce the fact that it really is a fairy tale and reminds me eerily of the giant's castle just floating up there in the sky and the bond of Humpty and Puss.

In the end though it is a matter of preference and while some may prefer Horner, the fair tale element makes this score infectious. The question now is where will Henry go from here because he has proven himself of writing a completely organic score and that he may be the next one to build a career off of Zimmer. Only time will tell.