Incredibles - a late, personal opinion regarding the score

[Dirk]

Ok, OK, I know, I am late ... but I only got my soundtrack of The Incredibles last Friday - after all the movie isn't opening in Germany till Thursday (The Polar Express is already in theaters since November 25 by the way).

Without having seen the movie I am not really convinced by the score. It sounds very much 60s like and somehow reminds me of the score for James Bond - Goldfinger, but I miss a more coherent feeling and more of a "symphonic" element. Nearly all the tracks obviously underscore on screen action and musical cues pop up to highlight some action. For me a quality mark for scores was always whether I would still really enjoy a score years later without remembering what was happening on screen - a category in which both John Williams and Alan Menken but also e.g. Alan Silvestri with the Polar Express score and many others have fared well. Alas The Incredible score falls a bit short on this. It will be interesting to see how much my perception changes once I have seen the movie...

Cudos for recording the full orchestra without tracking - that is a nice gesture to the old times.


Finale note: this is the first Pixar full length feature without a song. Interesting. It is not as this was a "must" due to the material, they could easily have gotten a nice song for the endcredits, especially with the current new wave of "easy listening" singers trying to bring the Rat Pack times back as e.g. James Cullum in the UK or Michael Buble in the US. I wonder why this decision was made. The next Disney Pixar feature (Cars) will have at least one song once again, as I posted some days ago.



Yours
Dirk

 

[Burnsland]

In my opinion, they have a great song for the end credits, the Incredits. With great arrangements by Gordon Goodwin and featuring several members of the Big Phat Band, it is a wonderful jazz note to end the film with. Just because it doesn't have vocals doesn't mean it isn't an end credits song.

Personally, I was impressed that they didn't feel pressured to have some song with cheesy vocals to detract from the great atmosphere the movie had already set up.

But that's just my opinion, for what it's worth.

 

[Jeff in NY]

Dirk, I got the cd right after I saw the film too, and I was thinking Goldfinger too, but then thought of Thunderball, which is similar, but a step up. What do you think?

There was definitely some Lalo Schifrin in there too.

 

[xfkirsten]

I loved the Incredibles score, I thought it fit the film wonderfully. I just got to see the movie this past weekend (I know, I'm slow!) and I was happy to hear them go with that classic TV superhero sound to the music.

 

[atomobile]

In my own personal opinion......the Incredibles soundtrack was INCREDIBLE. Wow! Of course, it doesn't help that I already am a fan of anything 60's (Haunted Mansion, Inner Space, Tiki Room, etc). I have to disagree with Dirk but everyone has their own taste and opinions. I love the movie and I love the soundtrack. It has become my favorite Pixar movie. My Pixar taste is as follows in order of preference:

1. The Incredibles
2. Finding Nemo
3. Monsters Inc.
4. Toy Story 2
5. Toy Story
6. A Bug's Life

A Bug's Life was beautiful looking, but when I look back to the Pixar films, this is the one I would be the least likely to watch again. I did get a bit tired of the first 3 films having that Randy guy singing songs. Monsters Inc also had an interesting soundtrack (Jazzy). Nemo has a great subtle, but haunting soundtrack. And the Incredibles, I think, takes the cake for being the most pleasing to my ears. I think having a vocalist could have possibly ruined the soundtrack for me. It's a great thing Disney doesn't control them as much as they do their own movie. Can you imagine: Raven end titles singing "Hip, Hopcredibles." And I happen to love the "Incredits" track.
I wish I was Dirk watching the film for the first time. It kicked you know what.
Your friend,
Louis

 

[Dirk]

Hey there, Hi there, Ho there,

let me set a few things straight ...

I do NOT think that the soundtrack would have needed a song (during the endcredits or at whatever point). In fact I do like the score piece "Incredits" very much in comparison to the other tracks from the score and think it sums up the score and the atmosphere of the score rather well. Still I would consider a "song" only a track / piece or cue of music also featuring vocals, but this might be a wrong understanding of the English word on my part.

I only wanted to point out that there was no song - something that surprised me. I still do wonder... So: besides the fact that obviously there was no elementary necessity of such song, does anybody have any clue who made the according decision and by what reasoning?


As I said in the opening sentences of my original post: I have NOT yet seen the movie. That is why I am still wondering how much my perception of the score / soundtrack will change once I have done. In my experience very often scores, that are not really in my top 10 originally, shoot up in my personal ranking once I have seen the movie, because I connect certain scenes from the movie and certain memories with musical cues that were standing on their own originally. Everyone who answered my original post so far seems to have seen the movie prior to getting the soundtrack though.

@Jeff in NY: Thunderball, now that you mention it, yes, it is very close to that one too. But this is based on faint memory, as I do not have that score in my collection.



Yours
Dirk

 

[Jeff in NY]

Howdy,Dirk,

I have a lot of Bond albums, but a friend of mine GAVE me his 'mint stereo perfect in every way first pressing' copy of Thunderball when we were 12. We were best buds, and when he moved away he gave it to me as a sentimental memento. I listened to it a lot. I guess it was John Barry, he really nailed the 007 sound in Goldfinger, but I felt Thunderball was a better "lisitenin'" album, especially at a party. (Try it! But then, this was when I was a shagedelic, swingin' international man of mystery in the seventies. lol)

Anyway, I was thinking Goldfinger/Thunderball during Incredibles.

I would like to add however, that I felt the soundtrack didn't make for a good CD. It was very repetitive, and there seemed to lack a Main Theme. I know, that Thunderball trumpet-sqwalk was like the main theme, but i didn't feel it was memorable. The album, for the most part, is a bunch of instrumental cues. I had no real favorite track.

 

[GrizzlyHall]

Incredibles has no song, but "Boundin'" - the short played before the Incredibles - is Pixar's first musical. ;D

And it was darn good.

 

[Michael Zielski]

A song, or even better, SONGS, is always a good thing, and would have been welcomed, but, that aside......as I mentioned in my previous post about the score, having grown up in the 60's with superheroes and James Bond, I've really enjoyed listening to Michael Giacchino's score. It certainly evokes John Barry, as well as Nelson Riddle's music for the Batman television series(for those interested in looking back to that era, Riddle's original motion picture soundtrack to the Batman movie is available on buysoundtrax.com--a nice complement to Incredibles listening).

Giacchino and everyone else involved were taking a retro-approach to the music--and they've happily touched some treasured memories for me......thank goodness my comics survived my mother's house cleaning.......but my old James Bond attache case...........

Mike