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Post by Silver on Feb 1, 2011 0:03:57 GMT -5
BRP- That's great you enjoyed the score, but how would you describe it? Each of Alan Menken's scores have disticitve theme. TLM was wistful Easy-Listening. BatB was french romantic and gothic musical theatre. Aladdin was innovative arabic culture. Pocahontas was Native American intrumentation mixed with Broadway-style showtunes. And THBOND was a dramatic and operatic chorus theme.
So I'm wondering what type of musical themes and genres did he choose to do for this film.
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Tangled
Feb 1, 2011 23:11:38 GMT -5
Post by Briar Rose's Dark Knight on Feb 1, 2011 23:11:38 GMT -5
That's a difficult question for me to answer because I'm not well versed in musical styles. I either like a piece of music or it's not for me and that's about the extent of my musical knowledge.
With those limitations in mind, I will attempt to describe the score using words that come to mind as I listen to the score of the film. I will venture into the songs themselves (attempting to ignore the lyrics) a little bit because they were scored by Alan Menken and influence my perception of the music.
The first word that came to mind as I played the opening score piece is adventurous. Though a totally different kind of music, I thought of the individual character adventure themes John Williams created for Star Wars. It's a very high action piece meant to convey a sense of adventure as the audience is introduced to Flynn Rider for the first time. This energy alternates between adventurous and tense as Flynn gets into dangerous situations in other pieces dealing with his character.
Next up is Rapunzel. This is where the songs flavor my perception, though I'm trying to separate the lyrics from the melody. Her music has a sense of longing and discovery as she longs to see the world outside and then her excitement and joy at discovering it. The fun part of the music here is how the sense of discovery softens and takes on a romantic quality as her friendship with Flynn grows and develops.
A particularly great piece that shows the wonder and discovery is the "Kingdom Dance" score as Rapunzel simply wanders around the kingdom with Flynn. It conveys her real joy for experiencing the simple, yet brand new to her, joys of life. While I can't say that this piece contains Rapunzel's theme, it certainly fits in wonderfully with the images that accompany it onscreen. It has a Celtic feel to it and Alan Menken indicated that kind of music influenced him.
In scenes involving Mother Gothel, the score takes a dark and almost sinister tone. Not scary per se, but definitely much darker, conveying Gothel's true motives and villainous nature. Again, this is felt much stronger in Gothel's musical numbers, but the score influences your perception of what's happening.
For me the heart of the film both musically and emotionally is the lantern sequence. Menken's score piece called "Waiting For The Lights" captures the excitement that Rapunzel feels upon seeing the lights for the first time and blends beautifully into the romantic centerpiece. It uses both traditional orchestra, guitar, and piano. I feel like it conveys Rapunzel's awe at seeing the lights for the first time before conveying the sense of romance that's building into "I See The Light", which I think has joined the pantheon of great romance scenes in a Disney movie.
I hope this helps (or at the very least wasn't too long).
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Post by Silver on Feb 2, 2011 0:42:02 GMT -5
Thank you. I appriciate your efforts in describing this score musically. Now I'm not getting a precise genre out but am having an inkling of what Alan was going for. I give you credit. This is probably the language I would speak if somebody were to ask me about animation. Don't have any proper knowledge of it. Can only describe it using basic vocabulary.
You're propbably wondering why don't i just listen to the soundtrack. Well that would actually involve spoilers. And I've done very well at avoiding those. I've only read reviews. So when I see this film on DVD, it can all be fresh. I'll absorb everything right then and there. So if I were to listen to the soundtrack now, it would partally ruin the surpise. Does that make sense?
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Tangled
Feb 3, 2011 22:40:28 GMT -5
Post by Briar Rose's Dark Knight on Feb 3, 2011 22:40:28 GMT -5
It makes complete sense. I well remember having a major spoiler for Star Wars Episode I revealed simply by reading the title of one of the selections for the soundtrack.
I do recommend watching Tangled in theaters if it's still playing in your area. Disney's marketing approach misled a lot of people as to what the film is really like. I think it's one of the most beautiful animated films to come out of Disney in years. It has a hand drawn feel in many areas.
Lee Unkrich said at the interview session for Toy Story 3's Academy Award nominations that he felt it was a shame that Tangled was not nominated for Best Animated Film. He felt that Tangled was as deserving a nod as the other films. I haven't seen The Illusionist, but I have seen the other two films and feel that Tangled was right up there with them. It was a great year for animated films and it's too bad that Tangled didn't get a nod.
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Tangled
Feb 3, 2011 22:47:44 GMT -5
Post by Briar Rose's Dark Knight on Feb 3, 2011 22:47:44 GMT -5
Sorry about the double post, but I wanted to link this article that I found about Tangled in an Ireland newspaper that may better answer your question about music. The first part focuses on the debate over whether or not Disney is ruining little girls with the whole princess thing, but the second part of the article shares some quotes and thoughts from Alan Menken about the direction he was looking for musically with Tangled. Alan Menken on the Music of Tangled
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Post by Silver on Feb 4, 2011 0:41:42 GMT -5
Thanks for the link!
The film is no longer playing in my area. And I don't feel tempted to drive an hour away to see this. Despite the good reviews. Besides, there's a great renatl place near my home that actually sells new Blu-ray rentals cheap. (So happy my Blu-ray player is set up) I'll just stcik with my original plan. Even with all of the good reviews, I'm very happy with the choices of films I watched a the Cinema last month. It was a great selection.
The only thing that I do find the downside is in not being able to compare and contrast this with other animated films that were nominated for Best Animated Feature. Although I will still vouch for both How to Train Your Dragon and The Illusionist. HTTYD is the only other film that made me cry this next to Toy Story 3. The Illusionist was an excellent written piece. The animation may not be as compelling as to what computer animation can supply. I would rather have an animated film that was wonderfully written and exectuted as opposed to the opposite. (I wanted to tear my hair out while watching Despicable Me) So even if I can't judge Tangled now, I have no issues with all three films that were nominated.
Toy Story 3 should be the winner anyway. As for Lee Unkrich. Pixar has long been since supportive of Disney Animation (even with all of their flops) and hasn't hidden it's rivary with Dreamworks. Now I'm not a Dreamworks fan, but HTTYD blew me away. (I don't cry at just any film. They have to dig deep for that) Easily their finest film to date. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if Lee Unkrich was cringing mad just because Dreamworks film was nominated. Pixar could handel loosing to a Disney film. A Dreamworks film would probably make them go balistic. No matter how good the quality.
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Post by Briar Rose's Dark Knight on Feb 4, 2011 1:43:01 GMT -5
An hour away is a bit far. My local cinema still showing Tangled is 10 minutes away. While I feel that Tangled was snubbed, I blame that more on the method used to determine how many Best Animated nods are given out than on the other films. Toy Story 3 and How To Train Your Dragon were both outstanding films.
I'm more bothered that in years where there are animated films released right and left, less than worthy films almost get nominated by default, and then in a year with fewer animated films, worthy films such as Tangled are left out.
There are a lot of Pixar executives who believe that DreamWorks stole a lot of Pixar ideas over the years and copied them. Indeed for many years, both studios released similar story films within months of each other. Apparently, it's believed that Jeffrey Katzenberg talked to Pixar about stories they were working on and then took those ideas to DreamWorks.
That said, Pixar ended up with the last laugh. Despite losing the first Best Animated Feature Academy Award to Shrek (and as much as I loved the first Shrek, Monsters, Inc. is the better film), they've basically owned it ever since. And the Best Picture nods are a real feather in Pixar's cap (even if WALL-E was snubbed).
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Tangled
Feb 5, 2011 15:54:53 GMT -5
Post by Silver on Feb 5, 2011 15:54:53 GMT -5
Actually I referring to the fact that there could be a bias in Lee Unkrich's statement. I read an article recently that involved similar comments. He praised The Illusionist which I'm very happy for. However there were no comments about How to Train Your Dragon. He did complain about Tangled though. Which leads to several questions. Did he even see HTTYD? If not, then how can he compare the two films and call Tangled better? If he did see it, why didn't he have enough respect to at least say congratulations? Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois (The directors of HTTYD) have already said their congratulations to Pixar for their Golden Globe win.
I think Pixar is now threatened by Dreamworks. Now that they might be able to put out good quality films on a regular basis. They're worried their perfect streak maybe ruined because they're no longer in a league of their own.
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Tangled
Feb 5, 2011 18:08:02 GMT -5
Post by Silver on Feb 5, 2011 18:08:02 GMT -5
Sorry for double posting but I thought this would nice to share.
Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi will perform live with Alan Menken the Academy Award nmoinated song "I See the Light".
The Academy Awards will take place on February 27th.
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Tangled
Feb 5, 2011 22:39:26 GMT -5
Post by Briar Rose's Dark Knight on Feb 5, 2011 22:39:26 GMT -5
I think I remember reading somewhere where Unkrich praised Tangled and commented that both the other films were deserving for Best Picture. I don't think that Pixar is threatened by DreamWorks just yet. If DreamWorks consistently makes films on par with How To Train Your Dragon, there will be true competition between the two. But on the other hand, Shreks 2-4 aren't in the same vicinity as the Toy Story Trilogy.
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Tangled
Feb 10, 2011 11:52:01 GMT -5
Post by joplin4 on Feb 10, 2011 11:52:01 GMT -5
I usually skip the Oscars because it's become so political. It seems nothing wins unless it has a political message. But, I may watch it this year (at least DVR it) to see this performance.
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Tangled
Mar 15, 2011 23:44:40 GMT -5
Post by Briar Rose's Dark Knight on Mar 15, 2011 23:44:40 GMT -5
So a couple of days ago, my copy of The Art of Tangled finally arrived. For those who don't know, the Art of books are used to essentially show off the myriad pieces of concept art developed for the film with a little bit thrown in there about the making of the film itself.
What I found most fascinating was how much Glen Keane was involved in this project. He spearheaded it along for nearly 10 years before a health scare prompted him to step down from the project. Once he regained his health, Keane again became involved with the film, but this time he spearheaded the animation and look of the film.
To me, one of the strengths of the book is how they touch on the assorted development issues the project faced. Disney at one point wanted a very modern, almost Shrek feel to the story, but Glen Keane said if he was going to be involved, it was going to be classic Disney.
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Tangled
Mar 27, 2011 18:42:38 GMT -5
Post by Briar Rose's Dark Knight on Mar 27, 2011 18:42:38 GMT -5
Tangled is released this Tuesday March 29, 2011 in the U.S. For those interested, Best Buy stores are offering a free Pascal plush with purchase of either blu-ray package. And if you want Pascal, but don't have a a blu-ray player, both blu-ray package have a DVD copy of the film.
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Tangled
Apr 9, 2011 22:21:57 GMT -5
Post by Shenzi on Apr 9, 2011 22:21:57 GMT -5
So my mom ordered this film on Demand last weekend and we watched it together. And I must say despite the stupid comedy the commercials made this out to be in my eyes, I was pleasantly surprised. I was completely touched by the King and Queen's hope for their lost daughter's return, and what is even more amazing is such a powerful representation and concept in the form of two characters whom I believe never day a word throughout the entire film.
I found the story quite charming and fun; and I just fell head over heels in love with the song 'I see the Light'. It's such a beautiful song and I have always loved Mandy Moore's voice.
The entire story was just a wonderful combination of funny and touching, I almost cried when he sacrificed his life to rid her of the magic hair which made the witch keep her prisoner.
I am so glad I saw it and may even buy it sometime.
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Tangled
May 3, 2011 15:29:49 GMT -5
Post by Pride on May 3, 2011 15:29:49 GMT -5
I bought the DVD/Blu-ray combo just because I wanted to see deleted scenes and stuff like that, but I was kind of dissapointed in what was included. I know that there is a second Reprise to When Will my Life Begin, but it wasn't even there. Meh. Oh well, I'm glad I have it
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