Comments on: Soundtrack Review: Speed Racer by Michael Giacchino (2008)

By: Jorn Tillnes

Jorn Tillnes — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:10:25 +0000

I am also very happy to see so many people disagreeing with me. The more the better in my opinion. Most people seemed to enjoy this score even though I didn’t.

Nothing is “fair” when it comes to reviews. It’s a highly subjective matter and views will no doubt change from reviewer to reviewer. Is it fair that I review this instead of a fan? Of course it is. I don’t want to review just scores that I like and I think most would agree with me on that.

I may not be a Giacchino fan, but I highly recommend the excellent Medal of Honor scores he did and also Lost Season 3 which was a spectacular release.

By: Marker

Marker — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 15:07:37 +0000

You don’t like Giancchino. So, you’ll never be able to give this soundtrack a fair review. I’m glad to see so many people are disagreeing with you. I thought the soundtrack was fantastic.

I see that you’re also not a fan of the original anime. I have to wonder why you think you could ever give anything related to it a fair review.

By: Jorn Tillnes

Jorn Tillnes — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:55:50 +0000

I am not a big fan of the original Speed Racer, but to be fair I should mention that Mr. Giacchino is faithful to it. The problem with Giacchino is that most of his stuff sound the same. Ratatouille was a very pleasant exception. You can say that about most composers however, so it all comes down to personal taste. Sounds a little like The Incredibles? Come on!

Yep, you got me there. I don’t like the Giacchino sound. The exceptions are Ratatouille and MOH series. This one was back to his old sins I’m afraid. Really pray that he does Star Trek justice, although I fear the worst.

By: Jorn Tillnes

Jorn Tillnes — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:51:29 +0000

Thanks for the comment Masoto. I feel the film was better than the score to be fair.

By: Jorn Tillnes

Jorn Tillnes — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:49:26 +0000

It certainly is busy, but don’t know about the fun part. If fun means silly and annoying I am with you . The movie is visually quite amazing, and as a whole a lot better than the score in my opinion. Not a fan of the original Speed Racer though and that might have colored my review a little. Ratatouille I liked a lot and was so happy to see it get the awards which it did this year, but it’s a completely different kind of movie and setting. I felt Ratatouille was Giacchino’s most original work in a very long time as he does seem to repeat himself a lot. It is The Incredibles Part 2 don’t you think? I think this is also Giacchino’s problem as he does it over and over again usually.

Williams and Goldsmith repeats themselves a lot too, that’s true, and I’m not their biggest fans either. That being said, it all depends if you like the style of the artist. Take Thomas Newman for example, a great composer in my mind, but he has developed a “Thomas Newman” sound to almost all of his scores. Still, if you like that sound, then you will probably like most of his scores. I just don’t like the Giacchino sound very much. Call it personal taste, but that is what reviews are all about.

Giacchino and Star Trek scares me, but I’ll give that guy a chance. I know he can produce some good stuff, and I pray he does the franchise justice.

Speed Racer? Oscar? Really? I think you know my opinion on that one

By: Jorn Tillnes

Jorn Tillnes — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:38:42 +0000

Glad you liked it David. I enjoyed the movie a lot better than I did the music. Main theme aside, I wish Mr. Giacchino had chosen a different route with this one, a more substantial and heavier route, but he went the light and silly route. It didn’t sit well with me, however, after reading all these positive comments I want to re-listen to it and see if my views has changed since I did the review. Thanks for your comment!

By: Jorn Tillnes

Jorn Tillnes — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 03:35:29 +0000

Really? You think Giacchino is imaginative? Fair enough, many do

I think he has gotten the case of repeating himself far too often as most composers does. I guess it comes down to whether you like Giacchino’s style which you definitely do.

As for Star Trek, I am worried. I am a Trekkie too, and I hope he does the franchise justice. It’s a bold move hiring him for that movie, but then again it’s J.J. Abrams and they go hand in hand these days. Really hope he doesn’t mess it up as the music of Trek is both brilliant and imaginative.

By: Liam White

Liam White — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:20:56 +0000

Terrific Score. Good adaptation of the spe racer music, and excellent emotional overdone and triumphant track ‘Let Us Drink’. Michael Giachino is God and one of the only musicians makng film music today who is actually worth lisening to. It sure makes a change from listening to Hans Zimmer on every film!! I think it is unfair o say that Giachino repeats himself since this is nothing like Ratatouille in terms of instrumentation, flavour and musci genre. This does sound a bit like The Incredibles, but not like some of his other soundtracks so perhaps the critic here just doesn’t like Giachino. Generally speaking most music fans have embraced this soundtrack, and that does not neessarily make it great. Listening to it does!

By: Masoto Ndinga

Masoto Ndinga — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:15:55 +0000

good film, very fun music. i like the racing music, which reminds you of all the cool special affects from the fil. highly recommended. i hope they make speed racer 2. music cd misses some things from film but still quite good, and nice to play.

By: Caroline Leigh

Caroline Leigh — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:13:34 +0000

Amazing music. I work in a shop where this has played over the last few weks (I work in a sci-fi shop), and it sounds very busy and fun. I have not seen the mvie, but if it is half as good as the music, it will be a masterpiece. I also agree with the above two commentators that Giachino is a commendable artist and the review above was harsh. Did the critic not listen to Rataouille? I also think his three soundtracks, from Mission Impossible 3, Ratatouille, to Speed Racer are very different, and if the critic found this similar to The Incredibles, maybe a listen to Ratatouille will show that these two albums sound so different in tone and character. This is grandiose, like the cartoon, and Ratatouille is Romantic and very French. I think the critic has been harsh here. It is also true that may composers repeat themselves but not everything Williams or Jerry Goldsmith did was exactly mind-blowing. People just remeber their famous themes, and everyone forgets the ones that were utter piles of crap. working in the shop we always play soundtracks from action/ sci fi movies and film scores in general and the amount of crap from Williams and Goldsmith is actually surprising. In fact, it is good that they got Giachino to do Str Trek since he may honour Goldsmith and come up with something that sounds good and very complementary to Star Trek. As it is, Michael Giachino should win an Oscar for the Speed Racer score – it IS that that good!!