Soundtrack Review: Up (2009)

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This is a review of the motion picture score Up by Michael Giacchino.

“Up gives Giacchino’s typically flexible themes and vibrant orchestrations a beautiful undercurrent of poignant emotion.”

After Up, it appears Pixar will never screw up.  Yes, Monster’s Inc was good-not-great and Cars started a bit slow, but the rest of the features have been thoroughly brilliant. Up is the most sophisticated, mature, and emotional tale to come from the company, and either it or WALL-E remains the best from the brand for me.  Yet while the score for the latter featured startlingly little thematic personality, Michael Giacchino’s score for this film gives his typically flexible themes and vibrant orchestrations a beautiful undercurrent of poignant emotion.

Flexible Themes

Flexible themes are worth addressing first, namely the main theme that begins as a wistful jazz melody. “Married Life” alone could make for masterful thematic development, traveling from  bouncy, personality-filled start to understated yet emotionally devastating close, but Giacchino continues to stretch it out with the Golden Age ballet in “Carl Goes up” The tender feel of the above two cues (as well as the theme’s evocative primacy in “Stuff We Did” and “The Ellie Badge”) are what lend the score its consistent emotional tilt.  AND STILL the theme goes in more enjoyable directions, like the jubilant highlight to start “Giving Muntz The Bird” and its unabashedly heroic use in “Memories Can Weigh You Down” (which sounds stylistically similar to “Dinner Rush” from Ratatouille) and the action finale.

As with the composer’s recent score for Star Trek, the secondary themes take a bit longer to pick up but make for a more rewarding exploration over time.  Two lighthearted themes help maintain the heartwarming feeling throughout.  Russell’s bouncy theme is always innocent, full of wonder, and (thankfully!) never annoying.  Like the main theme it is outrageously flexible, going from lounge jazz in “Walkin’ The House” and the end credits to bold heroism in the final action cues.  Ditto for Doug’s four note motif (almost like a dog whistle with numerous woodwind performances) that gets an exuberant brass statement in “Escape From Muntz Mountain.”  Furthering the emotion is the nostalgic theme in “Paradise Found” and “It’s Just A House”.  Simple for sure, but its light use as the jungle is revealed in the earlier cue suggests the superb character-driven scoring that John Barry applied to dramas like “Out of Africa”.  Perhaps the score’s smartest thematic achievement is how the jovial jazz melody in “The Spirit of Adventure” is twisted into a more sinister announcement in “The Explorer Motel” and “Giving Muntz the Bird”.

Exciting

While this score is less focused on action, the results are just as exciting as they were in the action-driven score for The Incredibles. “Escape From Muntz Mountain” continues to push the composer’s frenetic, whirling ruckus of MI3 and Speed Racer to more coherent and endurable levels.  But those who prefer Giacchino’s more grandiose Medal of Honor style of action scoring (both approaches have proved fantastic for me), the climactic action cues “The Small Mailman Returns” and “Seizing The Spirit of Adventure” will be a return to form.  The latter mixes most of the major themes at their most soaring levels (the spirit of adventure use in the middle feels like classic aerial dogfight music) along with a new pounding brass motif to build up superb momentum and epic power.  I have loved many a Giacchino action cue, yet this track is easily amongst his best.

Conclusion

Additionally, the score forgoes typical scattershot abandon of unity (Monsters and Aliens the most recent culprit) and actually tries to (and succeeds in) merging its multiple styles, whether jazz , character-driven piano solos, Golden Age sweep, or robust action.  While this is partially due to the thematic application, other moments exist comfortably without quoting them, like the light Latin jazz in “Kevin Beak’n” or the tribal feel in “Canine Conundrum”.  Also superb is “Up With End Credits” that cements excellent end titles creations as an expectation for the composer rather than a hope.  Rather than the snazzy excitement of his past Pixar finales, this cue is mostly understated, giving mostly relaxed statements of the themes for Carl, Russell, and Muntz.  It is soothing throughout but just as addictive as its animation conclusion predecessors. Don’t let the lack of an actual disc (or the inclusion of three sfx tracks, probably from the same idiot who put them on WALL-E’s album) deter you.  Pixar continues to bring out the best in Giacchino’s film scores, and the score’s touching resonance elevates it to the best of the year so far.  With the only other challenger for that title being the composer’s own Star Trek, Lost Season 4 arguably being the best album for the series, and Land of the Lost still to come, one can safely say the composer has already lived up to outrageously high expectations for the year.

Album (53:12)
1. Up With Titles
2. We’re In the Club Now
3. Married Life
4. Carl Goes Up
5. 52 Chachki Pickup
6. Paradise Found
7. Walkin’ the House
8. Three Dog Dash
9. Kevin Beak’n
10. Canine Conundrum
11. The Nickel Tour
12. The Explorer Motel
13. Escape from Muntz Mountain
14. Giving Muntz the Bird
15. Stuff We Did
16. Memories Can Weigh You Down
17. The Small Mailman Returns
18. He’s Got the Bird
19. Seizing the Spirit of Adventure
20. It’s Just a House
21. The Ellie Badge
22. Up With End Credits
23. The Spirit of Adventure
24. Carl’s Maiden Voyage (sound effects)
25. Muntz’s Dark Reverie (sound effects)
26. Meet Kevin in the Jungle (sound effects)

Listen to Up by Michael Giacchino below:

Find more videos like this on Soundtrack Fans

Other articles of interest:

• Soundtrack Review: Land of the Lost (2009)
• Soundtrack Review: Amelia (2009)
• Soundtrack Review: Ghosts of Girlfriends Past (2009)
• Soundtrack Review: Agora (2009)
• Soundtrack Review: Sherlock Holmes (2009)

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