Monster House

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Newcomer Douglas Pipes hasn't really gotten his hands dirty into something noteworthy until director Gil Kenan found him suitable enough as well to compose his full length feature Monster House (he scored all his short animations before that), and now a computer animation that deals with something other then cute little ants, crazy penguins or one eye monsters is of course the next best thing. The movie didn't do bad at all at the box office and even earned more money then some respected blockbusters, showing that even a non Pixar produced animation still earns its dollars because its animation, and people love animation nowadays. With Monster House we hear through that the first noteworthy score by Douglas Pipes and that he makes the most of it is clear in Varčse's release. Its perhaps what we expected of the score and yet, Pipes goes for small surprises, making Monster House above all effective, perhaps a little too less of the really good stuff but all in all entertaining and especially noteworthy in several areas. First of all with a new composer comes the inevitable new personal style and sound. Which makes Monster House already unique on its part. And secondly how he sees a scene musically and how's he willing to score it. And this CD pretty much sums up his intentions. He went for a personal distinguished score and only let the orchestra shine when the house was central and naughty. In the begin that doesn't bring a lot of mischief, 'Opening / Titles' has an eerie opening with a brief rhythmic display of brass, and even what sounds like a doorbell, very ingenious. 'Eliza's Song' works on the nerves even though I think that was the general idea and the eeriness ends with a brief fanfare in 'Awesome Kite / Bones tossed Out / Construction', but nothing loud and striking yet. The light comical horns and viola's even churn up the song melody in 5 while 'Go to your Room' has Aliens like flute eeriness, check them out. Its not until track 7 the house becomes alive and the orchestra doesn't stay behind. In 'Jenny Walks Up / Jenny's Close Call' brief racing brass churns up the danger while 'Ding Dong / House Comes Alive!' has a sneaky opening and an uprising of gothic brass and flutes in the end, fetching and kicking in Goldenthal style, again watch out for the bell.

Its not until 'The Plan / Dummy Feed' we get the heroic idea behind Pipes' writing. After all the central tone of the score is the darker more gothic sound that covers the house, and the heroic actions don't get time until they appear. Anyhoo in the track its briefly heard before the drums set up first the action and the house fanfare with descending flutes (which is cool I might add). Sadly how nice the intentions of Pipes are, its never enough in the first part. The house fanfare is blowing steam however in 'Cop Car Eaten', brilliance in a minute I explain it only. 'Trapped / Constance's Tomb / Escape' I admit is eerie and subtle for the first few minutes, its not until the 6th the subtleness strays away. The heroic material and action style that follows it then is quite fun for its remaining time. The Goldenthal clusters are relentless in 'Cops Get Eaten' (watch out for the bell for crying out loud), piano tinkling awakens mystery in 'The Flashback' and 'Chowder to the Rescue' has heroics in the brass compartment. But as nice as Pipes handles the eeriness, the mystery with his flutes and violins, its truly amazing how he combines rhythm and power in one design. 'House Chase' is covering 2 minutes of the 3 percussion, raging fanfares and new tricks around every tree, its truly a pump fest and only beaten because 'The Battle' continues the action longer, again with the percussion but now the heroic material and by that theme is all over the place, a whopping sound design and a John Debney composer steps out from the audience and takes over, really fun. The tinkling of the mystery turns to the sweetness of the strings after that and with a couple of short tracks, the score dies out a bit on the eerie side, apart from the brief moments in 'End Titles' and the heroics in 'We're Back'. All together its not enough for a masterful score but the moments do sure work and the second part truly comes to life. Douglas Pipes thereby has the honor of getting a little bit of respite. Its the first work we hear from him and the ideas do sound promising, its like a little Danny Elfman at times at work and I can honestly say it sure sounds that way too in Monster House. Hmn, monster score? Well, the action moments do make up for that statement and the mystery surrounding that raises the effectiveness of that action style. Making Monster House not the killer score it perhaps could have been, but a pleasing delight of mood and naughtiness, impressively orchestral in its performance and at times Elfman / Goldenthal in inferno. Could work ;)

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Opening / Titles (1.01)

2. Eliza's Song (0.48)

3. Awesome Kite / Bones Tossed Out / Construction (3.42)

4. Through The Telescope (0.39)

5. Parents Drive Off (1.19)

6. Go To Your Room (0.41)

7. Jenny Walks Up / Jenny's Close Call (1.40)

8. Elegy (1.36)

9. Ding Dong / House Comes Alive! (2.38)

10. Cops Emerge (1.32)

11. The Chimney (0.38)

12. The Plan / Dummy Feed (3.13)

13. Cop Car Gets Eaten (0.54) Excellent Track

14. Trapped / Constance's Tomb / Escape (7.37)

15. Cops Get Eaten (1.15)

16. The Flashback (3.34)

17. Chowder To The Rescue (1.18)

18. Nebbecracker Returns (2.05)

19. House Chase (3.36) Excellent Track

20. The Battle (5.13) Excellent Track

21. 45 Years / Tricycle (1.32)

22. We're Back (0.49)

23. End Titles (1.03)

24. The Dance (0.40)

Total Length: 49.19

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