Ice Age 2: The Meltdown

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Could we ever describe how easily John Powell amazes us? Well its easy considering he is the name that thrives us to see a picture and hear its fitting score. Powell has become that beacon of hope, the name we doubt no more when it comes to musical composition and each score the last couple of years has given us a smile, a big smile, a joy unimaginable. That's why its perhaps weird to say, it had to end one day. Ice Age 2: The Meltdown is I'm afraid just not what I expected or wanted. Its unfair to basically sound this harsh because the score still holds a lot of originality and creative firepower, but why do I feel so little for it? Why doesn't it amuse me more? Even after frequent listens, I needed more with Ice Age 2 then any other score the last couple of months it still doesn't set me on fire. And the conclusion is perhaps this, Powell was the only man who could throw any style together and mesh them into something cohesive, here its basically not clicking together. But this I think has more to do with the basic fact that its after all animation, computer animation. And while Chicken Run and Antz we're basically film scores, this breaths like an animation score, stops and goes while it wants too, and if you deliver this in 32 tracks for a 60 minutes (way too long), you get basically tired after a while, stopping and going when it pleases. And even Powell couldn't completely handle it. Still, while as said I'm being harsh on it, every Powell trademark is here, and I expect people still to like it more then me, because who knows if the movie helps a great deal in that. Starting the stop and go feeling is 'The Waterpark', immediately setting Powell's famous flutes in motion, and a fun main theme while at it. And this theme is heard further more then once, repeated lovely with piano and cooing choir in 'The Vulture of Doom' or crazy as in 'Sad Manny and the Possums', its basically all around in every variation.

And while its nice to have a few of the Chicken Run feelings, they still don't reach their quality. 'Call of the Mammoth' gets close with a flourish of trumpets, or a dark unmelodic action track of percussion that leads to a brief heroic main theme in 'Attack from Below the Ice'. It basically already proves that nothing connects entirely together. And from there it goes on an on, still there are moments that pinpoint out difference or are noticed, 'Who Will Join me on the Dung Heap' with a viola and gospel singing attracting diversity, sad underscore growing with strings in 'Ellie Remembers', having some Bourne momentum ala whirling flutes and brass in 'Foggy Balance', some nice fanfares in 'The Boat and the Geysers' or a cooing choir for lovely effect in 'Ellie gets Trapped' but these are just moments I pick out, and sadly it are the moments that are remembered. The songs in between are fun I guess from a movie's perspective but I don't fancy them like I did the ones in Shrek. Some better more serious material is for the end, with 'Manny to the Rescue' having a better build up of the musical themes in full action, or heroic brass in 'Rescues all Around'. Some brass and percussion is enjoyed in 'Mammoths' and I guess what I consider to be the highlight is 'Into the Sunset', where finally a moving feeling is reached with guitar and a strong finale. But I guess that's not enough, nearly not enough. We expect and demand more from Powell, or is it just me? I'm I think the last person to criticize John Powell and basically there is nothing creatively wrong with Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, but I just don't feel much for it, I guess it was already with Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but that still had a couple of highlights more then this one. Robots for all its craziness of styles worked better and David Newman's Ice Age is now considering it all just way better. I wouldn't be surprised when I listen to it again I will appreciate it more. Powell did well here but its too long to hold interest (shorten it and it will listen way better), and I think we'll have to wait for the real firepower of him when X-Men 3: The Last Stand comes out, and I have no doubt it will rock big time.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. The Waterpark (2.24)

2. The Vulture Of Doom (1.18)

3. Migration (3.32)

4. Call Of The Mammoth (1.53)

5. Sad Manny And The Possums (1.44)

6. Manny And Ellie Meet (3.44)

7. Traveling With Possums (2.00)

8. 12 Ton Mammoth & A 10 Ton Possum (1.55)

9. Attack From Below The Ice (2.04)

10. Extreme Possum (1.50)

11. Who Will Join Me On The Dung Heap (0.44)

12. Log Moving (0.59)

13. Ellie Remembers (2.41)

14. Foggy Balance (3.53)

15. Goodnight Sweet Possums (0.48)

16. Kidnapped (0.56)

17. Sid's Sing-A-Long (2.08)

18. Food Glorious Food (1.34)

19. The Boat And The Geysers (2.40)

20. The Dam Breaks (1.54)

21. Ellie Gets Trapped (0.32)

22. Manny To The Rescue (2.08)

23. Rescue All Round (3.05)

24. Scrat To The Rescue (1.28)

25. The Water Recedes (1.52)

26. Mammoths (1.24)

27. With The Herd (0.25)

28. Into The Sunset (3.00) Excellent Track

29. The Pearly Gates * (1.31)

30. CPR (0.14)

31. Mini-Sloths Sing-A-Long (2.12)

32. The Meltdown (4.25)

* Adagio from "Spartacus", written by Aram Khatchaturian

Total Length: 63.13

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: John Powell ===