1. When Can I See You Again? – Owl City 2. Wreck-It, Wreck-It Ralph – Buckner & Garcia 3. Celebration – Kool & The Gang 4. Sugar Rush – AKB48 5. Bug Hunt (Noisa Remix) – Skrillex 6. Shut Up and Drive – Rihanna 7. Wreck-It Ralph – Score 8. Life in the Arcade – Score 9. Jumping Ship – Score 10. Rocket Fiasco – Score 11. Vanellope Von Schweetz – Score 12. Royal Raceway – Score 13. Cupcake Breakout – Score 14. Candy Vandals – Score 15. Turbo Flashback – Score 16. Laffy Taffies – Score 17. One Minute to Win It – Score 18. Vanellope’s Hideout – Score 19. Messing with the Program – Score 20. King Candy – Score 21. Broken-Karted Score 22. Out of the Penthouse, Off to the Race – Score 23. Sugar Rush Showdown – Score 24. You’re My Hero – Score 25. Arcade Finale – Score
After Puss in Boots and X-Men: First Class, I'm really looking forward to what Jackman has to offer with this score. Should give him the chance for a score that sounds epic and big.
I'm hoping that Jackman had a chance to sample or reference some classic video game tunes - the trailers have characters from many major video game companies, including Nintendo and Capcom, so it would be cool for the score to have similar opportunities.
Some interesting use of 8-bit licks and synths just as I'd hoped. After listening to the samples (most of them a generous 1:30), I'm sold. Very canny merging of some video game style synths (both the 80s and contemporary kind) with an orchestra. Looks like a solid 45 minutes of score, too, with a couple of meaty 4-5 minute cues.
Finally! A Henry Jackman score that delivers! This is such a fun score that combines the video-game sound with big orchestral work and solid themes. I hope Jackman will be able to score more films like this in the future.
Finally! A Henry Jackman score that delivers! This is such a fun score that combines the video-game sound with big orchestral work and solid themes. I hope Jackman will be able to score more films like this in the future.
It is a fun score for sure. I think that Jackman is quite talented - I love his work from X-Men: First Class and Puss in Boots. I think that he, Powell, and HGW have really found their own voices after working with Zimmer.
Still haven't seen the movie. But I can't tell you how much I'm adoring this score. I don't think I've played a track into the ground like Wreck-It Ralph since, well, Magneto. I love his video game / 80's / synth sound.
Par for the course for Jackman's animation projects: it's certainly an enjoyable score but hardly memorable. I've listened to it a couple times, appreciates his relative chops compared to some of his peers, and promptly forgot about it when it ended.
Am I crazy or did I see an easter egg in the end credits related to film composers? During the credits, a differnet video game image is used for each person associated with the film. When the credit for Henry Jackman comes up, the background is an old style high-score board, the kind where you enter three letters. I could have sworn one of the entries was "JTW" presumably meaning John T. Williams. Did anyone else notice this (and apologies if it is old news)?
Kaya Savas' review of this score, taken from Film, Music & Media:
Henry Jackman has been riding in the fast lane recently as his career has propelled from additional music writer for Hans Zimmer to full-fledged auteur. His scores for X-Men: First Class, Monsters Vs. Aliens, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Puss In Boots have all been fantastic. Jackman scored Disney's Winnie The Pooh last year and it seems that kept him on the studio's radar. Wreck-It Ralph presented Jackman with the perfect opportunity to blend retro with modern in this wonderful score from the extremely versatile composer.
The music for Wreck-It Ralph has a wonderful soundscape and right from track 1 of the score we see how Jackman has incorporated that good ol' 8-bit sound into a modern feel. That first track also introduces us to Ralph's theme. Anybody who grew up with a GameBoy, NES or SNES will appreciate this score much more. While Jackman does play a nod to the early stages of game music he doesn't rely on it. The score is a wonderful orchestral experience that uses the electronic soundscape as an accent. Since the title of the film is also the main character one would expect this score to be character centric, and it really is. While the music plays the action very nicely, you can feel every ounce of story and character within it as well. Ralph's theme here is a simple 4-note motif that manages to resonate a lot of emotion for his character. The entire score just makes you feel good and has Jackman's emotional sensibility that prevents it from being hollow or empty. You may even get a few waterworks flowing after the final two tracks where we hear that 4-note theme take on a fully orchestral variation that signifies that Ralph's transformation into something more than just pixels on a screen. Wreck-It Ralph is simply a wondeful score.
Henry Jackman really excels here and we've seen him accomplish so much in the past few years that it's wonderful to see him as one of the respectable auteurs working today. His music connects with people and he is able to blend classic sensibilities with modern sounds effortlessly. You're going to be seeing him headline bigger and bigger projects in the future for sure as he's already proved himself as one of the most capable and versatile composers working in the industry.
*Edited* Just got back from seeing this with the family. Great score, not the best film. My least favorite Disney film so far. Yes, I am old enough to get all the video game jokes and I played a lot of the games in the old arcade scene, but this movie was not up to Disney standards to me.
Score worked very well, will have to give it a listen down the road.
Just got back from seeing this with the family. Great score, not the best film. My least favorite Pixar film so far. Yes, I am old enough to get all the video game jokes and I played a lot of the games in the old arcade scene, but this movie was not up to Pixar standards to me.
Score worked very well, will have to give it a listen down the road.
Sorry, it has been a long weekend and we squeezed the movie in. I almost fell asleep watching it! I corrected my post above. Disney...Pixar...Disney/Pixar, you knew what I ment. BRAVE was a Disney/Pixar film and was so much better.
How about the nod to Buckner & Garcia's "Pac-Man Fever" by having them create a new song for Wreck-It Ralph/Fix-It Felix?! I loved that and loved the original "Pac-Man Fever" album from the 80s (stay away from the one they put out in 1999). If you see the film this is one of the last songs (or next to last song) they play during the credits!
I too have been playing a couple of the tracks over and over again since I've seen the film (agree that Brave was better but for me this film was highly entertaining) and got the soundtrack. I even have to confess that I really like the "Sugar Rush" song that is mostly in Japanese(?). This one is up there for one of my favorite scores of the year with "Lincoln" and "Dark Shadows" (weird company, I know, but I'm an eclectic kind of guy!).
How about the nod to Buckner & Garcia's "Pac-Man Fever" by having them create a new song for Wreck-It Ralph/Fix-It Felix?!
And here I thought I would be the only one who noticed that. I also thought the synth voices sounded a lot like The Cars / Styx / and Pete Townsend (in no particular order).
I also thought the synth voices sounded a lot like The Cars / Styx / and Pete Townsend (in no particular order).