PUSS IN BOOTS - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2011)




So it has been established that Puss is popular enough to have his own movie (we didn’t think too much of the increasingly tiresome Shrek movies anyway), but how does the 3D animated film’s soundtrack compare with the franchise that it has been closely related with? Let’s just say this is one top notch album the feline hero would approve of.

There are 66 generous minutes of music composed by Henry Jackman on this disc. The first impressed us with his energetic score for Monsters and Aliens (2009), and after this year’s X Men: First Class and Winnie the Pooh, the Englishman has proven that he is capable of straddling between different genres. Having worked with the more renowned Hans Zimmer on blockbusters like The Da Vinci Code (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007) and The Simpsons Movie (2007), Jackman is now focusing on film composing – and we are glad he is.

Here, the album kicks off with the impressionable “A Bad Kitty”, a cue dripping with a fun Spanish flavour. The main theme also sets the tone for the entire soundtrack. The sword buckling fun is repeated in the adventurous “Chasing Tail”, a brief but catchy track which will have you tapping your feet to the rhythmic beats. The cue then segues into “Diablo Rojo”, which is easily the highlight of the soundtrack. Featuring Mexican musical duo Rodrigo y Gabriela (whom we last heard on the soundtrack of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides), this excellent five minute acoustic cue is a perfect composition that we can’t get enough of.

Elsewhere, Jackman concocts a decent variety of music which ranges from sinister (“Humpty Dumpty & Kitty Softpaws”) and dark (“That Fateful Night”) to courageous (“The Wagon Chase”) and grand (“Castle in the Clouds”). The fun never stops, with outstanding tracks like “Golden Goose of Legend”, “Hanuman” (featuring Rodrigo y Gabriela again), “Farewell to San Ricardo” and a very apt “The Puss Suite”, painting a musical adventure that Puss is worthy of.

ALBUM RATING:



Recommended Track: (6) Diablo Rojo

Review by John Li






Back

TRACK LISTING
1
A Bad Kitty
2
One Leche
3
Jack And Jill
4
Holy Frijoles
5
Chasing Tail
6
Diablo Rojo
7
Humpty Dumpty & Kitty Softpaws
8
The Orphanage
9
Honor And Justice
10
That Fateful Night
11
The Wagon Chase
12 Team Effort
13 Planting The Beans
14 The Magic Beanstalk
15 Castle In The Clouds
16 Golden Goose Of Legend
17 Hanuman
18 Confronting The Past
19 I Was Always There
20 Kitty-Cat Break-Out
21 The Great Terror
22 Farewell To San Ricardo
23 The Puss Suite
24 The Giant's Castle


 ABOUT THE SOUNDTRACK

Composer: Henry Jackman
Label: Sony Masterworks
Release Date: November 15, 2011