Posted on: December 18, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

OST: Enchanted / 2007 Walt Disney / 15 Tracks / http://www.disneymusic.com /

Alan Menken (“The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast”, “Pocahontas”, and “Hercules”) hooked up with Stephen Schwartz (“Godspell”, “Rags”) to create this score, which is similar to what the two did during both “Pocahontas” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. “Enchanted” is the latest Walt Disney movie, and it blends together live action film with animation, both in the traditional style and in a CGI style. Menken’s score to “Enchanted” works in much of the same way. This means that there are a number of tracks that are vocal (primarily performed by Amy Adams), traditional movie score compositions (which promise the largest part of the score), and there is even a popular artist performing a track on the disc (“Ever Ever After”, by Carrie Underwood).

As a result of this blending of styles (both in terms of creating the movie and the score for the movie) , the widest possible away of fans can be approached. “True Love’s Kiss” resembles most closely the classic Disney movie scores; Amy Adams’ work during this opening track could easily make it onto the soundtrack for any of the biggest grossing Disney movies of the last twenty years. The only thing that does not seem to fit when one listens to this soundtrack would have to be the aforementioned Underwood song. While the track was composed by Menken, as was the case with all of the rest of the tracks on the CD, there seems to be too much of a break with the general tone of the disc to really fit in well.

Where the inclusion of this track will ensure that more copies of the disc fly off of the shelves, the overall quality of the disc dips a little. However, the pendulum swings in the other direction with “Andalasia”, a track that marks the first of 9 instrumental tracks that mirror well the earlier vocal section on the disc. The score taken as a whole does well in providing a link to past and current styles of music. Most of the score flows well into each other, no matter where the songs are vocal, instrumental, or provide elements of the two. At the end of this fifty-five minute album, Menken and Schwartz can claim that they have made a score that is worthy of “Enchanted”. If you like the movie or scores from other Disney movies, then “Enchanted” is a must buy.

Top Tracks: Storybook Ending, Girls Go Shopping

Rating: 6.5/10

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