Published on Jan 10, 1999
My daughter is at the age where she’s starting to really
recognize things in her environment. She knows most of the sports
that her daddy watches on cable, and she can identify Emeril
Lagasse when he comes on TV – she’s even occasionally done his
trademark “Bam!” (This recognition isn’t always great; my wife was
putting my daughter’s hair in a ponytail, and she kept saying,
“Yes!”… as in the Clairol Herbal Essences commercial.)
Part of this new sphere of recognition also comes in the form of
the movies that are being hyped. Each time we pass the Disney Store
in our local mall, she stops by the window and says, “Ooh…
Bug’s Life!” And, of course, she’s right; there in the
window is a display of merchandise touting the latest collaboration
between Disney and Pixar Animation (the same people who brought us
Toy Story).
Now, she hasn’t perfected the skill of whining to Daddy until he
takes her to see the movie (so far, I’ve only been through one
sitting of
The Rugrats Movie), so – as usual – I’m at a bit of a
disadvantage when it comes down to reviewing the soundtrack from
A Bug’s Life. However, like many Disney soundtracks I’ve
heard, the music tends to tell the story very well – and Randy
Newman’s score is some of his best work yet.
There is only one vocal track on the album: “The Time Of Your
Life” (sung, of course, by Newman). It’s an entertaining song, but
it does lack some of the magic of his past work on
Toy Story. However, it’s still a fun song to listen to, even
if its scope is a bit more narrow than the more generic vocal
numbers he did just one movie ago.
For the remainder of the soundtrack, we’re left with some very
richly orchestrated music that helps you to form a pretty good idea
of what’s happening in the movie. Starting with “The Flik Machine,”
Newman’s score succeeds on every level, providing an almost modern
sound to the Disney soundtrack machine that it’s been waiting
for.
The action tends to move quite briskly in the first half of the
soundtrack, with tracks like “Red Alert,” “Flik Leaves” and “Robin
Hood” standing out in my mind. The second half’s work gets a little
long in the tooth at times (“Dot’s Rescue” seems like it is
stretched out a little too long), but the music keeps its charm
level high.
By the time you get around to “A Bug’s Life Suite,” you might
find yourself wishing that the soundtrack wasn’t over just yet –
after all, things were really starting to get good! Maybe it’s
wiser that Newman leaves us wanting more in the end… assuming
he’s doing the music for the upcoming
Toy Story sequel, I’m that much more interested to see what
else he has up his sleeves.
A Bug’s Life is a soundtrack that almost doesn’t need a
movie to back it in order for it to tell its story. And while I’m
certain the day is coming when my daughter is going to demand that
I take her to see the movie, for the time being, it feels like I
can see the movie – minus the “bloopers”, of course – any time I
pop this disc into the CD player.