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I just saw the movie tonight (felt it was average and nothing spectacular) and couldn’t help but notice that Nicholas Hooper’s unimpressive score contained either a reference or rip-off of Elfman’s main titles from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” during the part when Dumbledore’s Army is training in the Room of Requirements (“The Room of Requirements” track on the CD). Take a listen and you’ll definitely see what I mean. I’m not suggesting Hooper copied Elfman in the way that John Ottman did in “Superman Returns” from “Legends of the Fall,” but it’s certainly noticeable. I know that thought was running through my head during that sequence.
As for the rest of the score, it unfortunately has Williams to live up to, and I don’t think it succeeded. In fact, I think Hooper made some rather unusual musical decisions that took me out of the movie, like when the Order of the Phoenix is flying over London (I think it’s “Flight of the Order of the Phoenix” on the CD), which was so incredibly over-the-top in the movie that I actually started laughing. I didn’t care for the rest of the score, but I’m curious to hear what others thought of it. Personally, I’d love it if Guillermo del Toro finally decided to take on the seventh movie and brought his newly-acquired collaborator Elfman with him. Eh? An Elfman “Harry Potter” score?
Well I didn’t get to see it yet. But I by obious reasons it”s not a decent as Patrick Doyle’s. At least he refrenced John Wiliams themes.
I wouldn’t say that “The Room of Requirements” is a rip-off. I just listened to the two tracks in question back to back and there’s a similarity, but calling it a rip-off it a bit of a stretch. I also listened to “Flight of the Order of the Phoenix” and yes, it did seem a little silly in context.
I agree that it’s not easy to follow Williams, especially in a series like this, but I must admit that I’ve been listening to “Professor Umbridge” on a regular basis since I purchased the soundtrack.
I would love to see what Elfman would do with Deathly Hallows. Let the speculation begin!
I forget where it was, might’ve been Film Score Monthly, Elfman talked a bit about Harry Potter, how a bunch of industry folks (possibly his agent) were trying to convince him to campaign for the job of scoring the first Harry Potter film, insisting that it’s the perfect fit for him. He passed on the idea of selling himself to the filmmakers, saw the movie, and said something around the effect of “wizards aren’t my thing.”
Interesting. I do think, though, that the movies have gotten progressively better (ok, I truly believed they peaked with part 3, a favourite of mine), and it got less and less about the wizardry goimmick (I really hate part 1) and more about the action/characters.
In other words – I wouldn’t mind if he changed his mind.
I actually liked the music and enjoyed the fact that is was “something different”. But yes, he had Williams to live up to and that’s a hard act to follow.
I just finished reading the final book, and while I wouldn’t dare write any spoilers here (that was my worst fear over the past few days as I was reading it) I must say that the cinematic potential is GIGANTIC! This story is far beyond David Yates, Mike Newell, Chris Columbus, and perhaps Alfonso Cuaron, and even Guillermo del Toro. I’d say that a movie of this scale would need a Gore Verbinski or a Steven Spielberg (cliche as it sounds, Spielberg would be perfet for this, and he had expressed interest in the series in the past). Hell, if he got his act together, Sam Raimi might even be good for this thing. Musically, well, it really should be John Williams finishing where he began, granted he’s still got the energy by the time this gets made. If not him, then I could without hesitating say that Hans Zimmer could totally nail this project; he really knows how to tackle the scale of a film. Of course, Danny Elfman would definitely be on my wish list, but that’s just a fantasy that’ll never come to be. I go on this rant because I’m feeling empty now that the Harry Potter portion of my life is now over and I need to vent, so if you’ve made it this far, I appreciate it. And if you’ve finished the book, I’d like to hear input,
I’ve been waiting for my friends to finish reading, but they’re way too slow, not to mention they don’t care about cool stuff like contemplating who’s going to be providing the score. I weep for them.
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