The Wild

Composed by Alan Silvestri

08 - Being Brave (Part 2) (1:14)
09 - Bambi and the Great Prince / End Credit Suite (3:35)
10 - Sing the Day (1:54)
       Anika Noni Rose, Harrison Chad, Marcus

       Carl Franklin, Leon Thomas and Chorus
11 - Main Title (Love is a Song) (2:57)
       From the Original Bambi
12 - Little April Shower (3:55)
       From the Original Bambi
13 - Let's Sing a Gay Little Spring Song (1:44)
       From the Original Bambi

Conducted by Bruce Broughton

Produced by Bruce Broughton and Matt Walker

Released by Walt Disney Records on February 7, 2006

Total Running Time: 32:52

     Hopefully Disney's acquisition of Pixar will allow for a much needed shot in the arm at the traditional animation department. For those that might think hand drawn animation is dead, I beg to differ. That style has a lot going for it, and with the glut of second-rate CG animated productions in the market, I think a backlash is in the cards. There is a market for both styles, though Disney's take on the more traditional craft has been saddled with average-to-poor sequels that exist solely to market off classic titles. This may be more than adequate as these are primarily meant for the children in the audience, but then it makes these films no different from a Saturday morning cartoon, something that the original productions are absolutely not. I don't need some kind of philosophical underpinning in my animated entertainment, but I do expect a mature, well-written story that offers something of value, instead of just going for the lowest common denominator. I have heard that some of these aren't all that bad, however I have no interest in seeing the likes of Peter Pan II, Lion King II, or Lady and the Tramp II, or whatever idea next flows down the pipe. The originals will do just fine, thank you very much.

     For a sequel, Bambi II's storyline takes place in the middle of the first film, as opposed to right after it. The movie attempts to showcase Bambi's rise from adolescence to up-and-coming leader. Since the original film segues directly into Bambi as a "young adult" after the death of his mother, this does make a little sense in how to best develop a new storyline. But setting a sequel film right in the middle of the storyline of an original film that is now sixty-four years old seems a bit problematic. The images I've seen look close in style, though a little too polished. I can't speak for the animation itself as I haven't seen Bambi II in action. The soundtrack is where the real comparisons lie (this is a soundtrack review site after all...though sometimes I seem to forget that fact), and while Bruce Broughton does some incredible things with his score, the whole affair is hit and miss.

     The CD begins with Alison Krauss' performance of the film's primary song, "There is Life". This song is not terribly bad taken on its own. It's simplistic lyrics speak of music aimed squarely at the youngest in the audience and Krauss' performance of it tries hard to lend it more weight, which lightly succeeds. The rest of the songs, with the exception of "First Sign of Spring" continue to drop in quality, with the worst being "Sing the Day" (which is listed as a "bonus track" so hopefully it doesn't actually appear in the film). The lyrics on that are really juvenile, and the performances are not much better.

      I mentioned "First Sign of Spring" as the exception, and I will use it as an example as to why the music on the new Bambi film largely consists of the "miss" that this album offers. The original score featured songs done in chorus fashion. There was no primary singer for the songs in the original, and the style was primarily based on what was common for that era. To make it clear, I am not for going back to duplicating that style entirely. It's fun to listen to in the original, but it's also very quaint, and I don't think that this film should strictly follow everything. It is sixty years later and we have different musical sensibilities now. That said, the music is so much of a departure from the original, and so typical of what we get in every steaming pile of animated crap, that nothing about it stands out one way or the other. To further the idea that nothing here is unique or original, the three memorable pieces from the original Bambi close the album, allowing any listener the freedom to realize what a hack job most of these songs are.

     The "hit" portion of this soundtrack is with, not surprisingly, Bruce Broughton. We haven't had a good film score from this man since Lost in Space, as a quick look at his credit list seems to be dominated by the Mouse. It's nice to see how he hasn't lost his touch, and his music actually manages to tie in with the original while updating it to not be as "mickey-mousey" in its construction. Broughton utilizes a chorus and even makes references to "Love Is a Song" from the first film. It quickly becomes apparent that Broughton should have handled all the songs as well, a move which would have made this a solid musical sequel instead of the lopsided result that was ended up with.

     Unfortunately, Broughton's score only runs through five tracks (for a total of 9 1/2 minutes, which after the beautiful finale, the awful "Sing the Day" song pops up), and this makes the album very hard to recommend on that alone. Even with the three cues from the original Bambi, I still find it hard to give this a wholehearted recommendation. If you're looking to add a newer selection of Broughton music to your collection, you might consider this. Otherwise, stick with the nice release of the soundtrack from the original Bambi film.

Reviewed on April 4, 2006

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