Tag: Animation

I have been completely fed up with computer-generated imagery in alleged “live action” movies for years now. Give me a miniature in a water tank or a matte painting any day.

However, I have to concede, when shelling out the clams for a big-budget movie, one stands a better chance these days of getting a quality ride if one banks on the solely computer-animated feature. Put an action hero in a computer-animated landscape, and everything looks incredibly fake. But integrate the characters by creating them in the computer as well, and the result is often much more absorbing, imaginative and even wittier than your run-of-the-mill blockbuster.

Furthermore, in a day when so many films sport scores made up of droning electronics punctuated by colorless action cues, the computer-generated feature seems to attract composers who still understand how to write music.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll sample music from four computer-generated features. We’ll hear selections from the first film in the “Ice Age” franchise, by David Newman (son of Golden Age heavy-hitter Alfred Newman, brother of Thomas Newman and cousin of Randy Newman).

We’ll also have some of John Williams’ music from “The Adventures of Tintin,” after the comic book adventurer created by artist and writer Hergé. Tintin’s popularity in Europe failed to translate into big domestic box office, comparatively speaking, but the score is Williams’ best of its kind (an exciting adventure piece full of leitmotifs and great action cues) since the first Harry Potter film.

We’ll round out the hour with two projects scored by Michael Giacchino for Pixar Animation Studios. Giacchino’s break-out success was the sly superhero satire, “The Incredibles,” for which he composed in the swinging ‘60s espionage style popularized by John Barry when writing for the Bond films.

We’ll also hear selections from Giacchino’s Academy Award-winning score to “Up.” “Up” was nominated for Best Picture at the 82nd Academy Awards, only the second animated feature ever to be included in the category.

Join me for an hour of music from computer-animated features this week, on “Picture Perfect: Music for the Movies.” You can listen to it this Friday evening at 6 ET, or later as a webcast, at http://www.wwfm.org.