By Erin V.

The best music makes you feel it, believe it’s more than just a sound, and ultimately soar with it.  And the best movie music takes you so far with it that it glides the story along effortlessly without consciously calling attention to itself.

This year, so far, there are three scores that stand out for me.  I’ve written about Zimmer’s Inception, Desplat’s The Ghost Writer, and now – without further adieu – here are my thoughts on what solidly holds in my number one spot – John Powell’s score for How To Train Your Dragon.

Admittedly, when I first saw a trailer for HTTYD, I wasn’t overly excited – I thought it looked fun, but I wasn’t prepared by how much it would blow me away – in IMAX 3D no less.  Watching it for that first time back in March, I found myself, as the credits were ending, realizing just how much I loved the film and in particular the music.  It’s a wonderful film with a beautiful score.

The second time I saw HTTYD was in May – I wanted to catch it again in case it was knocked out of theatre space for DreamWorks’ newest animated film, Shrek Forever After (which in a lot of theatres luckily it wasn’t).  It wasn’t IMAX that time – just regular RealD but great nonetheless.  I haven’t seen it in 2D yet, and though it has some of the best 3D I’ve seen, I am more than confident it will hold up without this.  As of now, this film just may be at the top of my ‘best of the year list.’

Beyond the story, which I love (the wordless relationship between Hiccup and Toothless is great, as are the visuals and script), it is the music that I would say lifts it to a whole other level for me.  It doesn’t play – it soars.

There is a definite celtic feel to it at times – which admittedly I am partial to – and the energy it has throughout is great.  Even when it slows down (e.g. track 15) there is a genuine power the music holds, and the next track (16) sounds so classical at times it could have come out of an opera – and it’s not the only piece like this.  This all just works so well not only for the film but on it’s own.  The way that the main themes are woven and play off each other ties the whole film from start to finish.  Absolutely beautiful.  I only hope a book of sheet music will be released eventually.

At times it can be hard to explain what is so connecting about a certain piece (or collection) of music – but as hard as it is to articulate, it is there.  (And it’s not just me – the soundtrack has an average rating of 5/5 on iTunes & Amazon.)  I would love to see John Powell’s score for How To Train Your Dragon nominated for Best Score at the Oscars – I wholeheartedly believe it deserves to not only be there, but possibly, (keeping in mind the year is only half over), to win.

The entire CD of How To Train Your Dragon has 25 tracks and runs for approximately 72 minutes.

___________________________________________________________________________

And with that, this concludes this series.  Check out the previous installments if you haven’t already.  (Links below)

My picks for the scores of the year so far…

3. Inception – Released on CD Aug. 3rd (Canada), July 13th (USA)

2. The Ghost Writer – Released on CD Mar. 2nd (Canada), Feb. 23rd (USA)

1. How To Train Your Dragon – Released on CD Mar. 30th (Canada), Mar. 23rd (USA)