Follow the adventures of Hammy Hamster, Roderick Rat and GP the Guinea Pig, as British composer Mark Thomas provide them with a score to heighten the excitement, suspense, action, entertaining scherzos and big emotions of the movie - just as it should be in a story about three heroes who embark on a journey in search of their lost homes after a violent storm...

British composer Mark Thomas (Shadows in the Sun and Back in Business) provides the orchestral score for the animated film version of the well-known British children's story, perhaps best known in the form of a popular 1960s TV series. This new film version features the voices of Stephen Fry, Ardal O'Hanlan, Jim Broadbent and Steve Coogan.

Thomas's score is interesting in that it contains a number of beautiful themes, including the 'Main Title Theme', as well as a collection of more bizarre, fun packed tracks. While some of the quirky themes may well have suited the style of the movie scenes they were penned for, as stand alone tracks they are fun to listen to once but they're not the sort of thing most people will want to listen to on a regular basis.

Highlights for me included the 'Main Title Theme'; 'Flying Theme'; 'River in Splendour'; 'Lucious is Missing'; 'The Cauldron of Doom'; and 'Happy Ever After'. All of which were beautifully orchestrated tracks.

Other tracks like 'Falcon Attack' are interesting for their chase music qualities, while 'Saga of the Floating Umbrella' is odd, but interesting with its plodding, upbeat theme - which is repeated in 'Up Up Up and Away'.

'Crash Landing Heroes' is a combination of James Bond-esque (I'm talking David Arnold here rather than John Barry) coupled with snippets of '70s cop show style themes. And 'Lost and Found' is a jazzy, light-hearted track that will make kids want to dance in that way that young children do.

While segments of this soundtrack are interesting, as a whole it's pretty hit and miss. While it showcases Thomas's versatility as a composer who can write to heighten any emotion in a movie, listening to this on it's own doesn't really do his work justice.

7

Darren Rea