Sony Music release two album's for the animated movie Animal Crackers. There's the original score by Bear McCreary, and the soundtrack containing songs from the film. The movie sees a family inherit a neglected circus... along with a magical box of animal crackers that turn whoever eats one into a real, live animal...

Bear McCreary rarely disappoints. His score for Animal Crackers, while enjoyable, does have a tendency to rest heavily on a handful of themes. Nothing wrong with that, normally, by here it's extremely obvious. Thankfully these themes are well constructed and are welcomed when they appear, but I couldn't help thinking a little more diversity wouldn't have made it sound quite so lazy.

The majority of the score is designed to sit quietly in the background adding a little nudge here and there to the atmosphere of the onscreen action. Tracks like 'Papa Bear (Extended Version)' contain the theme that is the soul of this soundtrack.

While, on balance, I did find it a good, solid album, I doubt - apart from a few tracks - that I'll pick this up very often in the future to listen to for pleasure. A nice little package for fans of the film, but not overly deep.

6

Darren Rea