Rio [Soundtrack, Import]

I am a big fan of John Powell and so I couldn't wait to purchase "Rio" and "Mars Needs Moms" which are his latest works. Rio is a MUST HEAR soundtrack!! Powell never ceases to amaze me with his ability to compose such strong themes for movie soundtracks. I must say that Rio is not as good as Powell's 2010 "How To Train Your Dragon" soundtrack. None the less this is diffidently a CD that all of you Powell fans should add to your collection. I also purchased the soundtrack to "Mars Needs Moms" and it is not nearly as good as Rio. I think the reason for this is because in Mars Needs Moms the main theme is not easy to hear until close to the end of the soundtrack, which makes the music sounds rather sketchy with no thought put into it. The main them to Rio on the other hand can be strongly heard only 28 seconds into the first track, and it is a powerful theme that plays throughout the soundtrack.

Some really good tracks to look forward to if you buy this, include:
Track 1 "Morning Routine"
Track 2 "Meet Tulio"
Track 8 "Bedtime Flyers"
Track 13 "Bird fight"
Track 14 "Birds Moved"
Track 18 "Flying"

I don't know if this Soundtrack is going to win an Academy Award for Powell but again i must say that this is diffidently music worth listening to. For those of you who like to hear original orchestration in Powell's music rather then synthesizer music, Rio is the way to go!! Track 18 listed above (which is the final track done by John) explodes into the main theme 26 seconds in for the last time,and with the strings soaring with the melody followed by the rest of the orchestra carrying the harmony and background music, it is sure to give the listener goosebumps. Rio takes the cake above "Mars Needs Moms" and I highly recommend it!

Ah, another John Powell score to pleasure the senses. Hopefully this time his music won't be overlooked like it was with Mars Needs Moms, which was one of the most terrible bombs in motion picture history. While John Powell's score there was masterful it was chained to a sinking ship. This time John continues his collaboration with Blue Sky Studios, which is the studio behind the Ice Age films and Horton Hears A Who. I state this with every John Powell review I do. John Powell is not capable of composing a bad score. The talent he has to hone in on every emotional beat of the story is amazing. His animation scores all have the same structure presented in a new way every time. There is always a lot of quirk and character in the themes especially his central motif which carries the weight of the emotion.

Rio reminds me of Bolt in many respects in that the theme echoes a sense of loneliness at the beginning and transforms into a full sweeping melody that swells up in the heart of the listener. The body of the score consists of your standard Powell brilliance. The journey we go on is extremely fun and Powell lends his signature percussion to achieve that Brazilian sound. In fact Powell fans may be a bit disappointed that the score is not as percussive as they thought it would be. Fear not though because Powell also arranged all the songs on the song album like he did with Happy Feet, which was released separately. If you're hankering for that Powell sound you love I highly recommend the song album because there are a couple on there that are pure Powell. Back to the score though I really enjoyed this as a smaller and more intimate work. The music is not as big as How To Train Your Dragon or Mars Needs Moms, but it still has all the emotional punches that come standard with any John Powell experience.

I've been listening to John since he started out. I had his first score to Face/Off before I knew who he was. All I knew is I liked what I heard and it resonated with me in a huge way. Today I look forward to every Powell score with grand anticipation. He is truly a master storyteller and movies are better because of him. I can't wait to hear him team up with Hans once again for Kung Fu Panda 2 next month.

This score was very well-written (as is most of John Powell's work), and the product arrived a day earlier than expected. A well-rounded product, arrived in pristine condition and I am very much enjoying my purchasing experience through Amazon! :)