Amazon.co.uk Review
One might expect a modicum of good-natured "Yo-ho-ho-ing"--or maybe a little rousing Korngold/Errol Flynn/
Captain Blood orchestral romanticism--on
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, what with its being loosely based on the popular Disney theme-park audio-animatronic ride. Instead composer Klaus Badelt initially entices us with some sparing Celtic folk charm, then unleashes a furious broadside of symphonic and choral thunder to rival his ominous score for
K-19. The composer's fellow German mentor is an obvious influence throughout (the album is credited, with a wink, as "Score overproduced by
Hans "Long John" Zimmer") but Badelt brings his own muscular instincts to bear throughout. Perhaps shrewdly realising that genre clichés are nothing if not for reinventing, Badelt delivers his rhythmically nervous Eurocentric sensibilities--sort of Holst duels Shostakovich on the Spanish Main--with the subtlety of a scorching cannonball. It's seasoned with a little romantic respite in the final act, if a bit gingerly, and could no doubt profit by some of Korngold's sparkling melodic verve. But it's a loud, unabashed Summer Blockbuster score at heart; alert the neighbours.
--Jerry McCulley