John Powell’s Minions & Monsters is a loving and meticulously-crafted musical tribute to the Golden Age Of Hollywood, with apt thematic chaos for the Minions and a thousand seamless transitions between utterly gorgeous orchestral and vocal styles making it so worth a listen.
I wasn’t originally going to tackle the score for Minions & Monsters – having admittedly not touched the music for any of the prior Minions or Despicable Me films – but two things drew me to this particular entry in the franchise, and caused me to change my mind. These were the fact that John Powell (known best for the incredible music of the How To Train Your Dragon movies) was scoring it, and that in both style and tone he wanted to capture the feel of the Golden Age Of Hollywood. Given how positively ripe that era is in terms of musical inspiration and that the talented Powell would be tackling it, to say I was pretty intrigued is putting it mildly indeed, and so here we are! The score for Minions & Monsters begins with “The Beginning Of The Moovies”, and immediately that playful orchestral flair which Powell utilises across many of his albums becomes boppily apparent as foot-tapping percussion and piano, whistling vocals, sprightly strings and light brass all take centre stage, introducing a cheerful theme for Hollywood and paying loving tribute to a great many of its classic sounds as they strut happily throughout this delightful opening piece. Despite the catchy theme, the sheer style on display here stands out the most, I must say. Powell really wasn’t messing around when he said he wanted to capture the Golden Age of Hollywood in sound as he’s done it in absolute spades, and this is only the first minute of the score.
Twinkling percussive magic opens “To The Land Of Cyclop” alongside wondrous swathes of strings and gorgeous vocals, with a brief burst of chanting Minions language then preceding a playfully adventurous brass and accordion sequence leaping in a delightfully pirate-y manner. The score then slows for the gentler, almost wistful “James & Henry” with a new theme for their friendship echoing quietly on serene strings and woodwinds in the first half before cheering up a bit in the second with the accordion returning. After a darker mood briefly seeps in with the deeply vocal opening of “A Wizard and the Bunny”, a wondrous burst of very classic musical-sounding choir leaps magically into frame before the increasingly chaotic score then segues into a dramatically thunderous burst of adventure with frenetic brass leading while emphatic vocals give chase. A lovely string rendition of the friendship theme then opens “Big Boss Montage”, with shrill choir hinting toward danger until a delightfully opera-like vocal sequence segues into an Americana sound with tranquil banjos plucking away at the friendship theme. I must say, the frequency at which Powell switches between different orchestral references to classic Hollywood sounds here is pretty insane, and even more so considering that it all works – despite the increasing stylistic chaos, it’s clearly very meticulously crafted, and is a delight to listen to.
A standout moment arrives in “Cowboys, Cops and Cahuenga”, with plucking banjos returning to the Americana sound at first before an emphatic burst of triumphant orchestra leads a new and rather heroic action theme for a phenomenally Western-styled charge. Overall, another fantastic example of Powell’s orchestral mastery in action. Ferocious percussion and brass then continue the action in “A Train Through Hollywood” with a particularly frenetic new theme, perhaps for the Minions themselves, thudding atop said instrumentation and chanting vocals. The composer then pays loving tribute to the sound of 1920s Hollywood with piano renditions of the action theme in “Silent Movies” and “As Minions Go By”, before the latter cue then leaps back into brassy adventure for its back half. The boppy “Limos, Soundstages and Vikings” then returns to the musical-styled choral sound of earlier now alongside a harpsichord and mischievous brassy interspersions of the manic Minions theme, before enthusiastic jazz and swing then become the stylistic focus in “Radio Newsreel” and “James In Action” (with hints toward the Hollywood theme in the latter). Sultry, low-pitched brass then occupies much of “Shooting With Sound”, though this tone then fades in favour of sorrowful strings and vocals in the decidedly downtrodden “You’ll Never Get An Oscar!” with the friendship theme trudging pensively along throughout.
The action theme from earlier returns for further triumphant brassy fanfare in “Creative Differences”, before a wackily alien sound eerily arrives on theremin for “Camera and Robot Suits”. This style also continues into “Dort Meets Debbie” together with marching percussion and enthusiastic bursts of the action theme, until being drowned out by deafeningly in-your-face vocals in “The Island Of Howard & Phillips”. Determined brass and flurrying strings are then the focus of “Sneaking Onto The Lot” and “Building James’ Movie Set” (with the wondrous musical-styled choir also reprising) before low-pitched vocals thunder frenetic brassy action back in for “The Ecstasy Of Eyereen” and “A Big Orange Blob Eats Hollywood” with the action theme also darting alongside. A crashingly determined pace then continues the increasingly chaos in rapid duo “Keep An Eye Out For The Counter Attack” and “We Have Minions!”, with the action theme thundering along for an absolutely massive orchestra and choir-focused battle with everything stylistically thrown at the wall. As the score draws to a close, “Undos and Premières” proudly crescendos with the action and Hollywood themes atop blindingly grand choir and orchestra, with credits suite “This Probably Won’t Make Sense Without The Picture?” then happily summarising the score with effortless leaps between styles and the Minions, action and friendship themes.
Overall, John Powell’s Minions & Monsters is a delightful love letter to the music of Hollywood, and features the composer’s usual meticulous attention to orchestral detail dialed up to absolute eleven as a result. The sheer style really is the star of the show here, or should I say styles as there are an unbelievable amount of them on display; whether it’s the wondrous choir focus on the classic musical era (“A Wizard and a Bunny”), the playful piano of the 1920s (“Silent Movies”), the banjo-infused tranquility of Americana (“Big Boss Montage”), the ghostly harpsichord, the wacky theremin, the accordion, the dramatic action brass – these are just a standout few of the incredible amount of styles being paid loving tribute here, and they all sound absolutely sublime. Powell weaves each of them seemingly effortlessly together to the point where despite the sea of orchestral chaos, it all works together impeccably well, and that meticulousness is seriously impressive. Atop this enthusiastic array of Hollywood sounds are then a number of themes, with the manically memorable Minions theme (“This Probably Won’t Make Sense Without The Picture?”) fitting the titular troublemakers like a glove, and a triumphant action theme (“Cowboys, Cops and Cahuenga”) leading a fantastic series of frenetic setpieces towards the end of the album. All-in, I wasn’t originally going to review this album but I’m so glad I checked it out, as Powell’s wondrously weaved orchestral chaos here is absolutely unmissable. What a score!
Score: 7.5/10
Standout Cues: A Train Through Hollywood, This Probably Won’t Make Sense Without The Picture?
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