Brutal Planet Dover DE

Brutal Planet

Alice Cooper

Spitfire Records, 2000

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 06/02/2000

Usually, when I review a soundtrack to a Disney movie, I have apretty solid idea about what is happening in the plot, even if Ihaven't seen the movie at that point. Their latest release, Dinosaur, is one film I haven't seen - I was going to takemy four-year-old after being stunned by the preview trailer we sawwaiting for Toy Story 2 to start, but a co-worker of mine said the filmwas incredibly violent and scared her 10-year-old. (Then again, mydaughter watches "Trauma: Life In The E.R." with me, so it can't bethat bad.)

But after listening to the soundtrack to Dinosaur, I'm struck by two distinct things. First, it's notas easy to follow any sort of natural progression in the moviebased on the songs alone. Second - and this is much more importantand a little disturbing - it feels like there is some magic that islost throughout a good portion of the music.

Granted, there are moments in James Newton Howard's score thatare almost as breathtaking as some of the shots I've seen of thefilm. On pieces like "The Egg Travels," "The Courtship" and "ItComes With A Pool," the true atmosphere of the film seems to becaptured musically, and these selections are the ones you'llundoubtedly find yourself going back to again and again.

But early on in the soundtrack, the first problem hits. Attimes, it's almost like the master volume had been accidentallypodded down to almost a whisper. This makes selections like "InnerSanctum/The Nesting Grounds" very difficult to hear - and almostguarantees you'll be blown through your living room wall once thevolume returns to normal on other selections. In all, a betterbalance could have been attempted.