Paddington - Nick Urata

Updated: 12/5/17

1/17/15
Picture
Snazzy dresser.
What You Will Hear:  Playful woodwinds and pizzicato strings, mixed with some acoustic (Spanish?) guitar and a wide range of interesting instrumentation.  Also, a wide variety of pop tunes and Calypso charts peppered throughout.

Standout Tracks:  Every track is a treat: welcome to the HoF!  Marmalade Harvest, Journey from Peru, Arrival In London, This Will Do Nicely, Duel With the Facilities, The Letter Home, Thief Chase, Bear Bath, Ringing Doorbells, Escape From Millicent, He Is Family, Epilogue

Will you be humming along?  An energetic theme takes over from the first moment of the first track (for Paddington's shenanigans). The main theme is a lullaby-like melody most often performed on the piano or by children's choir.  There is also a fantastic chase theme featuring the bassoons.

The score this makes me want to dust off:  The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - Theodore Shapiro (Not for any resemblance in sound, but for their shared endearing quirkiness.)

Will I come back to it?  I will be revisiting the first half of this album.  There was a pretty steep drop off after that.  But, the tracks listed above are absolute fun.  I don't know the history of the Paddington character at all, but this music made me like him immediately.
     With the release of Paddington 2, I decided to revisit this score to see what similarities and differences exist.  What was I thinking?  "Steep drop off?!"  I could not have been more wrong.  Paddington is magical from start to finish.  The main melody is mystical and childlike all at once.  The comedy is light and so well orchestrated, and the contrasting trombone is too much fun.  The calypso music fits perfectly.  In the end, my experience was probably changed by the fact that I've now seen the movie twice with my son.  His face as he watched Paddington fill the bathroom with water was priceless.  The music is delightful and scores not only the onscreen action, but the giggles in my home.  This score is now an absolute favorite.

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