James Newton Howard's Peter Pan (2003) - Now available

[Frank Vincent 213]

Now available from Intrada:

 

 

 

Premier 2-CD expanded release of spectacular symphonic score by James Newton Howard! Lavish, sincere yet still magical filming of timeless books & stageplay by James M. Barrie gets 2003 release. Columbia Pictures & Universal Pictures with Revolution Studios presents, Jason Isaacs, Jeremy Sumpter, Richard Briers, Olivia Williams, Lynn Redgrave head cast, Ludivine Sagnier plays Tink, P.J. Hogan directs & scripts with Michael Goldenberg, Industrial Light & Magic creates the visual wonders. James Newton Howard scores for large orchestra plus chorus, fashions music that melds soaring flight music, mystical Tinkerbell moments with powerhouse action sequences - many of them omitted from previous highlights album issued at time of film’s release. Beloved characters include Peter Pan, Wendy, the fairy Tinkerbell and, of course, the villainous Captain Hook, who lost his hand to a crocodile. Howard offers truly wall-to-wall scoring that presents richly thematic material that evolves, changes throughout with stunning array of ideas both large and small. Contrast of material is stunning! Opening celeste, xylophone, strings are joined by female chorus to establish perfect tone to launch with quotes of darker Hook material soon making appearance, followed by twittering flute for Tink, triplet figure suggesting gentle love story to unfold ahead and heard more fully during “Is That A Kiss?”. Back-to-back “Learning To Fly” and “Flying” are early, rousing set-pieces, with “Flying” rising to especially grand peroration for full orchestra with chorus. “Fetch Long Tom” ushers in excitement, “Castle Swordfight” furthers action with lively rhythms, rousing statement of main theme in fanfare-treatment, climaxing in deadly serious, aggressive moment for crocodile encounter, a previously unreleased highlight. Lilting waltz-like idea alternating between major and minor builds in deliberate fashion, becomes emotionally rich “Fairy Dance”. Highlights abound in Howard’s massive, lengthy opus: “Please Don’t Die” offers powerful chords in orchestra and chorus, building to dramatic finish, dynamic low brass rhythmic procession as “Wendy Walks The Plank”. Latter portion of score is packed with energy: “Into The Rigging” opens with powerful 4/4 action motif then later erupts in chopping motif for brass, “He’s Mine” launches with riveting horn motif then becomes an action highlight for entire orchestra replete with brass fanfares, glissandi trombones, everything but the kitchen sink. When all is said and done, Howard bids farewell to Think in moving quote, then brings Peter’s soaring theme to the fore for climax of “Peter Returns” and finally melts with quiet, beautiful major-key finish. Unusually long “End Title/End Credits” sequence in film incredibly is all Howard, with over ten minutes of material both drawn from score and recorded specifically for closing suite, a magnificent wrap-up. Entire 112-minute score presented direct from digital two-track stereo session mixes made by Shawn Murphy in October & November 2003, colorful flipper-style package from Kay Marshall, detailed notes from Frank DeWald include new comments for this release by the composer. Intrada Special Collection 2-CD release available while quantities and interest remain!

 

CD 1

01. Main Title (2:09)
02. Michael Takes A Bath (0:32)
03. Is That A Kiss? (1:40)
04. Peter’s Shadow (1:23)
05. A Note From The Teacher (2:49)
06. Tinkerbell (4:45)
07. Wendy Meets Peter (5:14)
08. Learning To Fly (3:10)
09. Flying (3:30)
10. The Parrot (0:46)
11. Captain Hook (1:39)
12. Spying On The Jolly Roger (1:30)
13. “Fetch Long Tom” (1:29)
14. Lost Boys Shoot Wendy (1:30)
15. Wendy Lives (2:04)
16. Build A House Around Her (1:24)
17. Come Meet Father (2:31)
18. Capturing Michael & John (1:58)
19. Mermaids (1:40)
20. Children On The Rock (1:44)
21. Set Them Free (3:06)
22. Castle Swordfight (3:50)
23. Fairy Dance (5:31)
24. Peter Visits Darlings (1:38)
25. Wendy Meets Hook (4:15)
26. “If You Wish It” (2:47)
27. Boys Want To Go Home (1:12)
28. Parrot Frees Tink (1:05)
29. Hook Captures Boys (1:57)
30. Poison (1:41)
31. Please Don’t Die (1:52)
32. I Do Believe In Fairies (2:45)

 

CD 1 Total Time: 76:03

 

CD 2

 

01. Wendy Walks The Plank (4:12)
02. “Into The Rigging” (2:09)
03. “He’s Mine” (4:40)
04. Peter Falls To The Deck (1:48)
05. The Hidden Kiss (1:20)
06. Old, Alone, Done For (1:20)
07. Hook Is Dead/Flying Jolly Roger (4:51)
08. Adopting Lost Boys/Peter Returns (4:05)
09. End Title/End Credits (Extended Suite) (10:57)
CD 2 Total Time: 36:19

 

https://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.12664/.f?sc=13&category=-113

[Jay 32,092]

Nice! 

[Frank Vincent 213]

Hopefully the adult choir on "Fairy Dance" is included on this release.

[Brando 1,065]

Oh heck yeah! I’m probably one of the few people here who can say this was apart of their childhood

[A. A. Ron 1,014]

INJECT IT INTO MY VEINS!!

[Andy 2,565]

Cool!  I’m not familiar with it but it sounds nice from the trailer. 

[Brando 1,065]

9 minutes ago, Andy said:

Cool!  I’m not familiar with it but it sounds nice from the trailer. 

I’m gonna guess it’s the flying theme that caught your attention, it’s a great cue.

 

Another great cue is when Tinker Bell is resurrected 

 

[crocodile 7,091]

Cool, it's a nice score.

 

Karol

[Naïve Old Fart 7,984]

Terrible film, good score.

 

It's all a bit tragic, isn't it?

[Steffromuk 271]

I liked the movie back then. I haven't watched it since. Not sure I'd like it as much today. But there were some very good ideas, that other adaptations never tackled, I remember.

Like the duality of Peter. We could sense his dark side sometimes and the movie had clever hints showing how he could easily become like captain Hook.

And Wendy was very well written I thought. We could see her at the dawn of transitioning from kid to teenager, with all the sexual awakening that goes with it.

 

Or maybe I was reading too much into it.

I should try rewatching it.

[Naïve Old Fart 7,984]

59 minutes ago, Steffromuk said:

Or maybe I was reading too much into it.

Yes, you were.

 

 

 

59 minutes ago, Steffromuk said:

I should try rewatching it.

No, you shouldn't.

[Steffromuk 271]

Thanks @Naïve Old Fart you just convinced me to rewatch it.

[May the Force be with You 2,032]

Never really listen to this score but it sounds really nice, I will just say that they're expanding the wrong Peter Pan's movie we wanted the Hook!

[Edmilson 4,974]

I was one of the 250 people who actually saw this movie in theaters . It was the only time I saw it from start to finish and I didn't care for it. I was 10, so I was in a weird phase: too old for this but too young for Return of the King, which also came out during those days.

 

As for the score, it has some great moments, but overall it's one JNH's lesser fantasy scores. Too whimsical and sparkly too me. Maleficent and Fantastic Beasts 1 had similar colors but were more well balanced.

[Naïve Old Fart 7,984]

3 hours ago, Edmilson said:

I was one of the 250 people who actually saw this movie in theaters .

So, that's you, and me.

I wonder who the other 248 people were?

[Jay 32,092]

I saw it in the theater

[Naïve Old Fart 7,984]

3 down, 247 to go.

[Steffromuk 271]

me too

[Holko 8,228]

3 hours ago, May the Force be with You said:

Never really listen to this score but it sounds really nice, I will just say that they're expanding the wrong Peter Pan's movie we wanted the Hook!

Maybe they're doing it to undercut LLL's Hook coming in Apri!

[Richard Penna 2,639]

Ah so this is their JNH. I suspected it might be Disney territory. Hidalgo would have been my other prediction.

 

I have 15 minutes from the album - it's okay. I don't really go for the themes though, and while his heavily 80s 'flying' theme worked really well in Disney's resort adverts, I've never been entirely sure about it as music.

 

I'll pass on this, although tbh I'd say that about any of his Disney scores. I find the albums completely sufficient.

[Naïve Old Fart 7,984]

36 minutes ago, Steffromuk said:

me too

246 to go.

[blondheim 1,034]

49 minutes ago, Holko said:

Maybe they're doing it to undercut LLL's Hook coming in Apri!

Or maybe they are hoping to help the sales of both scores by making both expansions available around the same time!

 

Peter Pan and Hook in back to back months would be… 

[Holko 8,228]

Then Varese joins in with leaving Neverland! And Disney with a Legacy Edition!

 

This is Universal/Columbia btw, not Disney.

[Naïve Old Fart 7,984]

18 minutes ago, blondheim said:

Peter Pan and Hook in back to back months would be… 

... type 2 diabetes.

[TSMefford 1,436]

Oh excellent! I'll pick this up for sure!

[Thor 5,970]

When the film came out, I was 25 years old. Its existence went in one ear and out the other; didn't really gravitate towards children's films then. I think I've seen in later years, but I only got the JNH soundtrack some 5-6 years ago. Quite like it, though. It's right there at the tailend of his most fruitful period.

[A. A. Ron 1,014]

8 hours ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

Terrible film, good score.

Just like the JNH score I really want… The Last Airbender.

[Naïve Old Fart 7,984]

I tried to watch THE LAST AIRBENDER. I gave up, after fifteen minutes.

[Brando 1,065]

The movie is corny, but that’s because it’s Peter Pan, so I wouldn’t expect anything else. 

[Richard Penna 2,639]

I'm not 100% sure if I've actually seen the movie. Might've rented it during Netflix's DVD days.

 

9 hours ago, Edmilson said:

I was one of the 250 people who actually saw this movie in theaters . It was the only time I saw it from start to finish and I didn't care for it. I was 10, so I was in a weird phase: too old for this but too young for Return of the King, which also came out during those days.

 

JNH said in an interview years back that he thought the film didn't find quite find its age range - as you suggest it being a bit 'old' for the youngest kids, but young for the older kids.

[crocodile 7,091]

1 hour ago, Richard Penna said:

I'm not 100% sure if I've actually seen the movie. Might've rented it during Netflix's DVD days.

 

 

JNH said in an interview years back that he thought the film didn't find quite find its age range - as you suggest it being a bit 'old' for the youngest kids, but young for the older kids.

Very Peter Pan. 

 

Karol

[LSH 837]

Awful film... although a good friend of mine is an extra in it.

 

Pretty good score. Doesn't quite reach the magic of his Disney trio but it's close.

[Tallguy 1,843]

I adore the themes in this movie but I never listen to the existing CD. OTOH I've come to appreciate JNH more than I used to. I'm sure this is nearly grail level for some folk.

[LSH 837]

20 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

I'm sure this is nearly grail level for some folk.

 

I'm not sure it's that well esteemed. I can think of many other JNH scores that I reckon most would consider more worthy of expansion.

 

Hell, there are still some major unreleased JNH scores! My Girl, for example; I would literally stab a baby to get hold of that.

[Edmilson 4,974]

5 hours ago, Richard Penna said:

JNH said in an interview years back that he thought the film didn't find quite find its age range - as you suggest it being a bit 'old' for the youngest kids, but young for the older kids.

Actually, I think it's more than that. The main reason why this movie is so special for many kids my age is because of how psychologically and sexually charged it was for a kids movie.

 

I mean, movies aimed at children and actually starring children were mostly chaste, like the early Potter movies. But Peter Pan cast its good-looking leads in a movie that was actually about the sexual awakening in children entering adolescence. I was in a Reddit thread about this movie a few days ago, and there were a lot of women who were young girls when it came out that fell in love with Jeremy Sumpter, the boy who plays Peter Pan.

 

On the other hand, many kids were very uncomfortable by all the romance, which is why I think it failed at the box office. I was one of them: at age 10 I didn't want to see slightly older children discovering their first love, I wanted to see Aragorn chopping orcs' heads off and Legolas single-handledly taking down a war elephant . Unfortunately, ROTK was rated "inappropriate for people under 14" (and for good reason) so I had to wait for it to come out in DVD 

[A Farewell to Kings 3,794]

Heh, I saw ROTK when I was 9.

[Jay 32,092]

I feel old, I was already out of college before any Potter or LOTR films existed

[Edmilson 4,974]

16 minutes ago, A Farewell to Kings said:

Heh, I saw ROTK when I was 9.

At the movie theater? 

 

Where I'm from I wasn't allowed on TTT because I was 9 and it was rated 12+, so my parents couldn't take me despite my love for FOTR. So, with ROTK, which was even darker and more violent, they didn't even try. 

 

Still, my dad loved to take me and my brothers to every movie he could, so I did catch a lot of non-LOTR kids flicks from that time: Peter Pan, Eddie Murphy's The Haunted Mansion, Brother Bear, that horrible Dr Seuss movie starring Mike Myers... Needless to say, I disliked all of them.

[A Farewell to Kings 3,794]

3 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

At the movie theater? 

 

 

Yup. I remember, because we all jumped at a cut from one of the quieter Frodo, Sam and Gollum + Shelob scenes, back to the Gondor siege.

[Tallguy 1,843]

Good grief, I was in my 30's!

[A Farewell to Kings 3,794]

To make you feel older, I was like around 3 or 4 when the SW SE's came out on VHS, and the SW SE CD was my first Soundtrack, purchased shortly after that time.

[Edmilson 4,974]

I was born one month before Jurassic Park, and my brothers were born when Titanic and SW The Phantom Menace were playing. So a running joke in my family is that we prevented our parents to catch these 90s blockbusters in the movie theater 

[Jay 32,092]

I skipped school for a few hours to see The Lost World on opening day. I was a senior in high school

[Edmilson 4,974]

Sometimes I kinda wish being born a few years before than I did so that I could watch Jurassic Park, Independence Day, etc., in theaters. I like being a Millenial, but come on, had I been born just a decade before I would've been in the right age to catch JP in theaters.

[Andy 2,565]

Wait, you guys are all children?  Is anyone here older than me?

[Jay 32,092]

Depends on how old you are

[Brando 1,065]

12 minutes ago, Andy said:

Wait, you guys are all children?  Is anyone here older than me?

Internally yes

[Andy 2,565]

I’ll be 52 this Summer. 

[Jay 32,092]

Joe and Alex are older 

[Andy 2,565]

Well shit.  I’m old but yet I win no award for oldest!