Hans Zimmer's Oscar Nominated score really was very deserving of its accolade, just a pity it lost out to a less worthy competitor. This is about as atypical a Zimmer score as you're likely to find. It's mainly laid back, free from synthesised noise and electric guitars and concentrates on a small orchestra of strings, piano and a little dash of woodwind here and there, most notably a clarinet that takes the main theme. This is introduced in the opening cue and is a joyously sprightly, yet quirky melody played on clarinet backed by chopping strings and piano. It is very much in the style of Rachel Portman who seems to have made a living writing tunes with that kind of clarinet lead theme. A second, slightly more sombre melody is introduced in the second track played on piano. The rest of the score then unfolds with hints of these two themes as well as other short motifs and laid back, gently comical music. Neither theme dominates excessively and the comedy is never over played, but neither is the sentimentality. In some ways I would have liked the main theme to crop up a little more often as it appears quite a lot in the film, but that's only a minor complaint and the fact that the album has been put together so well with some strong time constraints as well as containing a decent amount of score as well as the songs all lumped at the end so they can be avoided if so desired. One song that must have a quick play is the classic Eric Idle song, Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, which is a funny song, but in this surreal arrangement with Art Garfunkel and a deep male choir, it's even more amusing. Action Zimmer fans will likely be disappointed, but those with an open mind and those who enjoy quirky comedy scores will love this.
Rating ~ 
Total Time ~ 54:21