Anyways onto the review of the movie Soul Surfer. I went to watch this movie with no idea what the movie was about. (I'll try and do this with minimal spoilers)
Soul Surfer is the inspiring true story of a girl (Bethany Hamilton) who is attacked by a shark and finds the courage to get back on a surfboard. Bethany is played by the very talented AnnaSophia Robb. The movie starts with real scenes of a young Bethany learning to surf off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. The surfing scenes throughout this movie are really well done with the real Bethany Hamilton surfing in many of them. Bethany practices a lot with dreams of going pro. That is until she is attacked by a shark while surfing with family friends. The rest of the movie follows the daily struggles she has with normal things in life and eventually the strength to return to surfing to become national champion. She find this strength mainly through seeing things from a different perspective, family and faith in God.
The movie has many overt Christian references throughout the movie. I think this movie really only appeals to certain categories of people. I'm not the type of person that cries at any movie, though this one had me on the verge of tears (okay maybe I cried) at certain points. Although I don't think this movie will appeal to everyone, I feel that the story is very inspirational and that alone makes the movie worth watching. (Oh and all the spectacular surfing scenes off the idyllic Hawaiian coast. :)) Overall, the movie to me was very inspirational and an emotional experience. I feel like this had a lot to do with the music. What the movie lacked (not much in my opinion) was made up for by the music.
The music I'm choosing to review in this post is the Soul Surfer (Original Motion Picture Score) which can be found here should you wish to purchase it: http://www.amazon.com/Surfer-Original-Motion-Picture-Score/dp/B004XDYF7Y/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1310258684&sr=8-6
I'll start this review off my saying this is easily the best soundtrack of the year. The score was written by Marco Beltrami. I hadn't heard much about Marco Beltrami's work before this, only vaguely familiar with what movies he had scored. I feel like the music really went well with the movie and having bought it after watching the movie with every listen I feel the music connects me back to scenes of the movie as I listen.
This is what I feel the music should be doing. I find it depressing when the director of the movie feels the music is a secondhand thing (yeah, I'm looking at you David Yates) and the music ends up not being as good. Anyways back on track, each and every song on this soundtrack has unique flavor and integrates really well with the theme of the movie as well as being equally good on it's own (even without having seen Soul Surfer!) The use of Hawaiian chants was excellent, as well as some exotic instruments such as the ukulele. Mainly, the thematic tie in all the songs have to the main theme makes this an album that I consider "flawless." All the music is just so...pure is the best way to describe it I suppose.
The dynamic range throughout the soundtrack was excellent. I'm not going to review every song but I'll do the ones that stood out most to me. There really isn't a bad song on this soundtrack. The soundtrack opens up with the track "Main Titles". It starts off with a Hawaiian chant (translations can be found on Beltrami's website) with a beautiful piano solo and a showcasing of Hawaiian culture represented through a flowing melody and harmony. The next song "Turtle Bay Surfing" was much more upbeat with nice use of dynamics and a reiteration of the main theme. "Shark Attack" is the darkest song on this soundtrack and is mainly a Hawaiian chant which talks about "a terrible spouting from the deep sea, from the purplish-blue sea of Kane" with full on percussion going in the background. Many of the other pieces though purely orchestral were wonderful.
"Bethany's Wave" was my favorite song on this soundtrack. I can't really explain it but this piece was stunning, and in my opinion one of the most emotional pieces I've heard in quite a while. It showcases triumph over adversity, another reiteration of the main theme and a beautiful cello solo to boot! Although I abhor the quality of youtube video, I'll post a link to the video anyways. I feel this whole album deserves to be listened to at the highest quality possible (Not that I don't feel this about all music but this one is definitely deserving of hearing it how Marco Beltrami intended)
Bethany's Wave:
Every time I listen to this cd, I get tears in my eyes without fail. For those of you that know me, this may or may not seem weird. *shrug* Had it not been for a friend recommending this movie I don't think I would have ever found this soundtrack. This is a cd I'd recommend regardless of if you watched the movie or not.
I'll start this review off my saying this is easily the best soundtrack of the year. The score was written by Marco Beltrami. I hadn't heard much about Marco Beltrami's work before this, only vaguely familiar with what movies he had scored. I feel like the music really went well with the movie and having bought it after watching the movie with every listen I feel the music connects me back to scenes of the movie as I listen.
This is what I feel the music should be doing. I find it depressing when the director of the movie feels the music is a secondhand thing (yeah, I'm looking at you David Yates) and the music ends up not being as good. Anyways back on track, each and every song on this soundtrack has unique flavor and integrates really well with the theme of the movie as well as being equally good on it's own (even without having seen Soul Surfer!) The use of Hawaiian chants was excellent, as well as some exotic instruments such as the ukulele. Mainly, the thematic tie in all the songs have to the main theme makes this an album that I consider "flawless." All the music is just so...pure is the best way to describe it I suppose.
The dynamic range throughout the soundtrack was excellent. I'm not going to review every song but I'll do the ones that stood out most to me. There really isn't a bad song on this soundtrack. The soundtrack opens up with the track "Main Titles". It starts off with a Hawaiian chant (translations can be found on Beltrami's website) with a beautiful piano solo and a showcasing of Hawaiian culture represented through a flowing melody and harmony. The next song "Turtle Bay Surfing" was much more upbeat with nice use of dynamics and a reiteration of the main theme. "Shark Attack" is the darkest song on this soundtrack and is mainly a Hawaiian chant which talks about "a terrible spouting from the deep sea, from the purplish-blue sea of Kane" with full on percussion going in the background. Many of the other pieces though purely orchestral were wonderful.
"Bethany's Wave" was my favorite song on this soundtrack. I can't really explain it but this piece was stunning, and in my opinion one of the most emotional pieces I've heard in quite a while. It showcases triumph over adversity, another reiteration of the main theme and a beautiful cello solo to boot! Although I abhor the quality of youtube video, I'll post a link to the video anyways. I feel this whole album deserves to be listened to at the highest quality possible (Not that I don't feel this about all music but this one is definitely deserving of hearing it how Marco Beltrami intended)
Bethany's Wave:
Every time I listen to this cd, I get tears in my eyes without fail. For those of you that know me, this may or may not seem weird. *shrug* Had it not been for a friend recommending this movie I don't think I would have ever found this soundtrack. This is a cd I'd recommend regardless of if you watched the movie or not.
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