The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

Composer Harry Gregson-Williams re-teams with director Andrew Adamson, with whom he worked not only on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, but also on the Shrek movies, for the second Walt Disney film to be based on the series of C.S. Lewis’ fantasy novels about the world of Narnia. Gregson-Williams is given full rein to create an old-fashioned movie score with a full orchestra and several choirs, and he uses it fully, coming up with big, soaring themes, galloping chase music, and calm, lovely slow passages, all to accompany the film’s extensive action and adventure sequences. This is music intended to be a big part of the film experience, not only underlying, but also accentuating the emotional force of the images. It is not sufficiently memorable to live for long outside the theater, but it does an efficient job inside it. Also included are a few earnest pop songs, notably a pop/rock ballad by Switchfoot, “This Is Home,” with hit potential. The enhanced content available by putting the disc in one’s computer is actually found on the Internet, not on the CD itself. It consists of a trailer for the film and a photo gallery. – William Ruhlmann