Michael Giacchino is fast becoming a go-to composer in Hollywood for blockbusters of all kinds, and not without reason. His scores are intelligent, entertaining and entirely suitable for their respective films. However, this last aspect, ironically, is what makes his score to Land of the Lost less enjoyable as a standalone musical album.
Diverse Ensemble for Land of the Lost Soundtrack
Utilizing an amazingly diverse ensemble (the score features everything from banjos to theremins to electric guitars to conch shells, in addition to traditional orchestral and choral elements), Land of the Lost is nothing if not inventive. Giacchino’s typically wonderful orchestrations make good use of low-end brass and piano, along with acoustic percussion and eerie vocal effects to create what is arguably his most interesting palette of sounds to date.
But while the orchestrations and instrumentations are colorful, captivating and stimulating, the actual compositions themselves suffer from lack of concentration. Accompanying a hyper, frankly juvenile comedy as it does, this is an understandable problem for a score of Land of the Lost’s obviously humorous intent. But it suffers still more from a distinct lack of melodic statements and development. Even the most bizarrely overactive comedy scores can be saved with solid melodic presence (as Trevor Jones’ Around the World in 80 Days proves), but Giacchino’s emphasis on instrumental diversity in Land of the Lost makes it difficult for the music to maintain focus for any length of time.
Michael Giacchino's Unfocused Score
In fact, unless one is prepared for and in the mood for such zany, conflicted comedy music, faux-epic and consistently over the top in tone, one could easily tire of Giacchino’s score before long. It remains difficult to analyze due to its intentional identity crisis, for while it never maintains any one musical idea for more than a minute or two, it does maintain a consistently brash volume, to the point of being overbearing. It is a difficult album to listen to for background music, while attempting o pay attention to the score may result in a headache for some listeners.
On the plus side, the music is extremely intelligent in its merging of cultural and period sounds into one score, and the music works extremely well in the context of the visuals it was meant to accompany. It is truly intriguing to hear Giacchino’s traditional sound embellished with such instrumental creativity, and at the very least it establishes Giacchino as one of the best men in the business; his approach to scoring the film is certainly the best and most intelligent one that could be taken.
Summary
But even this eminently suitable approach, grounded as it is in the moment-to-moment action of the film, fails to take off in any particular melodic, instrumental, or emotional direction, instead simply hammering away, intent on accomplishing its purpose, while doing so at breakneck pace and often excessive volume. Both Star Trek and Up are far more enjoyable and accessible examples of Michael Giacchino’s compositional mastery, and Land of the Lost seems likely to become an amusing footnote in his career.
See also: Star Trek Soundtrack Review, Up Soundtrack Review, Michael Giacchino: His Music
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