By Heitor Pereira,

Back Lot Music

Feline good with the new Puss in Boots score…

Originally announced in 2012, it has taken 11 years for the Puss In Boots sequel to actually appear, and a few months before release it was announced that Brazilian composer Heitor Pereira, composer on both Minions and both Angry Birds movies, would take over the musical reins from original composer Henry Jackman, who by this point was busy working on Strange World.

Jackman’s score had given Puss a lot of Spanish guitar and a memorable theme tune. Pereira’s score does bring a lot more of the Spanish and Latin sound – as well as modern action orchestration and synths – but not Puss’s or Kitty Softpaws’s themes from the previous movie. (The film does actually include a couple of uses of Harry Gregson-Williams’s original leitmotif for Puss from the score for his debut in Shrek 2 but those aren’t included on this album.)

We do, however, get a new theme for Puss, introduced in the album’s first song (of five) and reprised with a different mix at the end, “Fearless Hero,” with lyrics by Don Navarro and Paul Fisher, and sung by star Antonio Banderas and composer Pereira. The first iteration, which is track two, is fairly solid and straightforward, morphing into a rolling stretch of orchestration that has the air of adventure and unknown dangers. The reprise at the end is a much bouncier and cheerfully triumphant version.

Although the director and other people behind the movie have stated that the main influence they worked from was The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly, you won’t hear much sign of that in the score, though there are elements of Spaghetti Western stylings in it. The most common musical thread of that nature that runs the longest through the score is a background vocal shout, especially in the tension and action tracks, which is an element we tend to associate with Ennio Morricone. The most specific Morricone-ish sound, though – and it’s not a melody or tone, but a motif that achieved – is the “Bounty Hunter” theme for the wolf character, which actually really catches the vibe of Harmonica’s theme from Once Upon A Time In The West, and it’s awesome in a minimalist way.

The middle third of the score goes more into the standard orchestral action model, with intersections of more electronic and experimental sounds, which all work together, just as Morricone and others blended different styles for their Western scores, and Pereira  has successfully done with the Minions movies – he certainly has a recognisable style. That vocal calling also comes through in this section. The Latin style remains in tracks like “Puss And Kitty’s Flamenco Dance” as the not-quite-Morricone-ish vocal chant is right there in “A Fistful Of Characters” among others.

Finally, we get a lovely mix of Latin guitar, orchestral triumph, and so on for the finale.”Go Ahead, Run For It” is great example of the pounding chase music that segues into the Latin/Western theme that’s almost but not quite an echo of the previous film’s score. “The Good, The Bad, And Goldi” and “Holy Frijoles” are also excellent tracks, and while Pereira’s score doesn’t give Puss quite as memorable an instrumental theme as Jackman did, he has produced a superior score to the previous one overall.

Aside from the two versions of the “Fearless Hero” song, there are three others tagged on to the end of the album. “La Vida Es Una” is an average pop song by Karol G and Daniel Oviedo. “This Is the End” is an interesting cover version of The Doors’s song by Jim Morrison, mainly sung by Dan Navarro, and “Por Que te Vas”, nicely sung by Gaby Moreno

Verdict: Overall, it’s a good album, over 50 tracks, and 93 minutes making it great value too. Pereira’s score is his best yet, and actually we gained some newtouches by losing Henry Jackman at such a late stage. Recommended. 9/10

David A McIntee