Charlotte’s Web Soundtrack
© Sony

Mania Grade: A
Music By: Danny Elfman
Distributor: Sony Classical
Details: 18 tracks, 47 mins.
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"Charlotte’s Web Soundtrack"

Danny Elfman’s first major soundtrack release of the year (not counting the few cues that appeared on the Nacho Libre song soundtrack album or the Serenada Schizophrana concert recording, which by default was the soundtrack to the IMAX film Deep Sea 3D) is a magical and charming composition, which briefly recalls his music for Big Fish in its heartfelt fragility and enchanting musical charisma.  Written with an elegant classicism in mind, there are of course enough hints of the mischievous Elfman style poking through the landscape to please the fans of the manic red-headed maestro. 

If anything, Charlotte’s Web is a softer score that Elfman’s more stalwart action adventures, which is very much in keeping with the storyline and its titular character.  Elfman provides a sinewy score that interacts in strands with a network of motifs and textures – melodies glide across the score’s musical webbing with ease, yet are inescapably part of its whole; bright instrumental textures glisten like sun-sparkled dew; plucks of pizzicato violins text the score’s structure like the multi-footed dance steps of the unassuming arachnid herself; while much of the score in its fearless flavorings retains same kind of the pig-headedness found in Wilbur, the film’s humble bovine.  Charlotte’s Web is brim-full of charm and musical fun, while resounding eloquently and poignantly; Elfman has crafted a tone poem for the famous story’s characters, which interact cleverly and richly through the musical voicings he has laid out for them.  The extended finale, “Wilbur’s Homecoming” at 9-minutes is one of Elfman’s most persuasive recent compositions, brimming with well-earned sentimentality and joy, enhanced by choir and lush orchestration. 

The album includes two vocals – a brief “Lullaby” from actress Dakota Fanning in the third cue; and the album closer, Sarah McLachlan’s “Ordinary Miracle,” written for the film by former Eurythmic David A. Stewart and Alanis Morissette producer Glen Ballard.