John Debney's "The Ant Bully" is an enjoyable escape for fans who enjoy music from animated features.  Debney's style, always consistent from score to score, is just as evenly balanced with this effort.  "The Ant Bully" offers a main theme that helps one identify the music with the movie (a feat that's stunningly overlooked by some directors these days) and delivers a whimsical style of music to back it up.

The album begins with a track that successfully introduces the main theme, entitled, "Parade of Ants".  Lasting for just over a minute in length, Debney makes the most of its running time by establishing an immediate style with this melody and really puts the listener in the right mood to enjoy the rest of the album.  Up next, we're treated to cues that offer playful urgency as the flow of the album takes flight.  The deeper you get into the soundtrack, however, the more the score evens out.  By this, I refer to the fairly routine use of underscore that's prevalent with these types of movies.  The music shifts and adjusts to the fast paced action on the screen (as it should) and begins to take the tone of stock music. While this impacts the moving pictures of the show nicely, it starts to freeze out the listening experience a bit.

However, the good news about this score is that Debney returns to the thematic drivers of the music and closes out the disc with some flair.  The final cue offers the main theme in its finest delivery -- it swells to great heights and resumes the goodwill established during the earlier tracks.

 

How much you enjoy the album will be determined by how effectively you stick with the music for it to run its course.  If you have the patience, you'll conclude your listening experience on a high note and will look back on the score with a smile. On the other hand, if you're the type of fan who has grown weary of the fairly routine use of underscore associated with projects like this, then you'll like lose patience with the score. I'd recommend the former based on the strength of some of the individual tracks.

 

Final Score: A beautiful theme punctuates another steady effort from John Debney.  "The Ant Bully," thwarts predictability to be given a nod as a worthwhile venture.