About the Soundtrack: It didn't take long for the first fantasy movie of 2009 to appear and it comes in the form of, "Inkheart," starring Brendan Fraser. On board to helm the composing duties is Javier Navarrete, who might be best known to you for his work on "Pan's Labyrinth." The soundtrack for "Inkheart" consists of 21 tracks, the last of which is the song associated with the film. All others feature the score from Navarrete. One particular note about the audio quality is that when the orchestra is at its peak, the output is very impressive and rich sounding. This helps add to the above average "sound" of the recording.
What You Need to Know: I was hoping for a bit of a breakout performance from Navarrete with this project. Few genres offer the canvas that a fantasy film does, thus I had high expectations about "Inkheart." As it is, it's a soundtrack that just doesn't seem to break through to excellence but it does come across as an extremely solid piece of work.
The premise of the film is a bit wild and features many characters, some make believe and others real in the context of the story, and comes across to me a bit like "The Golden Compass." Same with the score. As with Alexandre Desplat's stout effort with 'Compass,' Navarrete delivers a musical output that is in the same vein. The style of the work stays in check within safe boundaries throughout, thus, there isn't an obvious statement of main themes or leitmotifs that rise to the forefront. Instead, Navarrete's writing is content to hover in the background of the film for the most part.
When the orchestra builds to a climax in this score, those are the moments that caused me to take notice of what a beautiful sound Navarrete is capable of delivering (on a grand scale). Sadly, there aren't too many instances in which such highlights are delivered, but that doesn't take away from the rest of his work. I'd say that consistency is probably the best virtue of this score. The soundtrack's finer moments occur on the back half of the album where the momentum picks up a bit and the fantasy/action instances get rolling. Again, it's in these moments where I could feel that the score was itching to get to the next level but it just couldn't ascend further than what it was and that is a fantasy score on a more subtle level. There's nothing wrong with that, and indeed the work is very respectable, but I just look for a bit more in the way of notable themes from a movie and score like this.
Final Score: "Inkheart" is a respectable effort that may frustrate some and entertain others who check their expectations. Had there been more of an identifiable theme associated with the score, it may have received a better rating from me. As it is, I'll give it a moderate recommendation.
