The 20 best animated film scores
On this week's Saturday Night at the Movies, Howard Goodall plays the best animated film scores, requested by you. Here's a selection of 20 of the best soundtracks from the past 75 years of cartoon classics.
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1. Brave (2012)
Scotsman Patrick Doyle went back to his roots to compose an authentic soundtrack for Disney Pixar's tale of a princess who must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a curse.
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2. The Lord of the Rings (1978)
The full-length animated version of Tolkien's epic has largely been overshadowed now by Peter Jackson's spectacular live action trilogy but one great thing did come out of this attempt - Leonard Rosenman's truly epic and inspiring score.
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3. The Lion King (1994)
Hans Zimmer was honoured with the Best Music Oscar for his stirring music to a modern-day Disney classic. African vocals and rhythms rubbed shoulders with Elton John's songs and a grand Shakespearean tragedy played out by lions and hyenas.
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4. Fantasia (1940)
With 'Fantasia' Disney's goal was "picturing this music — not the music fitting our story" and he hoped the film would bring classical music to people that, including himself, had "walked out on this kind of stuff." Of course, it's Mickey Mouse as 'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' that has endured but the animation in the 'Night on a Bare Mountain' and other sequences has hardly ever been bettered.
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5. Frozen (2013)
Disney animation moved back to its best form with this stunning feature. Christophe Beck, composer for the Muppets' recent big screen outings, wrote touching music that perfectly complemented the songs by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez.
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6. The Lego Movie (2014)
Mark Mothersbaugh, formerly of the avant-garde band Devo, provided the score for one of 2014's big hits, the story of an ordinary Lego construction worker who is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil tyrant from gluing the Lego universe together.
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7. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Disney took the best bits from Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty ballet and gave them schmalzy lyrics. The famous waltz became 'Once Upon a Dream'. This year the song has been covered by American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey for Disney's dark reimagining of 'Sleeping Beauty', ‘Maleficent.’
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8. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
Director Robert Zemeckis and his favourite composer Alan Silvestri brought this extraordinarily imaginative and accomplished comedy thriller to vivid life. Bob Hoskins played the 'toon'-hating detective called in by the madcap rabbit who has been accused of murder.
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9. Princess Mononoke (1997)
This magical movie from the legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki was briefly the highest-grossing film of all time in Japan until 'Titanic' was released later that same year. The score was composed and performed by Joe Hisaishi, the soundtrack composer for nearly all Miyazaki's productions. The music was performed by Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra.
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10. Beauty and the Beast (1991)
The pinnacle of Disney's 1990s renaissance era, 'Beauty and the Beast' boasted marvellous songs and score by Alan Mencken, even if the title song was sung by a teapot. Mencken took home two Oscars for Best Score and Best Song, shared with his lyricist Howard Ashman.
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11. Spirited Away (2001)
While moving to a new neighbourhood, 10-year old Chihiro enters the spirit world. After her parents are transformed into pigs by a witch, Chihiro takes a job working in her bathhouse to find a way to free herself and her parents and return to the human world. Another ambitious and accomplished score from Joe Hisaishi.
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12. Aladdin (1992)
The Robin Williams-voiced Genie provided the laughs in an instant Disney classic. Alan Mencken provided the score again and won two more Academy Awards for his mantelpiece.
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13. How To Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
Coming bang up to date, this new release has a stirring soundtrack from John Powell, one of today's top animated film composers. He's previously written superb music for 'Kung Fu Panda', 'Rio' and 'Happy Feet'.
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14. WALL-E (2008)
Composer Thomas Newman returned to Disney Pixar after 'Finding Nemo' to score this story of a waste collecting robot who embarks on a journey that will ultimately decide the fate of humanity.
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15. Finding Nemo (2003)
Up until 'Finding Nemo', Randy Newman had scored every Pixar film. His cousin Thomas Newman was the unusual choice to write the music for this fishy tale but he delivered magnificently and got himself an Oscar nomination for his efforts.
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16. Waltz with Bashir (2008)
German composer Max Richter - known for his revisioning of Vivaldi - provided the music for this brave animated feature in which an Israeli film director interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of that conflict.
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17. Persepolis (2007)
A moving coming-of-age story about an outspoken young Iranian girl who escapes the Islamic Revolution. Olivier Bernet provided the atmospheric music.
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18. The Incredibles (2004)
A family of undercover superheroes, trying to live the quiet suburban life, are forced back into action to save the world. This was the movie which saw Michael Giacchino graduate to the Hollywood A-list of film composers having worked mainly on video games and TV.
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19. Corpse Bride (2005)
Who else but Danny Elfman could provide the appropriately spooky and unnerving music for Tim Burton's animated film about a dead girl who rises from the grave, mistakenly assuming a shy young man has married her?
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20. Up (2009)
78-year-old Carl sets out to fulfill his lifelong dream to see the wilds of South America by tying thousands of balloons to his home. Michael Giacchino returned to Disney Pixar to create a moving, Oscar-winning score.
