Rating:  -
I actually read all of the reviews regarding this soundtrack and I must echo the sentiments of Koray Savas, M. Johnson and Todd Heer. John Ottman is a much better editor than composer. I listened to the CD twice before writing this and I have to agree...the true composers back in the day knew how to write for the movies and the orchestras they were going to be working with. If it weren't for the John Williams' melodies, I doubt if this soundtrack would even exist. The grandeur that is Williams' trademark - something special is happening (or about to happen) comes thru loud and clear, even in this version conducted by Ottman. Unfortunately, when Ottman's original tracks begin to play, there's no grandeur, no continuation of that "special" feeling. They come off as lightweight, fluffy and as one person put it, "filler music". Those original tracks could've easily fit in his soundtracks for X-Men II or Fantastic Four. And yes, with the use of the chorus, there are definite influences of Elfman, and others. Nothing truly original here at all and definitely nothing special about his themes being in Superman Returns. They're mostly forgettable.
As another reviewer put it, if you want to hear a wonderfully orchestrated soundtrack, get the original Superman soundtrack by John Williams. If you're a Superman fan, you'll get this one "for the files" but odds are, you'll gravitate to the original soundtrack. This one just doesn't cut it at all.
Rating:  -
[...]
I am not the kind of person who listens to CDs that feature music with no lyrics. But being a huge fan of SUPERMAN and love the theme from the movies, I had to buy this. I must say I loved the entire album. The music is excellent, especially the main theme, although not exactly the same as the original from John Williams, I still love it equally. The entire CD is enjoyable. Its one of the best albums in my collection and hope many more people will go out and buy this and love it as much as I love it. Females and males alike will love it.
Rating: -
Superman Returns makes more than just the Man of Steel's triumphant return to the big screen. This film score is the first time since Superman the MOvie that a Superman film has any original music written for it. Superman II, III & IV all the music was simply rehashed from the original film and even worse played with either an undersize orchestra or on a synthesizer. Either way the scores sucked and no new music had been written. Now, John Ottman has taken the original Superman theme and written a new score around it. He has put in many of the familiar themes like the love theme, as well as the Kent theme, but there is soo much more. To see what I mean check out track 2 Ottman does some wonderful things with familiar themes and adds themes of his own. He writes a much more darker theme for Luthor and writes a powerful set of music familiar yet different. It is a great film and after the original it ranks as by far the second best score in the series, but its a great set of music. Ottman who has plenty of super hero experience from X-Men 2 & Fantastic 4, writes well and isn't intimidated by following in Williams' footsteps. Well done and highly recommended.
Rating:  -
Because I enjoyed the movie, I bought this CD right away. Despite what the other reviewers say on this page, in my humble opinion, the Main Titles (Track 1) is really why you would buy this CD, because it is an inspiring and glorious resurrection of the original Williams Superman theme. The rest of the soundtrack is "incidental music" which doesn't mean much outside the film. However, the price of the CD (even if just for 1 track) is justified because of the "enhanced content", which if you pop into a Mac or PC, is a short DVD showing, among the usual other throwaway rubbish, an extremely well-edited and well-made "making of" featurette of the entire live taping session of the main theme, attended by Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh. It was fun watching the real musicians' expressions while they vigorously play the score. That's worth the price of this CD.
Rating: -
I am not a very big fan of John Ottman's work as a composer, I believe he should stick with editing films, not scoring them. But that will never be, so we have to deal with some of the bad things he comes up with, and cherish the great things he comes up with. Superman Returns is one of those great things. The compositions by themselves are quit magnificent, but they are not paced ot timed write when watching the film. Actually, Ottman did not really compose anything that special or significant, but he did bring life to the film. But what actually made the film come together was John Williams' score to the original. His themes were used in this film, and actually quit frequently, creating the image of the original in your head, which helps with the whole 'Returns' part of Superman Returns. John Ottman included some very nice orchestrations and vocals with a choir, which is enjoyable when listening to it on your own time. However, those vocals are not properly placed in match with the duration of the film. His score did more harm than good, I would say, because when you see Superman fly up in front of the sun and regain power and life, the vocals are good, but when he his just flying around, they are obstructive to what's going on. Then, you think to yourself about the score, and that distracts you from the film, thus having a negative effect. Despite all faults, the score is still a part of his top three scores. The first is The Usual Suspects, the second Superma Returns, and the third X2: X-Men United. But the crucial thing is: without John Williams' adventurous score, Superman would not be Superman, he would be some guy in a little red cape.
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