“Be careful, Peter. After all, you’re not Superman, you know!”
So, Shelly and I just saw “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (GREAT movie, by the way), and I realized something: Danny Elfman wrote one song about 16 years ago, and he’s been remixing it ever since.
You ever see “Batman”? That was Danny Elfman composing. We all know the song when we hear it. For some of us, the mere sound of it makes us want to suit up and fight crime. But if you listen carefully, before the main “Bat Riff” breaks out, there’s this creepy, lilting melody. That melody, folks, is the one and only song Elfman has ever composed. He is the 3 Doors Down..no, the Creed of movie score composers.
Go watch “Edward Scissorhands”, also known as the beginning of the Burton-Depp marriage. You hear that score? Sound familiar? Yup, you’ve heard it before.
Seen “Spider-Man”? I know I wasn’t the only one watching the opening credits, thinking, “Hey, this sounds familiar…and, this doesn’t even fit the character of Spidey!” It’s like Sony went to Elfman and asked, “What have you got along the lines of a superhero theme?” And he went back to his studio, and dusted off a cassette labeled “Bat Scraps”.
“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”? Same Elfman “Batman” score.
It’s driving me crazy! You can’t take a song that holds meaning and then just apply it to other properties, all willy-nilly! Right now, I’ve got the image of Batman & Spidey fighting Edward Scissorhands in the middle of a chocolate factory run by skeletons. And I’m not even high!
Maybe it all boils down to budget. If Burton can avoid spending on new music, then that’s more money he can shuttle into Helena Bonham Carter’s heroin addiction. I mean, that shit don’t come cheap. And Burton totally knows how to work a budget. To get a little more insight, let’s look at his upcoming film, “Corpse Bride”.
“Corpse Bride” is billed by some as “the sequel to ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas'”. Same stop animation. Same Burton creepiness. Same Elfman score. But the real humdinger is the voice cast. You see, the vast majority of the cast members are also in “Charlie”. Since it’s only voiceovers, he could’ve recorded that stuff during filming breaks on “Charlie”, and would’ve wound up making the film on a mere shoestring. Critics and audience members alike will love it, and Helena gets more heroin.
I’m on to you, Burton. You and Elfman aren’t fooling me. I know the frickin’ Batman theme when I hear it. Stop using it for all of your movies! You’re crrepy enough as it is, and it’s having an effect on my psychological well-being. You’ve just read what this score-swapping is doing to me, and I can’t fathom Batman fighting an undead bride while Ed Wood films the Martians attacking us. It’s too much! Get off your ass, Elfman, and compose! You wrote the frickin’ “Simpsons” theme for God’s sake! You’ve got more in you. Just slowly step away from the “Batman” theme. We can work this out…
