In a recent interview with SoundWorks Collection, Finding Dory director, Andrew Stanton said there is “beauty in sadness” when describing Thomas Newman’s dramatic score.
We could think of no better way to summarize the tone of the score — as we listen we can’t help but feel tragedy, sadness, and elements of horror and action films all embroiled into its 34 tracks (33 scored by Newman and Unforgettable performed by, Sia).
Among all of those emotions and types we just listed, the stunning heartfelt beauty of the score (as Stanton mentioned) comes through as clear as “the world’s most powerful pair of glasses” (wink).
As much as The Good Dinosaur score brought a new flair and eclectic nature to Pixar’s family of films, the Finding Dory soundtrack takes the genre-mixing edginess to a whole new level.
Just listen to Nobody’s Fine and you’ll hear the brilliant 83-player orchestra mixed with electronic elements, world music undertones, and underlying suspense drawing similarities to John Powell’s Bourne series of scores. Nobody’s Fine may be our favorite track on the score for its unique feel — plus, we can’t think of another time a flute riff had our head nodding so much (the riff also appears in Almost Home, OK With Crazy, and Three Hearts).
Of course, with any soundtrack for a sequel, there are moments that call back to the original film (Finding Nemo), but this is definitely a whole new, highly original score — one that definitely stands alone in Newman’s impressive catalog of thirteen Oscar nominations and six Grammy awards.
Tracks like …Shells really embody the intense emotion of the score and match perfectly with the visual of the movie (it even starts with a heartbeat). If we were to compare the Finding Dory score to Newman’s prior work, we would slot it somewhere between WALL•E and Lemony Snicket’s – A Series of Unfortunate Events score (mixing the playful and sonic tone of WALL•E and the darker, intense moments of Lemony).
TRACK LISTING
* Our favorites on the soundtrack are bolded.
- Kelpcake 0:46
- Finding Dory (Main Title) 0:55
- Lost at Sea 1:36
- One Year Later 2:24
- Migration Song 0:35
- “O, We’re Going Home” 1:38
- Jewel of Morro Bay 2:00
- Gnarly Chop 1:39
- Squid Chase 1:28
- Sigourney Weaver 1:21
- Hank 3:19
- Nobody’s Fine 3:29
- Rebecca Darling 1:54
- Meet Destiny 1:07
- Joker at Work 1:16
- Becky Flies 3:53
- Hands! 2:24
- Almost Home 2:01
- Open Ocean 3:18
- Two Lefts and a Right 3:57
- Everything About You 1:41
- Quarantine 2:41
- Warp 1:03
- All Alone 0:53
- …Shells 4:47
- No Walls 2:25
- Okay with Crazy 1:50
- Hide and Seek 1:51
- Quite a View 1:25
- Unforgettable – Sia – 3:17
- Three Hearts (End Title) 1:36
- Loon Tune 1:20
- Fish Who Wander 1:18
- Release 1:13
LISTEN
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Listen to the soundtrack on Apple Music, Spotify, or Amazon using the direct links.
