Disney•Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur” features an original score by Academy Award® -winning composer Mychael Danna and Emmy®-nominated composer Jeff Danna. The soundtrack is available today. Directed byPeter Sohn and produced by Denise Ream (“Cars 2”), Disney•Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur” opens in theaters on Nov. 25, 2015.
“The Good Dinosaur” takes Arlo—and the audience—on an emotional journey of self-discovery. Filmmakers opted to tell the story in a new way, relying less on dialogue, while leaning into the power of nature, compelling characters and music that captures the imagination. “It’s a dinosaur movie, so the music needs to be big,” says director Peter Sohn. “But it’s also that classic boy-and-his-dog story embarking on a journey home. That calls for a certain sensitivity to embrace the emotions. Mychael and Jeff are brilliant artists when it comes to setting up a theme that can be sweet and hopeful one moment and strong and powerful the next. And they do it in a unique way.”
“Pixar sets the bar for animation—they set the bar for imagination,” says Mychael Danna. “So we wanted to do something different, blending traditional instrumentation and a melody-centered approach with alternative world music instruments. We draw from everywhere—historically and geographically—to help tell this story.”
Instruments utilized range from classic strings, percussion and brass to the unexpected. “We used some pre-Colombian instruments that reflected the landscape around the characters,” says Jeff Danna. “We used a lot of unusual string-guitar instruments that are primitive or folky: a bouzouki, a long-necked Greek instrument that’s like a mandolin; the Turkish cumbus; the Iranian saz; and a Nordic instrument called a harpolek. They’re really interesting when placed into the refined world of the orchestra. Our approach to many of the things in the film was to take the expected or standard thing and, just like the movie did, turn it a little sideways.”
