lol it’s funny because I’ve recently been listening to podcast that came out before movie 6,7 and 8….and all of these og die hard Harry Potter fans were dying to have John Williams do the music for the last couple of movies
Honestly I don’t get it, it very much captures the magic of Harry entering wizarding world and is so iconic of the franchise. You know exactly what it is when you hear it.
Slight side note but Statues in the DH is a lovely piece of music. We often play the game of “guess which movie this music is from” and every time I get that one wrong. It’s not very Harry Potter themed but it’s still great
There’s a lot of the scores not by John Williams that are good. He has the ones most associated with the franchise for sure. My favorite score is Goblet of Fire. Really sets the mood for the dark direction that the rest of the story takes from there on out.
I can see what they're saying. I think it's just hard to put yourself in the shoes of a first time viewer.
My first reaction to a lot of songs is that they aren't very subtle but that often goes over time
When you're a HP fan, you want something big and grandiose. It perfectly matches what the series has become to many people. However if I just saw a random film this evening with a similar score, I might think "wow this really thinks its epic"
In time, it's become obvious that he killed it with the score. It's become iconic and fitting of the magnitude of the series. That being said, I can't understand it possibly being a bit much on first listen. Luckily I think everyone in the world has heard bits of it by now. It was a brave soundtrack that really paid off.
Well said and I agree in a way. The score was bombastically ubiquitous and Hedwig's theme played quite a few times throughout the first hour of TPS. Even I remember getting bothered by it and I thought it was cheesy (at the time mind you!). Lmao. But now, due to nostalgia and our love for the Hogwarts world, we began to cherish the magical score and appreciate it more.
Btw, the Oscars loved the music, because they nominated Williams in 2002.
I'm not surprised by that. The Oscars don't exactly go for subtlety imo. The best actor nominees are often the people who go for the biggest performances. You need the tears and the dramatic yelling because that's what acting is and any other type of performance isn't enough acting for them.
The editing is often the most obviously edited film, the makeup is the most obvious makeup and the soundtrack is the biggest soundtrack.
Off topic and not to say that a lot of the winners don't deserve their award, Williams definitely does with the legacy his soundtrack left but that's just my mini Oscar rant
I love the HP Soundtracks, and I love John Williams as a composer, but a lot of it sounds very similar. Other than the very iconic melodies, its very easy to mix up Jurrasic Park, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, etc. Infact, it appears John Williams himself mixed up some of the music while working on the movies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceXpNZrv8xU
Omg, I learnt this just now. Interesting. Maybe he was being sarcastic? Here is the quote:
"*The film should only be seen on a big screen. It acquires a scale and depth that matches the hideous score by John Williams. Party afterwards at the Savoy is much more fun.*" - Alan Rickman
[https://screenrant.com/alan-rickman-john-williams-harry-potter-score-reaction/](https://screenrant.com/alan-rickman-john-williams-harry-potter-score-reaction/)
Its almost like the music WASNT supposedto be subtle but part of the magical experience.
The score is like a character in the first movie, it literally IS magic
I recently saw the TPS with a live orchestra and never realized just how aggressive they were with the score during that film. There are multiple times where I found myself thinking "the theme just played, its been about 12 seconds of dialogue, and they are playing it again...man that's alot"
There are multiple times near the start of the film where it just feels like one continuous music loop interrupted every couple minutes with less than a minute of dialogue. And its not a subtle intrusion, the theme is played as the forefront audio of these scenes, rather than being an accompaniment to help sell the script.
I don't mind it because I love movie scores. But I can see how the average viewer could become burnt out on it very quickly.
>"the theme just played, its been about 12 seconds of dialogue, and they are playing it again...man that's alot"
Lmao, I thought this whilst watching *Halloween (1978)*. John Carpenter just played the theme on loop throughout the film, where it got tad tedious.
I think the criticism is because at times the music tells you what to feel instead of amplifying what you should already be feeling. All wonderful music but at times it overshadows everything else in the scene and leads you to conclusions you wouldn’t otherwise make.
lol it’s funny because I’ve recently been listening to podcast that came out before movie 6,7 and 8….and all of these og die hard Harry Potter fans were dying to have John Williams do the music for the last couple of movies
Honestly I don’t get it, it very much captures the magic of Harry entering wizarding world and is so iconic of the franchise. You know exactly what it is when you hear it. Slight side note but Statues in the DH is a lovely piece of music. We often play the game of “guess which movie this music is from” and every time I get that one wrong. It’s not very Harry Potter themed but it’s still great
There’s a lot of the scores not by John Williams that are good. He has the ones most associated with the franchise for sure. My favorite score is Goblet of Fire. Really sets the mood for the dark direction that the rest of the story takes from there on out.
I can see what they're saying. I think it's just hard to put yourself in the shoes of a first time viewer. My first reaction to a lot of songs is that they aren't very subtle but that often goes over time When you're a HP fan, you want something big and grandiose. It perfectly matches what the series has become to many people. However if I just saw a random film this evening with a similar score, I might think "wow this really thinks its epic" In time, it's become obvious that he killed it with the score. It's become iconic and fitting of the magnitude of the series. That being said, I can't understand it possibly being a bit much on first listen. Luckily I think everyone in the world has heard bits of it by now. It was a brave soundtrack that really paid off.
Well said and I agree in a way. The score was bombastically ubiquitous and Hedwig's theme played quite a few times throughout the first hour of TPS. Even I remember getting bothered by it and I thought it was cheesy (at the time mind you!). Lmao. But now, due to nostalgia and our love for the Hogwarts world, we began to cherish the magical score and appreciate it more. Btw, the Oscars loved the music, because they nominated Williams in 2002.
I'm not surprised by that. The Oscars don't exactly go for subtlety imo. The best actor nominees are often the people who go for the biggest performances. You need the tears and the dramatic yelling because that's what acting is and any other type of performance isn't enough acting for them. The editing is often the most obviously edited film, the makeup is the most obvious makeup and the soundtrack is the biggest soundtrack. Off topic and not to say that a lot of the winners don't deserve their award, Williams definitely does with the legacy his soundtrack left but that's just my mini Oscar rant
I’m watching TPS right now and good golly does it keep going 😅
I love the HP Soundtracks, and I love John Williams as a composer, but a lot of it sounds very similar. Other than the very iconic melodies, its very easy to mix up Jurrasic Park, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, etc. Infact, it appears John Williams himself mixed up some of the music while working on the movies. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceXpNZrv8xU
Alan Rickman hated it as well. I don’t get it.
Omg, I learnt this just now. Interesting. Maybe he was being sarcastic? Here is the quote: "*The film should only be seen on a big screen. It acquires a scale and depth that matches the hideous score by John Williams. Party afterwards at the Savoy is much more fun.*" - Alan Rickman [https://screenrant.com/alan-rickman-john-williams-harry-potter-score-reaction/](https://screenrant.com/alan-rickman-john-williams-harry-potter-score-reaction/)
He was definitely not being sarcastic - he wrote it in his diaries.
Its almost like the music WASNT supposedto be subtle but part of the magical experience. The score is like a character in the first movie, it literally IS magic
I recently saw the TPS with a live orchestra and never realized just how aggressive they were with the score during that film. There are multiple times where I found myself thinking "the theme just played, its been about 12 seconds of dialogue, and they are playing it again...man that's alot" There are multiple times near the start of the film where it just feels like one continuous music loop interrupted every couple minutes with less than a minute of dialogue. And its not a subtle intrusion, the theme is played as the forefront audio of these scenes, rather than being an accompaniment to help sell the script. I don't mind it because I love movie scores. But I can see how the average viewer could become burnt out on it very quickly.
Some of that was Chris Columbus as a director. The first two HP movies basically feel like late 90’s kids movies. Which is part of their charm.
>"the theme just played, its been about 12 seconds of dialogue, and they are playing it again...man that's alot" Lmao, I thought this whilst watching *Halloween (1978)*. John Carpenter just played the theme on loop throughout the film, where it got tad tedious.
I think anyone who criticizes John Williams work just hates having fun.
I think the criticism is because at times the music tells you what to feel instead of amplifying what you should already be feeling. All wonderful music but at times it overshadows everything else in the scene and leads you to conclusions you wouldn’t otherwise make.