The Boss Baby (Music from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack album composed by Hans Zimmer and Steve Mazzaro for the film of the same name and released by Back Lot Music on March 24, 2017.
Contents
Development
Frequent DreamWorks collaborator Hans Zimmer composed the score for The Boss Baby. He would associate with his protege Steve Mazzaro as a co-composer, and also in his film scoring debut; Mazzaro worked at Zimmer's Remote Control Productions assisting the composer as well as providing additional music. Zimmer was inspired by the piece "Romantic Number two" by Howard Hanson, which McGrath added that a lot of imagery was derived from this music. Eventually, Zimmer composed the themes for Tim, the baby, a bonding theme that served as a combination of the two themes. McGrath considered Zimmer to be another character, because of his involvement on combining themes to provide an emotional theme together, and how he provides large themes derived from the big tunes because of the instrumentation and orchestration. Citing the climatic sequence, McGrath added that the orchestra was moved by it because of the rarity to play old school Hollywood score and the emotional connect that followed with it. He further complimented Zimmer for not making a manipulative music but focused more on underscoring the story for geniune emotion.
Release
The soundtrack was released through Back Lot Music on March 24, 2017, a week ahead of the film's release.
Reception
Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK said, "[the] stylistic inconsistency and tendency to jump all over the place may drive some listeners bonkers, but as an accompaniment to a movie of this type, it fits the bill perfectly". Filmtracks wrote "All of the music is recorded beautifully, with crisp and deep presentations of especially the orchestral players throughout. But don't expect this music to compete with Megamind or the Kung Fu Panda scores by most measures. Seek the one lovely and lengthy [Conrad] Pope cue and leave the rest of the score to howling dogs.." Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter said, "the nostalgic underpinnings are also nicely incorporated into the appropriately bubbly score by Hans Zimmer and frequent collaborator Steve Mazzaro". Hannah Woodhead of HeyUGuys wrote "Hans Zimmer’s score is (as always) pitch-perfect, particularly in the film’s closing scene".
Personnel
Credits adapted from liner notes: