The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe original soundtrack features a limited-edition 3-D cover, the score by acclaimed composer Harry Gregson-Williams, plus songs by Alanis Morissette, Imogen Heap, Tim Finn, and Lisbeth Scott.

Not to be confused with the collection Songs Inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia, this album is Harry Gregson-Williams's instrumental score for the movie. Marking the composer's third collaboration with director Andrew Adamson (after both Shrek flicks), this score also is one of the more mature offerings from Gregson-Williams, best known for his work on family films. The music is lush and assured, if a bit predictable. Indeed, it fits squarely in the current style popular for big epics--even using (on a few tracks) the vocals of Lisbeth Scott, which fall halfway between those of Enya and the Cocteau Twins' Liz Fraser (both of whom, uncoincidentally, appeared on the Lords of the Rings soundtracks). The CD concludes with four songs, with Gregson-Williams cowriting Scott's "Where." On "Can't Take It In," Imogen Heap's vocal acrobatics eerily recall those of the Cranberries' Dolores O'Riordan, while Alanis Morissette's "Wunderkind" is an inspirational, almost girl-powerish track written from the point of view of the movie's Lucy. But the best of these songs is "Winter Light" by Tim Finn, four minutes of understated, piano-driven melancholia. Look for it tucked near the very end of the CD. Note that the soundtrack comes also as a two-CD special edition . The second disc is a DVD that includes galleries of film stills and concept art, a featurette about the recordings of the score and a making-of featurette. There's also a segment in which the (mostly) Christian bands involved in the Songs Inspired by... album talk about their involvement in that project. --Elisabeth Vincentelli