<span class="SFPTagline"> From SCIFIPEDIA </span>

Steamboy Soundtrack. Steamboy is an animated adventure film from Katsuhiro Otomo, director of the critically acclaimed cyber-punk film Akira, one of the darkest and most intense animated films ever made. Steamboy, set in Victorian England, is not as dark, but it’s perhaps even more elaborate. A fast-paced science fiction adventure based on a classic comic book story by Sadayuki Murai, the movie reportedly cost $20 million.

Accompanying the derring-do is a delightfully energetic score by Media Ventures composer Steve Jablonsky. Steamboy is his sophomore solo effort after the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. This score is much superior and deserves an appreciative audience.

The opening bars of the first cut, “Manchester 1866,” recall George Martin’s melodic introduction to Pepperland in Yellow Submarine. The theme Jablonsky uses for Ray is simple, understated, melodic, and appealing. Here it’s performed by woodwinds and French horn. Steamboy is no psychedelic romp, however, and this first cue soon shifts gears and gets more exciting and intense, with the strings syncopated against pulsing percussion as young Ray has to flee with a mysterious package he has received from his grandfather.

Other noteworthy cues include “Scarlet,” which is just under a minute and a half long. It is absolutely enchanting, presenting another major theme (for the character Scarlet – yes, O’Hara) in strings, woodwinds, and – surprisingly -- marimba. The theme returns later in the lovely “Crystal Palace Waltz.”

Jablonsky’s score throughout is almost entirely orchestral, with some subtle electronics here and there. Passages of clicking drumsticks indicating tension add nicely to the feel of a mechanized society.

All in all, a soundtrack that really stands on its own and will in all likelihood find its way into the CD player more often than most others. Do, by all means, seek out the film, too.