Ice Age: Continental Drift [John Powell]

Original Motion Picture Score
Music Composed by John Powell
(Ice Age II and III, How To Train Your Dragon)

In ICE AGE: Continental Drift, the latest instalment in the prehistoric saga, Scrat's nutty pursuit of the cursed acorn, which he's been after since the dawn of time, has world-changing consequences — a continental cataclysm that triggers the greatest adventure of all for Manny, Diego and Sid. In the wake of these upheavals, Sid reunites with his cantankerous Granny, and the herd encounters a ragtag menagerie of seafaring pirates determined to stop them from returning home.

ICE AGE veterans Ray Romano, John Leguizamo, Denis Leary, and Queen Latifah are back, joined by Seann William Scott, Josh Peck, Jennifer Lopez, Peter Dinklage, Wanda Sykes, Aziz Ansari, Keke Palmer, Drake, Josh Gad, Alan Tudyk, Nick Frost, and Joy Behar.

Composer John Powell returns for his third chapter of the ICE AGE franchise, armed once again with his symphonic and choral forces. Our prehistoric friends are in good hands.

Scrat’s Fantasia on a theme by LVB: As we experimented with the idea of using the famous “Ode To Joy” to follow our hero’s journey to enlightenment, I became interested in the text that, unless you speak German, simply sounds wondrous and joyful.  But what did it really mean I wondered? I decided to do some research into the original Schiller poem that Beethoven so fabulously sets, and after finding many obviously faked versions professing to be the “official” versions, I was finally pointed towards the truth by a world renowned, albeit disgraced “Schiller” scholar, that turned out to live so close to me here in Santa Monica. Just like our hero, the fates were aligning to show me the way! Thanks to this German man’s (we shall just call him HZ for his safety) dedication to endless study, and his bravery in the face of academic ridicule, I was finally able to feast my eyes upon the authentic and original version of the poem.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered the TRUE nature of these now famously corrupted words. Why did Beethoven change them and why has history continued to keep their original meaning from us?

Acorns, beautiful spark of the gods, Nuts of Elysium,
We enter, drunk with acorns, your heavenly sanctuary!
Your magic powers join again what nature strictly divided;
Rodents become brothers where your bushy tail rests!

— John Powell, Los Angeles, May 2012