According to Jim Hill Media, Randy Newman will replace the team of Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater, to compose the musical score for Disney’s The Frog Princess:
Randy Newman on animated news
Yeah, I just read about that on Mr. Hill’s website. Interesting, yet odd. Flavorful, yet unusual. Incredible, but…well. You get the picture. 
…Oh, my gosh… I faint now.
wakes up hours later
Not that I don’t like Alan Menken’s work, but I think John Lasseter makes a point if he wants to take a different path with the new Disney film… music is an important part of the film’s mood, so I’m glad he’s thinking about it. I’m not surprised that he would pick Randy Newman, but I’m oh so happy that he did. big smile
I don’t like all the negativity in that article… I think Lasseter is thinking outside of the box instead of just his own preference. Good on him
Hasn’t Mr. Newman composed scores for other films besides Pixar?
True… to name a few: The Natural, Awakenings, Avalon, and Seabiscuit. But here at the Pixar forum, I’m pretty sure we all know what movies come to mind when he’s on topic.
Randy Newman has also composed the scores for 2 great comedies, Meet The Parents and Meet The Fockers, and for James And The Giant Peach, another Disney animated film.
Off-topic, remember the Singing Bush in ?Three Amigos!? That was Randy. 
~~=oP
PixarVixen - So that’s why I love the scores in James and the Giant Peach so much. Heh – I hate the movie, but I love the music. I should have known… 
Wow, he did all of that? I am surprised. Usually, I would know him as the best composer Pixar picked up. I didn’t know he did all of that. 
That is certainly interesting. I kinda wonder why they’re not using Alan Menken? Yeah i know this isnt the first time they havent used him (Lion King comes to mind). I wonder if this
will be a permanent switch?
That’s a bummer. Alan Menken is my all time favorite composer.
I don’t like Jim Hill’s article. The tone of it is just plain wrong. John Lasseter isn’t the only person responsible for the switch.
Mr. Newman is known as the “person who was nominated for and lost fifteen Oscars in a row” (Okay, I made that up. But what it’s saying is true). You can just imagine how disappointed he must have been when he didn’t win any of the three Oscars that he was nominated for during the 71st Academy Awards (he was nominated for the song “That’ll Do” from Babe: Pig in the City, the score from A Bug’s Life, and the score from Pleasantville). He broke that “losing” streak in 2001, however, when “If I Didn’t Have You” (which, as most of you know, is from Monsters, Inc.) won the Best Original Song Oscar.
I really wouldn’t call it a “bummer” since Randy Newman is a wonderful composer, but I should also say that Alan Menken was a great composer. He is one of the people who is mainly responsible for Disney’s domination of the Best Original Song and Best Original Score categories during the Disney Rennaisance era.
Alan Menken has definitely done Disney good, but I always get excited when a studio tries something new, like with the Harry Potter series… I praised them for having Patrick Doyle do the score for Goblet of Fire. In my opinion, it’s the best one out of the HP movies yet. But that’s a different topic, heh…
Alan Menken didn’t do the score for Mulan. Instead, Jerry Goldsmith got the job, and it’s one of the best scores from a Disney film. Just remarkable. 
I think Randy Newman can do the same.
I actually think this is the right choice. Alan Menken has done so many Disney movies – I don’t know how many at the moment, but it’s a lot.
Besides, bringing Randy in will hopefully add new possiblities to Disney’s films. Although I probably won’t see this one in the theatres, I think John is making the correct choice.
I’m probably the only one here that does not like the idea of Randy doing the music… Randy is good and all of that… but, when you come down to it, all of his music sounds,… the same. I want Disney to go back to the basics, to the good stuff, I don’t want the movie to be all fun and hip, I’m tired of that, I want a good, dramatic movie with comedy in it. Take Beauty and the Beast for example… it had funny and comedic parts, but it was really dramatic too. Same with all of the other Renessaince Disney movies, sure they were funny, but it was a sophisticated humour. Alan Menken was part of that “Sohpisticated Humour” that Disney had, he was part of the Renessaince, his beautiful scores remind you of “Disney”. Not the goofy, hip, corny Disney that we get nowadays, but the Disney that didn’t insult a person’s intelligence, where both children and adults could enjoy the movie without putting in a bunch of adult inuendos that you see all the time in animated fair nowadays. His music could make you laugh one minute, and make you cry the next. His music is the kind of music that you would catch yourself humming during quiet (or not so quiet) moments. When I heard that Alan Menken was going to do the score, I was excited, “Finally!!” I thought to myself “Disney is going to be DISNEY again, their going to make quality work with quality storylines, I’m going to like DISNEY movies again!!!” but now, that I found out Randy Newman is going to be doing the music… now all of my hopes have been dashed against the wall. Now that I learned about the details of the movies I realized that the “re-awakening” that I hoped for is a farce. Randy’s music is going to be to “New” sounding, I know Disney wants to do something “New” but, if something is not broken, why do you have to fix it? “New” isn’t always good.
there, I spoke my piece. *takes a deep breath* as you can tell, I'm one of those "depressed" Disney fans. all I want is the old Disney back.
Googly-Bear: I am in no doubt that the majority of Disney fans are upset with the sudden change from Menken to Newman… they’re just not on this board.
Lasseter obviously knows Randy Newman a lot more, and trusts him to deliver something that is to be the rebirth of 2D film animation. I agree that some of Newman’s scores can be linked together, but Menken can go the same way (I can’t help but be reminded of Beauty and the Beast when listening to the score of Hunchback of Notre Dame). I guess we’ll have to wait and see, I mean… hear the outcome.
If it is a success, then they can feel safe making more 2D animation pictures, and Menken will have his chance once again.
okay, I just lose heart and get so depressed sometimes… -.- I just hope the the Frog Princess will be a return to the old disney formula.
In a way, I hope so too. It’d be a nice nostalgia. But I found this on wikipedia… unsure if it’s
absolute truth, but a few sources have pointed it out:
“Sources have revealed that the film will be an American fairy tale musical set in New Orleans during the 1920s Jazz Age, and the leading character, Maddy, will be the first African American Disney princess.”
Wooooow. Now I’m totally convinced that Randy Newman is perfect for this.
everything is just going to sound like the song “You got a friend in me”…only with saxophones. is depressed
Huh? Why saxophones? Jazz isn’t always saxophones…
Well… if we had Alan Menken, everything would be pretty strings, which is a far greater cliche.
Here’s a casting call for it -