We were surprised to find news of Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna scoring Pixar’s upcoming suburban fantasy film popping up recently. What surprised us isn’t that the Danna brothers (who also scored The Good Dinosaur and Mychael scored Sanjay’s Super Team) were scoring the film, but that the news originated from an interview in early February.
Mychael noted in a Pop Disciple interview, “This year, I’m collaborating with my brother, Jeff on two animated films, The Addams Family for MGM, and Onward for Pixar. We are super excited about both of these — animation is something I really enjoy working on.”
This news certainly slipped under the radar, but we’re ecstatic to hear Mychael and Jeff’s take on the movie, which, according to the brief synopsis, “Introduces audiences to two teenage elf brothers who embark on an extraordinary quest to discover if there is still a little magic left out there. ‘At Pixar we try to create stories that come from some kind of personal truth,’ said Director, Dan Scanlon. ‘This film was inspired by my own relationship with my brother.'”
The fantasy elements of Onward are what we’re excited to see the Danna’s interpretation of — individually and together they’ve amassed a catalog of emotional, unique, and highly varied styles. They make adapting to different instruments and genres appear seamless and they’ve scored two projects for Pixar previously — the aforementioned The Good Dinosaur and short film, Sanjay’s Super Team (again, Mychael scored Sanjay’s himself).
What are your thoughts of Mychael and Jeff Danna scoring the film? Chat about it with other Pixar fans in the Pixar Post Forum thread about Onward, or leave a comment below.
Onward, set to release on March 6, 2020, is directed by Dan Scanlon and Produced by Kori Rae. Note: The Lead image in the post is via The Hollywood Reporter (courtesy of Cassandra Church) while Mychael and Jeff were scoring the film, Storks.
Pixar Post — T.J.
