Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Hollywood Records released the original soundtrack for The Royal Tenenbaums in mid-December to accompany the motion picture featuring an all-star cast including Gene Hackman, Danny Glover, Angelica Huston, and Bill Murray among many others. The movie, based on a dysfunctional family headed by Royal Tenenbaum (Hackman), was a huge hit in the box office. Unfortunately, the soundtrack, although as dysfunctional as the family in the story, did not receive reviews as grand as the film's.

By dysfunction, I mean that the soundtrack contains various genres of music, from classical and pop to punk and classic rock. Examples include "Wigwam" by Bob Dylan, "String Quartet in F Major" by the Ysaye Quartet, "Police & Thieves" by The Clash, and "Judy is A Punk" by the Ramones. Overall, The Royal Tenenbaums just did not seem to flow well. Big fans of the above-named artists might be better off listening to the original albums.

In addition, nine of the total twenty tracks on the CD were original music written by composer Mark Mothersbaugh, who has also written for Rushmore, Rugrats, and PeeWee's Playhouse. Although creative, entertaining, and fitting for the film, it didn't seem appropriate to include each tune in the soundtrack. Five of Mothersbaugh's songs were under 90 seconds in length, and I would have preferred to have heard them exclusively on the DVD.

The remaining songs are pop/slow rock tracks that included "Lullabye" by Emmitt Rhodes, "Needle in the Hay" by Elliott Smith, and "These Days" & "The Fairest of the Seasons" by Nico. The latter two had nice melodies, but Nico's accent is too heavy for my taste. Hands down, my favorite song was "Christmastime is Here" by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Being a big Peanuts fan, it reminded me a lot of A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Wes Anderson, who directed, co-wrote, and produced the movie, played a large role in choosing what music to include in the soundtrack. According to actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who portrayed Margot Tenenbaum in the film, Anderson often played music from the album during filming sessions. "Everything was fleshed out each time he [played] a record," said Paltrow. "All of a sudden, you know exactly the tone of each part of the film."

Well, the music might have helped the actors, and it might have enhanced moviegoers' experiences in the theaters, but the soundtrack surely won't find its way back onto my stereo.