Music for the 2017 DreamWorks Animation film Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, based on the children's novel series Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey, was found on two albums. The first album, titled Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) was released on June 2, 2017, through Virgin Records and Deep Well Records. The album is produced by Adam Anders and Peer Åström, and featured contributions from Andy Grammer, Adam Lambert, Nathan Willett from Cold War Kids, as well as the voice cast members from the film. An original theme song was written and performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic. The second album, titled Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (Original Motion Picture Score) featured original score composed by Theodore Shapiro, and was released through Back Lot Music on June 9, 2017.
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Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Adam Anders and Peer Åström composed and produced the original songs and soundtrack for the film. "Weird Al" Yankovic wrote and performed the film's original theme song, which was released in a lyric video on May 12, 2017. Andy Grammer wrote another original song for the film, titled "A Friend Like You". The film also features music from Adam Lambert, Cold War Kids member Nathan Willett, and Lil Yachty. An 11-track soundtrack album was released digitally on June 2, 2017, by Virgin Records and Deep Well Records.
Reception
Stacey Nguyen of PopSugar stated "Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie's soundtrack is perfect for whenever you're in a goofy and lighthearted mood." Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter stated "Keeping in the goofy groove is the soundtrack, which includes a suitably anthemic "Weird Al" Yankovic-performed theme song and energetic covers of Aretha Franklin's "Think" and Yello's "Oh Yeah," by Adam Lambert and Lil Yachty, respectively." John Archer of Forbes said "the soundtrack isn't a brilliant Dolby Atmos showcase".
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (Original Motion Picture Score)
The film score was composed by Theodore Shapiro, which was recorded at the Abbey Road Studios in London. A soundtrack for the score of the film was released on June 9 via Back Lot Music. It features 24 pieces of music, and an exclusive digital booklet on iTunes. Three of the scores are also available on the soundtrack (those being "Comic Book Opening", "Saving the Day", and "The Prank for Good").
Reception
Jonathan Broxton of Movie Music UK wrote, "Theodore Shapiro's use of enormous orchestral forces, his multitude of themes, the depth and intricacy of his orchestrations, and the creative way he brings everything together is something that should be celebrated simply for existing in 2017. Best of all is the fact that there is just so much joy in this music, so much innocent exuberance, it's impossible not to be taken in by it's [sic] infectious good humor and obvious love of the genre it is spoofing." Filmtracks wrote, "Shapiro has provided incredibly intelligent parody music in small doses through the years, but Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie is a culmination of all those efforts. Still, since he didn't play the parody mode with straight seriousness, opting for an abundance of cheap humor and cartoonish diversions, the score can be headache-inducing for some listeners. The album situation is also not ideal, the songs and score really needing to be provided on one product (which was possible given their lengths) due to the close relations between the two. This is not music that you will be able to forget even if you tried, the catchiness factor so overwhelming that it's not recommended that you play it for your kids, because they'll be singing it for months after just one listen. That might be acceptable if they've been trained to wash the shit stains out of their own underwear."