Mr. Peabody & Sherman (Music From the Motion Picture)

It took animator Jay Ward’s über-genius canine and his frequently bewildered boy charge a half-century to finally get their big-screen due. But DreamWorks’ 3D computer-animated historical romp (with a few valuable life lessons) smartly channeled the original’s generation-bridging charms into a sizable film hit, with Danny Elfman’s sprightly orchestral score providing much of the adventure’s propulsive musical verve and sense of wonder. Elfman sandwiched this between work on David O. Russell’s Oscar-nominated American Hustle and Big Eyes (Tim Burton’s ode to kitsch culture icons Margaret and Walter Keane); this soundtrack is not just testament to how truly expansive Elfman's music has become, but that it often feels like a circle gratifyingly completed. Fans of Danny’s earliest work on Burton’s Pee-Wee Herman adventures will find the manic rhythms here instantly familiar, yet now informed by a mature, muscular orchestral sensibility that’s in perfect accord with the film’s mock-epic intentions. John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy” and contemporary electro-folk rockers Grizfolk (“Way Back When”) give the collection a welcome pinch of pop seasoning.