[1] Writer and director Chris Sanders desired for the film to heavily rely on music and told Bowers as such when he was first hired.

[2] Another piece that Bowers started writing early in the production was the music of the geese migration scene in which Roz and Brightbill are separated.

[2] After further collaboration, Bowers realized that at that point in the film's story, Roz and Brightbill's relationship was fractured and that the scene's music should play into that.

[2] Fink's theme featured the Sandbox Percussion's instruments and Bowers wanted it to embody the characters sly personality.

[4] Steve Seigh of Joblo.com praised the score, referring to it as "a brilliant accompaniment, saturating the audience in symphonic soundscapes oscillating between rollicking, wondrous, and melancholy.

"[5] Kevin Lee of AwardsWatch called the score one of 2024's most memorable and compared it to Howard Shore and Hans Zimmer's work.

[7] Tim Grierson of Screen International similarly commended the score for its function in the story, saying that it punctuated "the well-earned emotional crescendos.