Buy it... if you've ever been curious about what playful mayhem James Horner could stir up when combining the animated and Western genres into one wild score.

Avoid it... if you'd rather not hear Horner adapt Aaron Copland, along with a few others, in extremely obvious fashion.

Horner

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West: (James Horner) By 1991, the writing had to be on the wall for Universal; Disney's The Little Mermaid and impending Beauty and the Beast were displacing the Steven Spielberg-produced animation films that had dominated the genre in the 1980's. That didn't stop the studio from finishing production on a sequel to 1986's highly successful and lovable An American Tail. While the 1991 follow-up took a position behind Disney on the back burner, it was a strong entry in and of itself, aided by an anomalous but entertaining score by the returning James Horner. Among the composer's most memorable works for the mainstream public was the song and score combination for An American Tail, and he would touch upon most of his ideas from that score while seeking new musical adventures himself in An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. Horner has ventured into every genre of music over his long career, though the Western is by far the most rare. Among those few visits to the Old West, Fievel Goes West is perhaps the most obvious, and unfortunately for Horner, his reliance on the music of Aaron Copland for inspiration is equally as obvious. Copland's well-established styles for the era are pervasive in several major cues in Horner's score, which is a shame because the remaining music that he provides for the film is highly entertaining. One of Horner's more interesting traits is his ability to build upon his previous ideas in a sequel score (this habit extends all the way through the outstanding The Legend of Zorro) and, for Fievel Goes West, his reminders of the themes from An American Tail are intelligently manipulated and well-placed. The Russian-slanted title theme, as well as the obvious tune from "Somewhere Out There," make frequent appearances in the first half of the score, including a smart connection in the "Overture" for the film. Snippets of themes from other songs in the first film also make short appearances in Fievel Goes West, sometimes in quirky forms and/or hidden in surrounding material.

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The songs in Fievel Goes West play a lesser role in the success of this overall package than in the first one. The main theme is based on the Golden Globe nominated "Dreams to Dream," a lovely ballad performed both in character and by Linda Ronstadt at the end of the film. The standard pop vocal version is anonymous in Horner's career (Ronstadt replaced Horner's first choice of performer, Celine Dion, because the film's producers claimed that no one had ever heard of Dion), though the character performance, while grating perhaps due to the high pitch of the girl's voice, is one of Horner's better presentations. The other two are wild opposites: "Way Out West" is an enthusiastic throwback to Rodgers and Hammerstein stage territory while "The Girl You Left Behind" is an actual stage performance by the mouse that wouldn't be missed. As for the score, Horner returns to the London Symphony Orchestra, whose performance for Fievel Goes West is no less than fantastic. Specialty instruments for the location include xylophones, fiddles, banjos, harmonicas, and the usual array of wood and metal percussion. The highlights of the full ensemble performances are the several cues in which Horner blatantly pulls Copland's rodeo music, ambitious string and light percussion rhythms with brass motifs that frankly could have resulted in a lawsuit. Most obviously conveyed in "In Training," Horner also extends this sound to the middle of the "Overture," "Building a New Town," and "The Shoot-Out," the last of which containing some unconventional sounds in tribute to Ennio Morricone in the first thirty seconds. Horner also pulls some inspiration from Elmer Bernstein in the rolling rhythms of "Headin' Out West," though like most of the aforementioned cues, the repackaging of these ideas is so well accomplished by Horner (and sometimes in parody fashion) that you have to forgive him this time. A frenetic jazzy swing at the start of "Cat Rumble" is another humorous highlight. The more conventional orchestral drama is a cross between The Land Before Time and Cocoon; Horner only employs a choir twice in the score, most notably for the score's only scary, Willow-like slashing moment in "Sacred Mountain." The final score cue wraps up the new themes and fades away with a reminder of the first film's two primary themes, a somewhat melancholy way to finish the otherwise upbeat proceedings. Overall, if you can forgive Horner for his obvious inspirations in Fievel Goes West, then you'll enjoy his own rare journey to the West. ****   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

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For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.13 (in 98 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.25 (in 184,725 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.