Buy it... if you've always held a soft spot for James Horner's animated film scores, and your collection would not be complete without the composer's final and superior entry in the genre.

Avoid it... if even the general, comparative lack of self-referencing to Horner's previous works in Balto can't warm you up to the still highly specific style of his music.

Horner

Balto: (James Horner) The 1995 animated story of Balto, the real-life wolf/dog hybrid that led a dog sled of medical supplies to a remote part of Alaska in 1925 to save its inhabitants from an outbreak of diphtheria, used traditional two-dimensional animation and followed the format of Universal Pictures' and Steven Spielberg's Amblin formula for such films of the late 1980's and early 1990's. While they proved to be no match for musical format that Disney was offering at the time, these films weren't without their merits. The partnership between composer James Horner, director Simon West, and Spielberg's production house came to an end with Balto, but the composer in particular delivered one of his strongest animation scores for the occasion. The film marked the substantial end to Horner's string of successful scores for children's films, and it would be over a decade before the veteran composer would revisit the genre in earnest. After the large-scale popularity of his orchestral powerhouse scores for the live-action films Willow and Glory, Horner attempted to continue the alternative magic of the collaboration that exploded with success in An American Tail, leading to a curious assortment of assignments for animated children's films, most of which suffering from their obscurity at the box office. As each entry in the series continued to build upon the same style of orchestral sound, these energizing scores for animated films were the beginning of the fuel for the fire as far as Horner's most ardent critics were concerned. This group of scores, while none so dynamic as The Land Before Time in 1988, were all generally similar in construction, orchestration, theme, and the easy-going song renditions that always accompanied them over their end credits.

The animated genre was one that was well suited to Horner's habit of re-use, for the same style of music often worked in various situations well enough for kids and thankful parents who couldn't care less about which musical motifs were repeated several times. In the case of Balto, the re-use scenario is evident, but not overbearing. While Horner certainly filled in cues with material similar to his previous animated film scores (the choral finale will definitely remind of Apollo 13), the motifs here are never so blatantly lifted as in the manner that would legitimately drive film score fans nuts in his dramatic scores like Deep Impact, Bicentennial Man, and A Beautiful Mind. The basic formula is still predictable, however. The London Symphony Orhestra, a small choir, and a solo song artist offer 50 minutes of the same kind of material heard in all of Horner's other animated scores. There is no direct imitation, which makes Balto a more refreshing finale to the genre for Horner. In fact, the simple integrity of Balto and its two themes makes it an easy and enjoyable listening experience. The title theme is a heroic idea that reminds of fragments from Jerry Goldsmith's The Ghost in the Darkness (a later score), and it erupts first at about 3:10 in "Main Title/Balto's Story Unfolds" and receives several ferocious performances on brass in "The Journey Begins" and "Balto Brings the Medicine." The secondary theme of a more romantic inclination is heard almost immediately at the outset of "Main Title" and in less obvious incarnations throughout. The strength of the score lies in both its refusal to lift exact motifs from previous Horner efforts and, more importantly, its ability to sustain a somewhat engaging and exciting tone of action throughout its entire contents without becoming tedious. The central action between "The Journey Begins" and "Steele's Treachery" provide more than 15 minutes of outstanding and sustained adventure material.

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The duo of "Heritage of the Wolf" and "Balto Brings the Medicine" cranks up the drama with a choir and secondary motif of danger (similar to the same concept in Apollo 13), and the opening of the latter cue parades the title theme with a magnificent choral expression of celebration. Throughout the entire score also exists the sound of a winter, with light percussion recognizing the snowy setting of the film. Balto doesn't have particularly strong secondary character themes (outside, perhaps, of "Rosy Goes to the Doctor"), but it makes up for that lack of comedic sound with sheer energy at nearly every turn. As for the song performed at the beginning and end by Steve Winwood (and reuniting Horner with the composing team that brought An American Tail so much success), it's among the weaker of Horner's score-to-song adaptations due to a slightly gospel nature that doesn't fit with the rest of the score or film. Overall, if you're a Horner collector and you're already satisfied with the animated film score selection of his that you own, then there's really no need to rush out and try to find Balto. It is endearing, and stronger than many of his average, three-star efforts for the genre, but the difficulty that you may have finding a copy of the score may not make it worth your time. Balto's limited lifting of material from previous Horner efforts was ironically one reason why it slipped by without much comment, but its obscurity to this day is more due to two other contributing factors. First, it was one of the last Horner pairings with the MCA Records label, which after this and Apollo 13 began its slide into oblivion. Thus, Balto was completely out of print for all the years that followed. Also, 1995 was Horner's true breakout year, with Legends of the Fall leading to Braveheart and Apollo 13. Even his controversial involvement with Jade generated more attention that year. With so many spectacular offerings from Horner in 1995, Balto, as strong as it is on its own four feet, became lost in the bigger picture. ****   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

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.