Buy it... if you seek one of James Horner's most charmingly heart-breaking lullabies, performed by solo piano, choir, and full ensemble over the course of twenty gorgeous minutes in Casper.

Avoid it... if the presence of the lullaby cannot compensate for 45 remaining minutes of merely average comedy action and fluffy suspense writing common to both the careers of Horner and Danny Elfman.

Horner

Casper: (James Horner) Extraordinarily sappy in its dramatization of the story of Casper the Friendly Ghost, the Steven Spielberg and Universal Studios production of Casper was a pleasant if not somewhat mindless exhibition for the talents of Industrial Light & Magic. A supernatural psychiatrist and his daughter inhabit a haunted mansion in Maine by the employment of a wicked woman who inherited the mansion and wants its mostly not-so-friendly ghosts exorcized. In the process of getting to know the ghosts of the mansion, the psychiatrist's daughter befriends Casper, who was a boy about her age when he died about a hundred years prior. The comedy provided by Casper's three mischievous uncles is balanced by the sorrow of Casper's wish to be a boy again, and with the help of the ghost of the girl's own dead mother, the boy's wish is granted for a short time. The career of composer James Horner experienced a renaissance in the year's time between late 1994 and 1995, and it was during this time that the composer would bid farewell to the children's film genre for more than a dozen years. Because of the overwhelming popularity of Horner's work for Legends of the Fall, Braveheart, Apollo13, all released within six months of Casper, this score (as well as Balto) has floated away into relative obscurity. Horner was regarded as a leading veteran of the children's genre at the time, scoring most of Spielberg's animated and live action productions that were meant to compete with Disney in the early 1990's. Significant connections exist throughout many of these scores, and most of the more orchestrally robust structures can be traced back to The Land Before Time in 1988. The same can be said of Casper, though perhaps this work will be better remembered as the inspiration for The Spiderwick Chronicles in 2007/2008 rather than its own connections to previous Horner scores.

Casper does benefit from two deviations from the normal equation for Horner's children's scores; first, he uses a comical set of themes and rhythms that pushes towards the boundaries of animated parody writing, and secondly, he wrote one spectacular lullaby for Casper that would be rearranged, as mentioned previously, for use in The Spiderwick Chronicles. In both of its somewhat unique characteristics, Casper is the closest Horner would come to emulating the comical spirit and supernatural beauty offered by Danny Elfman during the same era. The opening cue marches through Horner's thematic ideas for Casper, emphasizing the motifs that deal with jazzy comedy, goofy action, and silly character sketches. Due to the movement of the film, these ideas would not receive lengthy treatment until the more cohesive suite-like presentation in the "End Credits." A theme for the evil "Carrigan & Digs" is a harpsichord and saxophone dance with a pompous rhythm for their bumbling buffoonery (ending with a notable theremin throwback motif for an old-style haunted mansion). The sax in this cue draws the easiest connection to Elfman's work, and this idea would be extended into the even more flamboyant "March of the Exorcists." The suspense and action cues would offer other specialty performances and continued Elfman references. The wild rhythms of "First Haunting" is pulled from the opening of Beetlejuice, though the latter half of the cue, "The Swordfight" would mock Korngold action from long before. The later action cues would be more conventional entries in Horner's typical sound, though the infusion of "Casper's Lullaby" would elevate the score to a far more memorable status. First introduced during the gorgeous lighthouse sequence in the film, this melancholy theme delicately rolls on solo piano before being joined by full strings and light choir. This quiet, somber, and surprisingly simple lullaby is anchored by poignant piano performances that expand in scope throughout the film as Casper's relationship with the daughter grows and Casper's sadness becomes more evident.

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This primary character theme is romantic and longing, really deserving a film better than Casper, but it plays an important role in the film nonetheless. Various woodwinds and Horner's sweepingly majestic choir provide two full performances of this theme in the concert arrangement ("Casper's Lullaby") and as Casper's wish to be alive again comes true in "One Last Wish," the theme matures into an even fuller orchestral and choral piece. For these haunting moments alone, the album is worth the price. The theme would receive a more upbeat series of variations in "Fond Memories," though its sorrowful form would send off the "End Credits" and album with taste. Aside from the gorgeous lullaby, little remains on this score that is particularly interesting or important. The comedy mould is somewhat different for Horner in Casper, but much of it sounds too intent on mirroring Danny Elfman to be taken seriously. While other parts definitely reference The Land Before Time, the lack of resounding power from the previous work can be heard in the Los Angeles performers' less robust recording stature. The jazzy material dedicated to the three supporting ghosts will attract some listeners, as will a rambling creativity in the percussion section that would foreshadow some of the ambitious rhythmic usage in Bicentennial Man. While refreshing in their application to this film, these sequences aren't particularly listenable outside of context, including the extremely obnoxious "The Uncles Swing" at the finale of the film. The Universal album for Casper is of considerable length, with well over an hour of Horner's score interrupted by only two songs utilized in the film. Of the two songs, the soft rock piece used for the pivotal scene at the end of the film is quite decent. It's easy to understand the appearance of Little Richard's performance of "Casper the Friendly Ghost," but tolerating it for any length of time is another story. The score and album's redeeming element, however, comes with "Casper's Lullaby" and its twenty minutes of variants throughout the work. Its heart-breaking melody will charm itself onto a permanent spot on your CD shelves, regardless of your opinion about the rest of the score. ***   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.