Buy it... if you buy soundtracks with your heart instead of your brain, for there is an intangible magic in Randy Edelman's score that rises above its frightfully simplistic constructs.

Avoid it... if you've never been able to buy into Edelman's incongruous merging of diminished orchestras and his array of bass-heavy electronics for the historical drama or fantasy genres.

Edelman

Dragonheart: (Randy Edelman) One of the more disastrous fantasy films of the 1990's, Dragonheart was a victim of several fatal production mistakes. It's basically a 10th Century buddy picture about a disillusioned mercenary and his talking dragon sidekick; their friendship grows throughout the film until some forced moral exploration provides a disappointing letdown after several mediocre action sequences. Advertised for its outstanding special effects (including the live action dragon) and the voice of Sean Connery as the ponderous fire-breather, Dragonheart suffers from extremely poor acting by his human counterparts, terribly lazy action scenes that fail to muster any energy or fear, and pacing in the script that leaves far too many slow conversational moments in an otherwise promise premise. One of the few highlights of the film, as mentioned by critics at the time, was the soundtrack composed by director Rob Cohen's usual collaborator, Randy Edelman. The early to mid-1990's were the height of Edelman's career, spanning a diverse range of genres that includes silly comedies like Kindergarten Cop and grand dramas led by Gettysburg. His ventures into historical drama, which include the fan-favorite Gettysburg, the additional material in Last of the Mohicans, and Dragonheart, among others, are the most interesting. His flowing thematic structures, with orchestras aided quite audibly by synthesizers, are simplistic in ways that mainstream audiences can remember after the movies are over, but they are typically technical simpletons. Despite the fact that there exists a vast difference in style between scores like Dragonheart and James Horner's Braveheart, despite existing for locations and concepts of great similarity, the affable nature of Edelman's style has produced a following that, at least in the first few years, rivaled that of Horner's more famous score. If you're expecting an overwhelmingly intelligent and creative historical epic from Edelman, then Dragonheart will be somewhat disappointing. You could even argue that in concept, it's simply wrong for the genre. But what you can't argue with is the fact that it works in the film, which is testimony to the limited success that Edelman had in the genre during the 90's.

The fact that Dragonheart overcomes the odds and achieves its success is due completely to the strength of its two primary themes. Edelman conjures no less than six distinct thematic ideas for Dragonheart, and this in and of itself is one of the score's significant weaknesses that will be discussed later. However, the two main themes are knockouts in the memorability department, and in their harmonic beauty resides the residual fan interest in the score. The most powerful idea is the title theme for the era itself, performed in full at the start and end of "The World of the Heart," at the climax of "Flight to Avalon," and at the outset of "Finale." This theme is saturated with Edelman's usual progressions, and it might have been considered too fluffy for the picture if not for the rumbling percussion (both in real timpani and seemingly synthetic aides). The second memorable theme exists for the dragon Draco, heard throughout "To the Stars" and "Draco," as well as a reprise for good measure at the end of "Finale." The choral humming the first and third performances accentuates the extremely smooth progression of the theme, serving well the supernatural element of the film's heartbreaking conclusion. On album, these two themes make up the bulk of the first two and last two tracks, equaling sixteen minutes of extremely satisfying music. With these cues alone, Edelman helps pull the film out the depths of misery that its other production elements cause. The weaknesses of the score for Dragonheart, however, are plentiful, and as mentioned before, Edelman doesn't help his cause with the multitude of unorganized themes for the picture. The first cue on the album, "The World of the Heart," sprints through most of these ideas, and some themes later on exist in only one cue each. Several interesting ideas go without development in Dragonheart, leaving only Edelman's style in instrumental and electronic merging to define the work as a whole. One intriguing theme of significance that goes without exploration exists early in "Wonders of an Ancient Glory," and the broad nobility of this cue reaches towards James Horner territory.

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The comedy themes, heard in the middle of opening suite, plague portions of the mid-section of the score with passages more suitable for Kindergarten Cop than this. In fact, some of the comical spirit from that catchy, earlier score even works its way into the more robust cues, cheapening their effect. Completely ineffective are the action cues, concentrated in the section of the album between "Bowen's Decoy" and "The Connection." Edelman has always had difficulty creating faster tempos and pulling masculinity out of the hat; the word "frenetic" doesn't seem to be in his musical vocabulary. The basic structures inherent to his music are a detriment in Dragonheart as well; several of the themes are gorgeous in their progressions, but other than the occasional meandering violin line above the Draco theme, Edelman's score is devoid of any counterpoint or other complexity with which to distinguish itself in the genre. Finally, a flaw that needs to be exposed is a poor recording. In "The World of the Heart" alone, you can hear significant ambient studio noise and what seems to be an acoustic guitar player that can't keep his instrument under control. This problem is mitigated a bit after the first minute of the score, but clanging sounds and other obnoxious nuisances pop up throughout the album presentation. Still, with all these faults discussed, Dragonheart works. It appeals to a mainstream crowd that includes an interestingly large portion of women, historically, and it does what it can to salvage the film. The title and Draco themes were used extensively and very effectively through the rest of the 1990's in trailers for popular films, including Seven Years in Tibet to Anna and the King, helping to maintain its popularity in album sales during that time. Overall, your opinion of this score may depend solely on your tolerance of Edelman's usual blend of synthesizers with an underpowered orchestra. Even if Dragonheart sounds as though it's dominated by its electronic equipment, Edelman injects sufficient thematic elegance to compensate. In the second installment of the Dragonheart saga, released without fanfare in 2000, composer Mark McKenzie would utilize a traditional orchestra to combine his own new themes with Edelman's originals. In a technical sense, McKenzie's work is superior, but there is an undeniable magic to the highlights of the original Dragonheart score that have touched movie-goers in great numbers. This score is a matter of balancing the brain and the heart. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Randy Edelman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.06 (in 18 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.19 (in 27,262 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.