Buy it... if you enjoy solid orchestral feel-good scores that are pleasant and undemanding in their Americana simplicity.

Avoid it... if John Debney's heartland style of acoustic guitars and solos for violin and piano might sound just slightly too much like a temp-track job for your veteran ears.

Debney

Dreamer: (John Debney) You have to wonder just how many times a movie like this can be remade before people just get plain sick and tired of them. But Dreamer plays to the age old dreams of little girls (and some boys) everywhere, and it's wholesome entertainment with enough big name actors to keep the imaginations of the parents alive in the theatre as well. In this case, the "inspired by a true story" addendum is slapped on to the title to remind us of a horse named Mariah's Storm that accomplished between 1993 and 1995 the exact feat we are presented with in Dreamer: a promising horse that breaks its leg in a race (an all-too-common occurrence in the modern age of cortisone shots for horses... but that's a whole other controversy) but is mended against all odds to win a major race for its destitute owner. For the purposes of good moviemaking, you throw in a little girl, a mysterious grandparent (Dakota Fanning and Kris Kristofferson rarely hurt any film they're in), a resolute Kurt Russell, and hope the script works. First-time director John Gatins is also the first-time screenwriter, and indications from the critics are that the film plays exactly as it should to the right audience. The beautiful setting of Kentucky as well as the feel-good nature of the story would merit the ultimate in pastoral scores, and while Hollywood veteran John Debney seems like the perfect choice for the project, Gatins was originally slated to employ Jan A.P. Kaczmarek for Dreamer. Perhaps choosing Kaczmarek simply because of his Academy Award win early in the year, Gatins was witness to the firing of Kaczmarek for reasons not precisely known, but perhaps due to the composer's poor genre placement in the first place. Thus, John Debney, not only the ultimate expert in score replacement, expansion, and temp-track emulation, but also a composer familiar with heroic sports and Americana stories, was hired to provide the predictable score. In fact, Debney's job is preformed so well, that Dreamer fits every stereotype he was likely asked to recreate.

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The important part of Debney's work for Dreamer, however, is that despite his ability to gladly provide the same score that dozens have written before, he does so with a highly emotional performance and superior recording quality. For fans, we may listen to the score and debate which six or seven scores its pretty, orchestral themes of the heartland are inspired by, and yet to the average parent and his/her eight-year-old, Debney has done a fantastic job. Dreamer really is a pleasant, enjoyable score to relax to on a sunny day, with flowing performances by soloists that provide just enough country atmosphere without irritating those of us who don't care much for that environment. The traditional orchestra is accompanied by acoustic guitars, dulcimer, mandola, and the more prominent solos by Joshua Bell on violin and Michael Lang on piano. There is definitely some James Horner sensibility to be heard with these solos, but Debney achieves that extra level of child-like exuberance through the rhythmically propulsive sections in which the full strings ramble over the acoustic guitars. The themes are a bit anonymous, but their harmony is never in question, and once again Debney's talents at mutating temp scores such as Legends of the Fall and (especially) Black Beauty into a convincingly fresh idea must be commended. The only disappointment regarding the score for Dreamer is that the talents of Bell and Lang aren't utilized with enough emphasis (outside of obvious uses, such as the violin solos in the opening cue) to give these Debney themes an identity that would stand out after the film is over. This seems to be a characteristic inherent in horse racing film scores (from The Black Stallion to Seabiscuit in the modern age), and one thing Dreamer also reminds us of is just how funny, unique, and remarkable Mark Isham's score for Racing Stripes was earlier in the year. On album, Dreamer is a lengthy exercise in undemanding and pleasant listening, with the expected flourishes of hope and sustained action of the finale. Several alternate mixes (including one that proves that the violin solos in the opening cue were severely underplayed in the film) are concluded with one unfortunate pop song as a hidden track. Overall, Debney's work is a winner in its genre. ****   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For John Debney reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.23 (in 49 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.01 (in 42,775 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.