Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you enjoy the light, repetitive rhythms, consistent fluffiness, and major-key themes of Rachel Portman or Stephen Warbeck's fantasy scores. Avoid it... if you are among the considerable crowd who cannot long tolerate the ceaselessly positive attitude of the music described above. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Finding Neverland: (Jan A. P. Kaczmarek) Despite the film title's Peter Pan and Pixar-like associations, Finding Neverland is a serious (albeit fictional) look at James Matthew Barrie's process of creating the Peter Pan tale and how it would affect his real life relationships. Set in London just after 1900, the film follows the Scottish author's inspiration for Peter Pan from the first ideas about the fantasy to the climactic premiere of the original play at the Duke of York's Theatre. Somewhat of a heartbreak film, Finding Neverland has a grown-up perspective about its material despite a main character whose fantasy so entrances him that the real life aspect holds its own magical, fairy-tale kind of cloudiness. Allowing time for star Johnny Depp to master a Scottish accent and assuring that the film wouldn't overlap in the theatres with 2003's live-action Peter Pan film, the Miramax studio delayed this film by an entire year. Delays in release dates often benefit the composer of the film just as much as any other post-production element, and in this case, the final musical product would be realized by stage and film veteran Jan A.P. Kaczmarek. With a story saturated with emotional weight and sentimental fantasy, the project would seem like a perfect fit for a composer like Rachel Portman or Stephen Warbeck, although Kaczmarek has managed to produce a score that very successfully merges the light-hearted styles of those two composers. The wide ranges of emotions in the film, along with the inherent fantasy value of the Peter Pan legacy itself, required an orchestral approach from the outset, and Kaczmarek combined the ensemble with a children's choir and his trademark piano to offer the necessary depth to Barrie's imagination. For casual film music fans, the body of Kaczmarek's work is likely summed up by Lost Souls and Unfaithful... two scores that don't bring out warm and fuzzy feelings. But Kaczmarek's prior experience in stage writing has suited him well, and his score for Finding Neverland is convincing and effective. While traversing the varied journey of Barrie's creation process, Kaczmarek maintains a score that is consistently rooted in Barrie's imagined world of Neverland. Not a single moment of fright or worry is to be heard in the score, perhaps due to the fact that Barrie always had one foot in Neverland while the other remained in reality, but that constant child-like momentum and soft enthusiasm provides for a very even and upbeat listening experience when the score is separated from the film. A lightly dancing rhythm often propels Finding Neverland as fans of Portman and Warbeck will recognize immediately, with those rhythms often pronounced very delicately, but deliberately as the work progresses. The children's choir often bounces along with the rhythm at its most playful moments. Free-flowing, repetitive string and woodwind themes offer a steady stream of inspiration in the major key as Barrie writes and lives his story. There is a slight Eastern European accent to the underlying rhythms and their instrumentation, perhaps due to Kaczmarek's nationality, but these inclinations do not disrupt the score to any great degree. When Kaczmarek brought in fellow Polish pianist Leszek Mozdzer, the two extended the role of the piano beyond its originally supporting role and gave the instrument an enhanced role due to several inspired solo adaptations of Kaczmarek's themes. For listeners who enjoy these lightly prancing scores when they mature into fully orchestral statements of theme, Kaczmarek does indulge you at times, but not to the degree you'd imagine given the emotional range of the story. Full performances appear in the "Peter Pan Overture" and the two play-related cues near the end of the film, as well as Kaczmarek's own overture. The only truly Neverland-inspired adventure cue comes in the form of "The Pirates," a piece sadly underpowered technically, but the purpose of the cue is successfully conveyed despite its lack of power. The general lack of layers to this score is its only weakness, with the choral moments sounding much like a James Horner's children's adventure score (and Casper in particular) on a serious diet. Along with the added piano solos on the album (an extra treat resulting from impromptu recordings with Mozdzer after the score's actual recordings had been finished), however, Kaczmarek's score performs as well as any Portman or Warbeck fan could want, and while the score never fleshes itself out or explores truly magical orchestral bombast, the consistenly pleasant attitude of its sways and rhythms makes for a soothing and enjoyable background listen. **** Track Listings:
Total Time: 58:33
All artwork and sound clips from Finding Neverland are Copyright © 2004, Decca/Universal. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 10/29/04, updated 10/30/04. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2004-2005, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
