Buy it... only if you worship at the altar of James Horner and don't mind his blatant recycling of lovable themes from his previous children's scores into his subsequent family drama entries.

Avoid it... if only twenty minutes of original Horner music (recycled or not) isn't worth an album presentation highlighted by the mostly jazz-related source material utilized in the picture.

Horner

Once Around: (James Horner) Along with several other films that attempted the same perspective on the family genre in the late 1980's and early 1990's, Once Around is a story about a dysfunctional group of relatives that, like so many in real life, is not really meant to be understood. That was the problem with Once Around that, in retrospect, begs this question: who wants to watch a film about a family with all of its real life problems when most of us can go to our parents' houses on any given holiday and witness the same trauma firsthand? In this case, the weight of the 1990 film's success is carried by a strong ensemble cast consisting of Holly Hunter, Danny Aiello, and Richard Dreyfuss. It was the first American feature by Sweden's Lasse Hallstrom, director of 1987's critically acclaimed My Life as a Dog. The factor of humor that made the prior film a success is largely absent from Once Around, contributing to its demise. Composer James Horner's name was in flashier letters on much bigger screens in 1990, and yet he took the time to provide a short contribution for a genre in which his peers were also dabbling at the time. Whether it was John Williams working on The Accidental Tourist and Stanley & Iris or Jerry Goldsmith diverting his attention to Not Without my Daughter, the family genre seemed to be an alluring idea for not just filmmakers, but composers in search of a wide emotional spectrum as well. For Horner, Once Around would turn out to be similar to his later work on Swing Kids in that the attention on the music was definitely placed first and foremost on outside, adapted material. It just so happens that, as with Swing Kids, the wider jazz genre is the source for much of the music heard in Once Around. Unlike the disappointing way in which he handled Swing Kids, however, Horner does adapt his own original material into a vintage, big band jazz cue for Once Around, proving that his singular jazz era piece in Field of Dreams wasn't just a fluke. The remainder of the score is reminiscent of his softest children's genre activities, a predictably innocuous listening experience that will remind the composer's collectors of much they have heard in the composer's other works.

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Horner's contribution in underscore to Once Around is not that great in length; only 20 minutes of his recordings made it onto the commercial album, and even at running time, the repetition is notable. Lightly orchestral in its majority, the four major cues are dominated by "Big Band on Ice," the big band jazz piece that opens the album and serves as the only true highlight for fans looking for any music that will get the pulse pounding. The three other cues are soft, lovable Horner sensitivity at its most predictable, with warm and fuzzy feelings at every moment. A light electronic choir lends a bit of magic to a score otherwise defined by piano, solo woodwinds, and a small grouping of strings. Prevalent in all four of Horner's score cues are two themes he weaves into nearly every moment; in fact, one of the more interesting aspects of Once Around is to hear these delicate ideas pumped up and adapted into the opening jazz cue. The major problem with these two melodies, though, is the extremely obvious fact that they are both pulled from two previous, well-respected Horner scores. If you take the final cue, "The Passage of Time," as an example, the cue opens with the first theme heard in The Land Before Time (usually performed by horns), with absolutely no care whatsoever taken by Horner to manipulate the theme into something fresh for Once Around. At the two-minute mark in that same track, you hear several minutes of what is likely the primary theme for Once Around, which is unfortunately a regurgitation of "Somewhere Out There" from An American Tail. Hearing these two children's themes from Horner's staple scores may be odd in a family drama, but for listening sake, they both retain their beauty here. Quartet-style minimalism takes its turns in that final track, but in "The Apology" and "The Arrival," the choral effect over these recycled themes makes for simple bliss. Not so blissful, however, is Varèse Sarabande's album for Once Around, which disperses Horner's music in between classic jazz pieces. One awkward track (though enjoyable in its own funky way) is the Arabic "Sulu Kule" song, which despite its ability to make you want to crank up the volume, has absolutely nothing to do with the score or the other songs. Overall, the album presentation is highlighted by pleasant restatements of Horner's previous thematic tenderness, one roaring original jazz cue among a handful of decent vintage jazz songs, and that crazy Arabic interlude. Only the true Horner fanatic will find much merit in this rather insignificant product.   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Score as Written for the Film: ***
Score as Heard on the Album: *
Overall: **

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.