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Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if no measure of positive spirit, even in short length and powerful doses, is too small to deter you from a predictably feel-good score. Avoid it... if you're typically bothered by anonymous light-drama scores that constantly make you think you've heard the music somewhere before. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Strings, harp, chimes, and woodwinds are led by a piano in most of the saccharine thematic development throughout the score. It's the ultimate in feel-good scoring, with never a minor key strike to interrupt the brief, but solid mood of the score. The primary theme is introduced immediately and reprised endlessly throughout Patch Adams, allowing the score to retain a sense of moving harmony at all times. No dull moment exists, with every cue pulling at your emotions with a cymbal-rolling, chime-tapping crescendo of pure goodness. Short bursts of jazzy style, as in the latter moments of "Ranch Reveal" present a slur of the piano with a heightened acoustic guitar rhythm, though these moments are so laced with the same positive spirit as the rest of the score that you barely notice the shift in rhythm. The final two cues on album present the most ambitious recordings, inserting brass counterpoint and snare rhythms into the mix for a reprise of the style heard in The American President. Therein lies the problem with Patch Adams for many score listeners; it's a highly derivative score that creates problems when it uses quotations of style from other Shaiman works (as well as those by other composers) and forces them into the anonymous template heard in Patch Adams. There are touches of influence not only from Shaiman's own works, but from those of Randy Newman, Alan Silvestri, Thomas Newman, and Jerry Goldsmith. The jazzy movements are reminders of Randy Newman's own ventures into the genre, the piano work echo Silvestri's Forrest Gump, the opening to "The Ruling" is suspiciously similar to the end of Thomas Newman's Little Women, and there are thematic structures, mostly performed by woodwinds, that conjure Goldsmith's Love Field. Still, the score's ability to twist all of those elements into a love-fest filled to the brim with light percussion is pure Shaiman, and a solid recording mix of the score adds to its easy lovability. The collection of songs cheapens the product and, with the exception of the first two, aren't that interesting. What remains are 21 minutes of score, and despite its inherent flaws and short length, it's still a worthy used-bin find.
Music as Heard on CD: *** Overall: ***
(about 21 minutes of score)
The insert notes contain lengthy credits, but no extra information about the score. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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