Buy it... if you somewhat enjoyed Cliff Eidelman's ventures into the character drama genre in the 1990's and would be interested in one of the better variants of his softer touch.

Avoid it... if you own none off those lighter Eidelman scores (or an equivilent Rachel Portman score, for that matter) and are still waiting for him to return to his adventurous roots.

Eidelman

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: (Cliff Eidelman) Based on the stories of four girls in a novel by Ann Brashares, director Ken Kwapis' The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants tells of the young lives of four high school seniors who have grown up together since birth, and share a common bond with a pair of used pants that miraculously (given their different shapes and sizes) fits them all. As they head off to lives of their own, they each wear the pants for a week before shipping the pair on to the next girl on the list. Various other rules involving the pants make The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants a story with innocent and decent morals. Kwapis is no stranger to this genre of film, nor is his usual collaborator, composer Cliff Eidelman. Together for The Beautician and the Beast and Sexual Life, Eidelman's music has ranged from the fully orchestral in the former to a tightly knit chamber piece for the latter. Eidelman's career has been one of significant frustration for collectors of film music, with many parallels being drawn between his career and those of a few other relatively young upstarts in the 1990's, including Joel McNeely and Mark McKenzie. It was Eidelman who hit the scene with a bang in the early 1990's with verbose, fully orchestral scores that promised a career of significant recognition and success. Starting in the mid-1990's, however, Eidelman became involved with smaller character dramas (A Simple Twist of Fate, Now and Then, One True Thing), and since then has become seemingly hopelessly mired in the somewhat uninspiring genre ever since. These scores are the perpetual 3-star variety of pleasant, undemanding, and easily listenable themes for small orchestras, often led by Eidelman's tendency to put the piano at the forefront. Whether he likes it or not, he has become the American version of Rachel Portman, minus the melodramatic strings of the famed British master of light character scores.

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The most substantial evidence that Eidelman has become an American version of Portman came with his score for The Lizzie McGuire Movie a few years ago, and further confirmation of this career transformation by Eidelman would come with The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Despite the film being known for its obvious song usage, Eidelman offered 30+ minutes of sweet and impressively energetic orchestral underscore for The Lizzie McGuire Movie, often sharing the same bouncing rhythms common to Portman comedy scores. His parody writing for that score (especially in "Operation Sister Surveillance" over the titles) presented a more exuberant Eidelman than we had heard in a while. For The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, the tone is a little more restrained, though Eidelman compensates with a more variable instrumental palette necessary for the different world locations and differing personalities of the four main characters. Once again led by the piano, Eidelman never short-changes you in the theme department, sticking to not just the overarching, tender theme for the foursome, but also branching off into consistent sub-motifs for individual characters. A light string section, marimbas, plentiful woodwinds, xylophones, acoustic guitar, and occasional bit roles for mandolin and accordion provide a soft soundscape for the film. Most interesting are wordless female vocals that elegantly grace several cues with obvious intent. A very friendly score, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants only reaches the energetic levels of The Lizzie McGuire Movie in a few cues. The culmination cue of "Sisterhood Reunites" layers the vocals with the full (though still not large) ensemble for a satisfying conclusion. The highlight cue is "The Traveling Song," which adds more substantial depth to the guitar, bass, violin, piano, miramba, and vocals for a cue that stands as Eidelman's best in several years. This direction may not be the one that many early Eidelman fans may want to see, but the composer seems to have established himself as very competent in the genre at the very least. Even so, with talent like his, we can all still hope that the ever-elusive assignment for a major film is just around the corner. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Cliff Eidelman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.29 (in 17 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.2 (in 7,740 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.