Buy it... if you wonder where the vintage dramatic styles of James Horner and Thomas Newman went, for James Newton Howard has managed to find them and restate their beauty for the benefit of nostalgia.

Avoid it... if you expect a well-rounded and passionate dramatic romance score, because Howard seems a bit too comfortable understating his nebulous ideas throughout this safely pleasant but not really engaging music.

Howard

Water for Elephants: (James Newton Howard) Films with the old-fashioned dramatic narrative of 2011's Water for Elephants have become a rarity in Hollywood over the past twenty years. The adaptation of Sara Gruen's bestselling novel was a moderate fiscal success despite protests stemming from accusations that the leading elephant in the production was shown beaten by its handlers in hidden camera footage shot prior to the film's shooting. The elephant is key to a plot that involves a young man who runs off with a traveling circus in 1931 and becomes the group's veterinarian. He embroils himself in the tough relationships between the blow-hard that leads the circus, his stunt-performing wife, and a variety of other performers and henchmen that comprise the group. The ruthless hand of the leader is a convenient foil for the budding romance between his wife and the young newcomer. The elephant plays a pivotal role in assuring the protagonists' bid for freedom and a life with the famed Ringling circus. Mixed reviews resulted mainly because of very poor chemistry between lead actors Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson. Playing the film from a relatively safe angle is composer James Newton Howard, with whom director Francis Lawrence had collaborated for I Am Legend. Howard's attachment to Water for Elephants is a welcome change for a composer who has largely avoided straight forward dramatic music in recent times, despite his proven ability in the genre. His score would share screen time with a number of period-appropriate songs, and these mostly jazzy pieces of the puzzle are provided a very wet mix and intermingled directly with the score cues on the album. For the amount of dramatic character activities in Water for Elephants, Howard's relatively conservative approach to the score is both intriguing and disappointing. It's the kind of music that predictably touches upon a number of possible temp-track inspirations, almost constantly reminding you of works by other respected composers in the genre. The resulting score is certainly adequate and, at times, exceptional, but it gives you the somewhat unnerving feeling that you're hearing an arrangement of ideas rather than an original composition.

The ensemble employed by Howard for Water for Elephants is very conventional for the majority of the work, only occasionally employing instruments in ways that represent the music (and stereotypes) of the era. Strings at the forefront and brass in soothing supporting roles comprise the score's majority of harmonious explorations of melody. Piano and delicately plucked support that vaguely reminds of Lady in the Water are replaced by aggressive acoustic guitar, harmonica, and other usual suspects for "Western" drama appeal. At times, Howard emulates the songs' 1920's style of laid-back brass-led jazz in source-like applications. If the instrumental usage only hints of other composers' work for you, then the melodic ideas will clarify the connections further. There are a couple of themes that run through Water for Elephants, one a meandering series of lines meant to accentuate the tenderness of the lead character and his relations with others. The second is seemingly a vision of a better future, only heard sparingly in places that suggest the life that the leads will eventually enjoy together. That latter melody owes to John Barry's handling of period drama, with fluid lines in the last halves of "Circus Fantasy" and "The Stampede/I'm Coming Home" that also share hints of Waterworld. The primary theme, however, is heard throughout the score's major scenes, and here Howard should send licensing dues to James Horner for creating a melody (in familiar instrumental colors) that would reside snugly with Horner's late 1980's/early 1990's dramatic works. The initial "Did I Miss It?" performances of this idea utilize the language of Alexandre Desplat to a degree, but by the atmospheric, piano, and synthetic choral performance of the theme at the outset of "Circus Fantasy," the Horner connections are unmistakable. In fact, most of Water for Elephants sounds like a Horner throwback score, a nice treat for fans who miss that composer's equivalent style. Also satisfied (hopefully) will be enthusiasts of vintage Thomas Newman music; the tones of that composer's lost Americana spirit of yesteryear are conveyed in the pair of "The Circus Sets Up" and "The Job is Yours," the latter layering the Horner-inspired theme on top. The Newman flavor in "The Circus Sets Up" is so saturating that it's actually kind of bizarre to hear.

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While the melodic connections to the music of Horner and Newman from decades ago may deter some jaded listeners, the cues that most blatantly utilize these sources of inspiration are clearly the highlights of Water for Elephants. The combination of "The Circus Sets Up," "Circus Fantasy," and "The Job is Yours" makes for seven or eight absolutely engrossing minutes of nostalgic listening. The rest of the score, unfortunately, is a bit underwhelming. The most notable expression of Howard mannerisms comes in "The Stampede," with a few hints of The Last Airbender in its sternly melodramatic ensemble crescendo. One of the most interesting aspects of Water for Elephants, however, is how timid the score seems to be in its sum. The entirety has a somewhat hazy atmosphere of a dream (pushed not only by the occasionally distant, wet mix but also the usual assortment of tingling light percussion), which is a fine choice out of the Barry playbook, but it causes the suspense and action cues to lack much punch. In cues like "Jacob Returns" and "I Can See Straight Through You," Howard provides rather plain dissonant environments without really manipulating the score's themes in engaging ways. Several cues lack any spark of life whatsoever, especially in the romance department. "Sanctuary" and "Shooting Star" are prime examples of this problem, though the latter does gain some attention for strangely reprising sequences of "Sally's Song" from Danny Elfman's The Nightmare Before Christmas. The most curious aspect of the purely background underscore cues, however, is that Howard treats the relationship between the lead character and the elephant with more warmth that between that lead and Witherspoon's character. For instance, you hear more depth of harmonious passion in a cue like "Rosie" than anywhere else in the score. With so many small oddities involving Water for Elephants, including the endless stream of connections to other composers, it has been difficult to determine if the hour-long album for the soundtrack should receive three or four stars. The songs fade in and out of the score with ease, though the changes in key aren't always smooth. Still, it's great to hear vintage Horner and Newman music, even in small doses, and for that likely unintended outcome by Howard, the album has to be cautiously recommended. ****   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

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For James Newton Howard reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.31 (in 53 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.16 (in 58,041 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.