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We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story: (James Horner) There
were two films about dinosaurs in 1993 that were either produced or directed
by Steven Spielberg. One was
Jurassic Park, for which John Williams
wrote one of the most popular scores of the 1990's. And then there was
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, on which James Horner matches
Williams note for note in an effort to take a dinosaur horror score and
twist it into a wildly outrageous slapstick variation. If a collector of
Horner's works looks back at all of the children's scores from 1988 to 1995
--animated and live-action-- then a good head-scratching could result. But
of all the somewhat bizarre projects on which Horner became involved during
that era, none is stranger in content or musical result than
We're Back!
A Dinosaur's Story. A Spielberg-produced flight of fantasy, the film
basically follows four singing and dancing dinosaurs as they travel forward
in time to New York and engage in activities that today would constitute a
significant breech in American national security. Whether or not Horner
chose these assignments simply because of his association with the
producers, there are two facts about a film like
We're Back! A Dinosaur's
Story that would explain Horner's involvement. First of all, movies like
this were still being released to theatres in the early 1990's, in the days
before the straight-to-video market and the creation of Disney's heinous
video sequel department. Secondly, Horner does seem to have had a whole lot
of fun when writing and recording some of these more imaginative children's
scores. Without a doubt,
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story is his most
zany and energetic slapstick comedy score. With sound effects and funky
rhythms at breakneck speeds, this score is Horner's response to Jerry
Goldsmith's
Gremlins 2. And with the complexity of much of the
writing in
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, fans should be
appreciative that the London Symphony Orchestra was once again Horner's
typical performing group of choice, because the score makes some strenuous
demands on those performers.
On a technical level, Horner's composition here is more
impressive than in any of his other animation scores. There are marvelous
sequences of slapstick comedy that, when combined with the superior
abilities of the ensemble, merit a listen simply for study alone. If you
recall the most active and dense sections of
The Pagemaster and
Balto, imagine that music beefed up another notch in intensity. One
of Horner's few truly slapstick efforts,
We're Back! A Dinosaur's
Story rips and snorts through countless thematic motifs and rhythms that
will make your head spin. An appropriately cute title theme opens and closes
the score, although it is the soaring subtheme heard in "Flying Forward in
Time" that draws broad strokes from
The Land Before Time and offers
its lush strings over brass lengths that will remind of John Barry's modern
styles. The dominating spirit in the score is established in "Grand Slam
Demons," however, when Horner rips the
Beetlejuice titles' bass
rhythm and begins to overlay the London Symphony Orchestra with his various
specialty instruments, eventually including kazoos, a barrel organ,
vibraphone, whistle, and a series of sound effects not limited to car horns,
sirens, and duck calls. This creativity on a massive level extends to
"Circus" and "Grand Demon Parade" and each of these explosions of sound are
led by brass themes that play on famous classical and older film music
themes (including everything from
The Godfather to
The Phantom of
the Opera); for people driven nuts by Horner's "self-ripoffs," be
content in knowing that he quotes others' works far more than his own
(although the four-note evil motif of his does make a muted appearance). The
most important aspect of
We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story is that all
the musicians, whether they play the muted trumpets or the inspiring
percussion, embrace Horner's playfulness and respond with a sense of zeal
that you rarely hear. In "Grand Demon Parade," you even get to hear the
brass section intentionally play the wrong notes; the overall effect makes
anybody wonder just how much the LSO enjoyed performing this one, and
whether it changed their opinion of Horner. A customary female choir fills
out the magical moments of a more sincere heart. As a whole, the score
requires a very specific mood in order to fully enjoy it (a usual response
to slapstick music). Two variations on the "Roll Back the Rock" song
co-authored by Horner don't help the package. The album (a rare DAD
recording) is an out-of-print item and will likely provide more laughter for
a Horner collector than casual enjoyment.
***
| Bias Check: | For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.12 (in 89 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.34
(in 158,769 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
