Buy it... if you're ready to get caught up in the whirlwind of James Horner's most spirited and orchestrally humongous slapstick effort.

Avoid it... if you value consistency and broad strokes in your Horner animation scores (such as The Land Before Time).

Horner

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.

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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. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

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For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.09 (in 95 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.27 (in 176,442 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.