Buy it... if you have enjoyed John Debney's stock, pre-packaged adventure music and wouldn't be bothered by a cross between James Horner's sensibilities and Debney's own The Scorpion King.

Avoid it... if you're still waiting for another Debney classic at the level of Cutthroat Island from the composer who never seems to sleep.

Debney

Zathura: (John Debney) The third large-scale adaptation of a short Chris Van Allsburg book, Zathura follows Jumanji and The Polar Express and makes it clear to movie-goers what children's book readers already knew: this guy must have had a deprived childhood. Both the two previous films made significant grosses at the box office, despite poor reviews for Jumanji and highly mixed reactions to the visual rendering of The Polar Express. Ironically, Zathura may very well end up receiving a slightly better critical response on average, but the film has yet to show (despite a strong first week) that it has any chance of making the blockbuster designation like the other two. Zathura isn't a fable like The Polar Express and isn't a scary jungle chase like Jumanji; it is a more innocent, whimsical science fiction story in which the youth of the tale travel the solar system in their uprooted house, avoiding space lizards, meteors, and other phenomena that never really seem too dangerous. Indeed, not even a badguy gets killed in the story. Actor-turned-director Jon Favreau, who made a splash with his second film, Elf, a few years ago, provides the same innocence in fantasy for this Van Allsburg story. And as before, veteran composer John Debney dives head first into yet another genre he is expanding upon in his resume. Debney is easily the composer of the year for 2005, not because of any particularly gigantic single effort, but for the mind-boggling volume of his output across endless genres and instrumental styles. He even received a blessing from the Pope in Rome, no less, for his concert adaptation of music from The Passion of the Christ, and would raise money for survivors of Hurricane Katrina through a benefit performance of that same concert. With five scores already composed for or on his radar in the remainder of 2005 and early 2006, you have to admire Debney's ability to produce interesting and effective music at such a hurried pace. We know this man battles Satan in the parking lot, but does he ever sleep?

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Whenever Debney approaches a major adventure or fantasy project, the first thing score collectors want to know is whether it compares favorably to his well-established and respected calling card: Cutthroat Island. So to say it right off the bat, Zathura is nowhere near Cutthroat Island territory. But it exists at the better-than-average level of My Favorite Martian and The Scorpion King, with some of the lengthy choral contributions of the latter score. What Zathura has going in favor it is a ceaseless level of orchestral activity from a large Los Angeles ensemble. In its bulk application, Debney succeeds in providing satisfying rhythms and stereotypical chord progressions from space adventures of yesteryear with all the exuberance necessary to cause the music to take flight. On the other hand, there's a significantly campy and borderline cheesy side to Zathura that smells distinctly like David Newman's Galaxy Quest, with the incessant snare and the lighter, underpowered choir draining whatever seriousness there would have been in the music otherwise. The main titles are an unashamed tribute to the sensibilities of James Horner's Star Trek scores, with a touch of David Arnold's heroics left over from Debney's wholesale use of it in Chicken Little, and even the repetition of the final orchestral hits in John Williams fashion. A handful of these monumental cues lead Zathura on its satisfying ride, highlighted by the expansive "Shooting Star Card" cue. Some of the stutter-step action pieces, however, remind of the campy B-grade sci-fi scores of the 1980's, with Craig Safan's The Last Starfighter mentioned as a similarly faux-heroic entry in the same library of sounds. The score progressively loses that innocence as it reaches its strong, final six cues. But throughout its length of blaring brass, borderline choral overuse, and that still ceaselessly ripping snare, the recording quality of the score is remarkably flat. This phenomenon has plagued several of Debney's fuller recordings in the action genre, and it constricts Zathura with a dry sound that doesn't do justice to the soaring spirit of space travel. Overall, though, another commendable effort in Debney's remarkable year. ****   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For John Debney reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.23 (in 49 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.01 (in 42,775 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.