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Review of *batteries not included (James Horner)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you desire a rough foreshadowing of the balance
between vintage jazz and orchestral sensitivity in James Horner's later
Cocoon: The Return and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.
Avoid it... if you expect Horner's cute, uniquely playful tones for the mechanized alien visitors in this film to translate well to album, especially on the exceedingly long 2018 product.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
*batteries not included: (James Horner) Originally
meant to be an episodic entry in Steven Spielberg's "Amazing Stories"
television series of the mid-1980's, the plot of *batteries not
included was considered too overflowing with potential to constrain
to anything less than a full feature film. Unfortunately, while
Spielberg produced the film and brought a lot of his comfortable talent
with him for Universal, he declined to schedule the film into his own
directorial schedule. Instead helming *batteries not included was
Matthew Robbins, and although he does a decent enough job of emulating
Spielberg's sense of wonderment for the production, Robbins was quickly
pounced upon by critics for missing the same touch. The basic
ingredients of an affable Spielberg story of the 1980's are all there,
however, merging concepts from E.T. and Cocoon to form a
story of two, small flying saucers from outer space that float into the
window of an elderly couple's New York apartment one night. That couple
is played by Jessica Tandy and Hume Cronyn (not only a real-life pair
but both also appearing in Cocoon: The Return the following
year), and they run a restaurant at the base of their New York apartment
complex that happens to be the target of developers. The two little
saucers mean well, and after using appliance parts and household power
to rejuvenate themselves, they take on the cause of the couple in saving
their building from the developers' thugs. The picture is as cute as one
could possibly imagine, though despite strong special effects and
Spielberg's influence, *batteries not included did not tug at
enough heart strings to be considered truly memorable. No stranger to
either Universal's Spielberg-related productions or the genre of science
fiction fairy tales was composer James Horner, whose career was entering
full swing (quite literally) by the time *batteries not included
arrived in 1987. The assignment gave Horner the opportunity to stay
firmly rooted in his comfort zone within this narrow sub-genre, plucking
many of the elements from his music for Cocoon for rearrangement
in *batteries not included while also testing a few ideas that
would receive significantly more development in The Land Before
Time the next year.
In retrospect, the music for *batteries not included really doesn't offer a Horner collector anything newsworthy, especially with better exploration of all of the various components of this score in later efforts. Still, however, it is a serviceable score best heard on a shorter album presentation. If anything, *batteries not included proves that Horner was either obsessed with the style of Glenn Miller's vintage jazz or simply really good at emulating it. The jazzy structures you hear in this score are very similar to those of Cocoon: The Return. They occupy a significant portion of the musical landscape here, opening the film and providing spirited enthusiasm to the endeavors of the lead couple. The composer actually recorded much more of this style of material for *batteries not included than was actually used in the picture or available on the initial soundtrack album. If you've never been appreciative of either the disparate environment caused by this style of jazz in Cocoon: The Return or the more extensive variations in Swing Kids, then *batteries not included is limited in what it can offer you in its remaining parts. Horner writes two themes for the orchestral renderings, one of mechanized percussion and bouncing woodwind rhythms for the alien saucers themselves and a more standard lyrical idea for lofty strings that represents the sentimentality of the tale. The first theme of descending mystery tinkers with creative sounds in "Night Visitors," though Horner's noise-makers and other sound effect-like devices to denote cute robots are nowhere near as interesting as Jerry Goldsmith's similar employment of creativity at the time. The prancing optimism of this theme sometimes segues directly into the jazz, and a few of the perky combinations of the two sounds are very similar to Horner's forthcoming Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The latter theme, the one of friendship, is a more fluid orchestral identity that opens the "End Credits" with a full statement in typical Horner fashion after several flourishes in previous scenes during the latter half of the film. Collectors of the composer's works will notice significant similarities between this idea and one in The Land Before Time, the most complete and obvious connection coming in the first thirty seconds of "Hamburger Rhumba." Outside of Horner's rotation between the two main themes of *batteries not included are a few unique passages usually denoting suspense for the villain's henchman with equally familiar Horner techniques. The entirety of "Arson" (along with a few jabs at the conclusion of "Farewell") consists of slightly dissonant, melodramatic rumbling for lower performance elements that culminates in a truly disturbing crescendo of despair at the end. On the whole, however, *batteries not included is a mostly pleasant children's genre-type of work that will appeal to devoted collectors of Horner's 1980's jazz-infused scores. Only existing on an early MCA Records CD album from the film's debut, the score was difficult to obtain for a long time. For casual film music collectors, the recommendation on that album was the same as that for Cocoon: The Return, though this score has more intrigue to offer. In 2018, Intrada Records finally pressed a limited edition of the score that doubled the amount of material offered, appending the original 46-minute album's edits onto the majority of a second CD. The longer presentation is largely redundant but does feature a few notable additions, including the highly varied whirlwinds of "Aerial Ballet" and "The Flying Lesson," the challenging suspense of "The Basement," and the most important addition: the lyrical conclusion in "Out of the Ashes." Along with these cues are several rather mundane, soft passages for only portions of the orchestra. On the other end of the spectrum are the extended sequences for the flying saucers, such as "Babies Buzz New York," that are readily capable of annoying the listener in their fuller breadth. This additional comedy element, joined by "The Bread Box" and "Carlos," really grates on the nerves after a while, and the full 90 minutes of the score on the Intrada album will test your patience with Horner's slapstick mode. Some of the metallic scraping noises Horner employs for the robots' antics are downright maddening and distracting. While there is intellectual merit to the fuller presentation, *batteries not included struggles to maintain enough sanity for 90 minutes to justify the longer album if you already own the rare shorter one. The sound quality was not appreciably improved on the 2018 product, so approach it with the knowledge that everything you hear in its ranks was better developed in subsequent scores that may function better on album for you. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
1987 MCA Album:
Total Time: 45:41
2018 Intrada Album: Total Time: 135:11
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 1987 MCA album includes no extra information
about the score or film. That of the 2018 Intrada album contains extensive notes
about both.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from *batteries not included are Copyright © 1987, 2018, MCA Records, Intrada Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 8/21/09 and last updated 8/31/20. |
