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Review of Bicentennial Man (James Horner)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you seek a test of your James Horner knowledge, for
you can consider yourself a true fan of the composer if you can identify
no less than ten (yes, ten!) previous Horner scores that are merged to
form the music for Bicentennial Man.
Avoid it... if the above prospect is as dreaded as those old standardized tests for school.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Bicentennial Man: (James Horner) The concept of
Isaac Asimov's 1976 pondering about robots and artificial intelligence
in future ages has inspired countless films and television series
through the digital age of entertainment, and Bicentennial Man
was amongst the first in line. Chris Columbus' 1999 attempt to examine
the humanity of a robot met with failure, partly due to the fact that
the concept had been better tackled elsewhere. The film covers two
centuries of one robot's devoted life to a real life family, a loyal
servant bound by Asimov's three universal laws and who eventually
strives to become more human himself. The robot's journey leads him
through countless generations of the family and inevitable courtroom
drama involving his existence at the end, and although this concept is
inherently an engrossing one, Columbus moved so quickly through many of
the feel-good elements of the plot that the robot's transformation lacks
serious regard. Columbus was set to reunite with Home Alone and
Stepmom musical collaborator John Williams for the music for
Bicentennial Man, but the maestro was forced to bow out of the
production due to scheduling conflicts. Columbus then turned to James
Horner, for whom Bicentennial Man would be the composer's only
1999 score. Still reveling in the success of Titanic, Horner was
experiencing one of the slowest parts of his career, and anticipation
for his Bicentennial Man score (after a year absent from the
scene) was high. Unfortunately, like the film, response to the score was
flat, and most of this lack of enthusiasm was directly related to the
simple fact that the score is little more than a collection of ideas
from Horner's works from the previous seven or eight years. It takes the
concept of "Horner self-referencing" to a degree that it almost becomes
a temp track parody of his own works. Ears familiar with each of the
composer's previous scores will have a field day identifying them,
making any competent listener wonder if Horner himself did not realize
the extent of his originality problem.
The tragedy of Bicentennial Man's score is that the combined sum of all these "Hornerisms" is actually quite listenable and occasionally compelling. If these ideas were all debuting in Bicentennial Man, then without a doubt the score would be hailed as a masterpiece. It's a pleasant listening experience throughout its length, with several cues serving as lovely summaries of Horner's style and mannerisms of the era. On its own merits, Bicentennial Man successfully addressed Columbus' need for sappy melodrama, producing a theme for the robot's creation and early discovery, a theme for the family he serves, and another for the concept of love that develops in his soul as the story progresses. The first theme immediately opens the score (before the flurry of percussive rhythms) and whimsically matches the robot's spirit and friendship with a little girl through the early cues (receiving its most otherworldly performance in "Mechanical Love" and a lovely string rendition at the start of "The Search for Another"). The second theme bursts forth in "The Wedding," and follows the mold of Legends of the Fall and Braveheart. Both of these themes have a habit of merging with (or transforming into) the third theme, which is the love theme that prevails late in "The Wedding" and flourishes thereafter). Several smaller motifs extend the range of these three themes, while Horner's robust symphonic structures provide the depth that an ambitious dramatic production like Bicentennial Man needs. When you throw in the Celine Dion song adaptation of the third theme at the end, you have a neatly wrapped package sure to impress a novice listeners thrilled by the film. If you know better, then Bicentennial Man tests your willingness to turn off your brain long enough to enjoy its more engaging moments. A cue like "The Machine Age" is a noisy but charming explosion of frenetic activity hardly original in its progression, and a cue like "The Search for Another" represents a familiar thematic journey that perfectly captures the optimistic side of Horner's writing. A cue like "The Wedding" is the typical heartfelt string affair for a concept identical in title and tone to Deep Impact. Any of these cues in Bicentennial Man is sufficient to please a listener who's in the right mood. Otherwise, however, a Horner devotee or hater will equally notice the following problematic self-borrowings. First, the rhythmic progressions of "The Machine Age" are a member of an exclusive club of four Horner scores that use the same idea. Born in Sneakers and Searching for Bobby Fischer, this idea eventually yielded an Oscar nomination for the mathematical ramblings in A Beautiful Mind. The crescendo of these progressions in Bicentennial Man is slower and less fluid than those in the arguably more listenable 2001 score, though for this occasion Horner deserves significant praise for using the percussion section to perfectly mimic the sound of a futuristic factory. Wood blocks, metallic tapping, and sharp trumpet sixteenth bursts are harmonically placed over the tinkering meandering of the piano at the rhythm's heart. All of this may be too familiar, especially by the time the cue reaches the same concluding progressions that go back to Star Trek II's conclusion, but it's still a very attractive cue and likely the highlight of the score for most listeners who appreciate every variation on this distinctly Horner-specific idea. Immediately following in "Special Delivery" (at 0:15) is an identical choral-aided recapitulation of the docking cue from Apollo 13. Some of the pulls are a little less obvious. The famous four-note motif of evil, established in Willow, is translated onto high, major-key woodwinds in "The Magic Spirit." When combined with the flighty atmosphere of the other elements in that cue, however, its tone will remind far more people of The Spitfire Grill. A slight, descending, major-key piano motif representing the goodness of humanity and the bond of family in Deep Impact is repeated throughout Bicentennial Man as well, first heard near the end of "A Gift for Little Miss." This idea technically goes back to both The Spitfire Grill and (even more prevalently to) To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday, but it was in Deep Impact that the motif played its most significant role. The famous cue "The Wedding" takes the similarities to Deep Impact and other Horner scores to ridiculous levels. The fact that the theme introduced by horns at the very outset and on strings at 0:30 is only a slight alteration of the wedding cue in Deep Impact raises valid questions about the extent to which Horner was asked to follow a temp track of his own material in Bicentennial Man. By the time the cue makes lengthy statements from the princess' theme in Braveheart later on, lathering it on strings with the same weighty orchestrations of Legends of the Fall, it loses any serious intent for a learned Horner fan. The love theme that occupies much of the latter half of the score is has seemingly faint references to the love theme from Titanic, however a closer examination reveals far more frustrating similarities to the "Dreams to Dream" song from American Tail: Fievel Goes West. The simplicity of this theme's arrangement in the song at the end of Bicentennial Man, "Then You Look at Me," further exposes the disturbing connections to "Dreams to Dream" to such an extent that your brain can almost twist Dion's voice into that of the mouse and get the same yearning result. On the topic of the song, Dion's performance here is a transparent attempt to extend the success of her previous collaboration with Horner, and while her lower tones in the first two minutes are easily tolerable, her voice simply becomes to grating in its higher registers thereafter to enjoy. Overall, aside from all of these obvious self-references, Horner still manages to hold the score together with its consistent textures and otherworldly atmosphere. On album, Bicentennial Man exceeds his previous efforts for Mighty Joe Young and Deep Impact in terms of soothing listenability. If you think of it in terms of function, there's nothing inherently wrong with it; he likely gave the production exactly what it was asking for. For veteran fans, the opening cue will be a variation on perhaps Horner's most unique career concept and the rest of it can be discarded as a fun test of your knowledge of the composer's career. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 66:27
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes lyrics for the song, but no extra information about the score or film.
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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 Bicentennial Man are Copyright © 1999, Sony Classical and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 12/17/99 and last updated 4/26/08. |
