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Review of Dragonheart: A New Beginning (Mark McKenzie)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you've always longed to hear Randy Edelman's "To the
Stars" theme from Dragonheart performed solely symphonically and
seek a competent and functional sequel score.
Avoid it... if you expect Mark McKenzie to really take advantage of this great opportunity and create a magical score, though a poor performance is partly to blame.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Dragonheart: A New Beginning: (Mark McKenzie/Randy
Edelman) Apparently, Universal Pictures was so intent on milking this
cow of every last drop of cash that the studio was willing to accept a
script for a sequel to 1996's popular Dragonheart even though the
story of that film made it clear through its narrative that dragons are
now extinct. In the world of straight-to-video sequels, however, you
never have to let that kind of problem get in the way. Nor do you have
to worry about the fact that none of the cast returns and, for the most
part, there are no significant connections to the previous story. A dumb
plot, poor special effects, and no-name crew plagued the film and it
appropriately languished on store shelves. In terms of the music for
Dragonheart: A New Beginning, there are at least a few
connections between composers Mark McKenzie and Randy Edelman (whose
original score remains a favorite across all ages). The two men are good
friends and McKenzie attempted to continue the previous score's success
by incorporating some of Edelman's material and style into his own
effort. The sequel, slowed by production delays for nearly a year,
changes location from the original, finally taking place in the Orient.
This opportunity allowed McKenzie to adapt what material he felt
necessary from the Edelman's Dragonheart score and infuse it with
a touch of Far Eastern interpretation for the new setting. The resulting
score is both functional and inspirational, although the ethnic
influence is unfortunately only slight. The first and most obvious
difference between the two scores is the fact that McKenzie relies much
more heavily on the symphony rather than the synthesizer. What's
interesting about this franchise, though, is that Dragonheart was
one of Edelman's few electronically dominated scores which actually
enhanced the fantasy-driven spirit of its film successfully (as opposed
to, for instance, Gettysburg, for which the electronics were
completely inappropriate). McKenzie has always been an orchestrator at
heart, and it can be heard in his tendency to wisely use whatever size
of ensemble is available to him. He usually does pretty well with
undersized performing groups, too, sometimes double or triple mixing a
section of the orchestra onto itself in order to add needed depth to the
score.
The music for Dragonheart: A New Beginning, although well crafted as an original composition, seems restrained by the Slovack Philharmonic, not so much in the performances of the themes, but mostly during the action cues, which lack that much needed depth or power. Edelman was able to compensate for this problem by pumping up the bass in Dragonheart, and perhaps something similar might have helped with McKenzie's score. Even with this flaw noted, Dragonheart: A New Beginning is still a strong effort for an otherwise unknown video spin-off film. The opening titles suite, as well as the original Oriental theme heard in "My Heart Goes With You," are superb, as are McKenzie's integration of Edelman's "To the Stars" theme into his own cues. The lack of adaptation of the theme that Edelman technically used as his primary idea for the first film (the heroic fanfare) is a bit curious. The mass of the score is solid enough to suffice, though the action cues, as mentioned before, lack bite. On the whole, Dragonheart: A New Beginning is a decent score, and yet, it has a few nagging flaws that will likely send people back to their shelves for the Edelman original. The underpowered symphony is almost a fatal problem; the final album mix improved the problem substantially (this review is based on a slightly longer, early 1999 edit of the score), though sparse counterpoint on brass in the two suite-like cues (similar in structure to Warlock: The Armageddon) is distracting. There are also a few irritating performance flubs on brass in the major thematic sequences. A subtheme heard early in the title suite pulls a bit of obvious inspiration from James Horner's love theme from The Mask of Zorro. The other minor flaw is the voice of Rona Figueroa, the actress in the film who performs the song version of "My Heart Goes With You." Her voice, while spectacularly talented, is too high pitched for the key of the song, causing it to flutter during its higher notes. McKenzie mentioned that the opportunity to write a symphonic score for a film involving dragons and myth was grand, but many familiar with the composer's career were hoping for an even more daring score for Dragonheart: A New Beginning. It's a predictably functional work in every regard, but it doesn't establish an atmosphere of magic that Edelman's original was already lacking to a degree. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 39:34
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes notes from McKenzie and director Doug Lefler, as well as
lyrics for the song.
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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 Dragonheart: A New Beginning are Copyright © 2000, Varèse Sarabande and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 10/12/99 and last updated 9/29/08. |
