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FILMTRACKS.COM
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Review of Elf (John Debney)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you can find merit in overly-exuberant 1950's era
whistling and singing over light orchestral rhythms and John Debney's
usual, consistently melodic output.
Avoid it... if you believe for good reason that if you've heard one light and fluffy Debney comedy score, you've heard them all, the only difference in this case being the Christmas spirit.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Elf: (John Debney) To the astonishment of many, the
silly Will Ferrell comedy Elf has become a popular staple amongst
American's favorite Christmastime films, a personality-driven urban
fantasy film with plenty of innocent fluff to go around. The story of a
human toddler who accidentally ended up in Santa's bag of toys and was
adopted by elves at the North Pole doesn't sound like a sure winner, but
Elf debuted strongly at the start of the 2003 holiday movie
season and continues to build upon its legacy today. As the uneducated
manchild raised by elves is re-integrated into urban society during a
search for his biological parents, the film follows the comedy of his
acclimation until its heartwarming, feel-good conclusion. Idiocy is
celebrated because a big heart prevails. It was the kind of physical
humor entry that relied partly on Ferrell's loyal fanbase from
television, and outside of that group of viewers, Elf didn't
offer many attractions. And yet, its genuinely simple, throwback 1950s
spirit carries the day. It was a project perfectly constructed for
composer John Debney, who seemed to find himself involved in countless
less-intellectual projects such as this throughout the early 2000's,
thus allowing him to fine tune his comedy skills to a level of
predictable quality that overachieves in many contexts. More
importantly, the film began an impactful collaboration between the
composer and new director Jon Favreau, with Debney also using the score
as a calling card for countless other cheery, holiday-related
assignments over the subsequent decades, including his eventual entry
into the Home Alone franchise. The composer's music for Snow
Dogs the previous year was the most recent adventurous activity for
Debney in snowy climates, and his music for the setting is always
complete with appropriate holiday percussion and allusions to common
Christmas jingles. Like Bruce Almighty earlier in 2003, Debney's
music for Elf runs the risk of anonymity due to his own knack for
maintaining pleasant but faceless consistency.
There are only a few cues in Elf that Debney's collectors will be unable to trace to origins in a previous effort from him, but it's the uniquely retro personality of this work's thematic and stylistic highlights that sets it apart. Aside from the 1950s whistling and other imitations of television special music from a generation past, the most distinguishing aspect of Elf is the conscious effort by the composer to spruce it up with a truly saturating holiday spirit. At times, this Christmas jubilance seems overplayed, but given that Elf is an intentionally innocuous and ridiculous comedy, the flamboyant style of Debney's approach is arguably appropriate. While at times inspired by John Williams' Home Alone, the modern standard for holiday film music, this music was clearly not meant to compete with it. More often pilfered is Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" and classic holiday staples like the 1934 song, "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town," the latter element giving the work a free-flowing spirit better for lighter moods. (For whatever reason, James Horner's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is referenced at the end of "Santa Claus is Coming io Town (Pr. 2).") To comprehend Debney's approach to Elf, all you have to do is imagine any of the plethora of the decent but rather non-descript scores for romantic comedies over his entire career and apply a Christmastime filter to it. The sound of such streamlined Debney comedy works well as the base for this context, with a decent, though not particularly overwhelming theme for the manchild Buddy utilized very consistently throughout the score. Teased at the outset, the Buddy theme does receive some of the work's most orchestrally robust performances, often with choir, during "Buddy's Journey to New York" and "Here Comes the Sleigh," and it reduces well to tender woodwind solos, as in "Buddy's Goodbye." It's heartwarming without being overtly obnoxious, though you won't likely recall more than its mood after the conclusion of the film. Perhaps more memorable than Buddy's theme is the whistling theme for the elf colony itself. The film begins with three cues featuring performances of this theme, all with sleigh bells ringing, tambourines slapping, and a business-like snare keeping a steady pace for the "whistle while you work" theme. Chimes, bells, and a chorus are joined by a noble trumpet for the North Pole scenes in Elf, and with the cute demeanor and diverse instrumentation of this whistling theme, you almost wish the whole film had been located in that setting. In the regular world, an uncredited accordion is used throughout the score, and while that's not really a holiday instrument, it likely serves its purpose for the film's later, brewing romance. An enhanced role for a sole tuba is also notable. As Debney had done in his previous few scores, a light choir was added to a medium-sized orchestral ensemble for an extra dose of usual movie-going magic. Traditional Christmas carols are found only in a few cues; first, a few bars of "Jingle Bells" open the score and then, as the score weaves in and out of an on-screen performance of "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town," Debney dances in and out of that melody in the surrounding score. The original album for the score offered a suite of traditional tunes in "Christmas Medley," with jazzy, retro variations on several mainstays. The score's attractiveness is slowed considerably by several prancing comedy rhythms that poke around and frolic during moments of cuteness in the story. The intense action cues, comprising "The Frozen Battlefield" and "Showdown in the Park," could very well be from Debney's Sudden Death or The Tuxedo, but they refrain from electronic accompaniment and break up the often monotonous, light comedy atmosphere. The few moments of suspense are generally unconvincing. In the presentation of the score on its initial, 30-minute album from 2003, you'll keep coming back to the strangely addictive, 1950s era whistling and singing elf theme existing at the start of the product and, to a lesser extent, the two major performances of Buddy's theme for the full ensemble. A 2021 expanded offering takes the presentation to about 50 minutes, and the work struggles to sustain that length, fizzling out without much fanfare in its middle passages. That limited Varèse Sarabande entry does feature half a dozen of the longer arrangements as heard on the prior album, and these remain preferred. Any improvement in sound quality is not significant. Overall, Elf is a slightly more dazzling take on Debney's typical output in the comedy and holiday genre, and it certainly merits a suite of ten minutes or so, but don't hold your breath for an overwhelmingly unique experience. ***
TRACK LISTINGS:
2003 Varèse Album:
Total Time: 30:08
2021 Varèse Album: Total Time: 60:54
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert of the 2003 album includes a list of performers but no extra
information about the score or film. That of the 2021 album contains notes about both.
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