: (Jerry Goldsmith/John
Debney) Back in 1988, the idea of having animated characters share the
screen with live actors and sets for an entire film was introduced with
much fanfare and mainstream buzz in
Due
to studio quarrels and ongoing technical difficulties, however, the
marketability of that concept of live and animated action interacting in
major films faded from the popular spotlight. With the success of
and the technical aspects of the prospect easier to
render in the 2000's, Warner Brothers resurrected the idea and pushed it
to the forefront in full force with 2003's
. Directed by Joe Dante, the film follows the plot outline of
's backlot studio infighting between our
favorite animated characters, but it also takes an adventure around the
world with their live action counterparts (Brandan Frasier and Jenna
Elfman) in search for the mythical "Blue Monkey Diamond," which
hopefully had nothing to do with the real-life blue diamond pills that
men all over the world were taking those days to satisfy their women.
Dante was well rehearsed in making films such as this one, with a long
list of pop-culture comedies going back to the middle of the 1980's and
alternating between positively funny and grossly dumb projects. For the
director, the film represented the end of his big-screen run, poor
critical and box office response to
sending Dante back to the television realm. One staple of his cinematic
projects was the music of his trusty friend, composer Jerry Goldsmith,
who scored such notable Dante entries as the
. The
composer's contribution for
proved
to be a sentimental farewell that would truly test his ability to
generate wild slapstick, shtick action at an extremely energizing pace
of movement.
Despite increasing problems with sickness due to his fight
against colon cancer and an ever-continuing demand for his services,
Goldsmith managed to produce just that: an exercise in gag reflexes and
genre references that moves at the speed of light through stereotypical
statements of theme and instrumentation. The score serves as a
surprisingly thorough culmination of all the campy comedy elements that
he had employed over the second half of his career. Unfortunately, time
did eventually catch up with the composer. Goldsmith didn't have the
strength to finish the score for
Looney Tunes: Back in Action due
to countless late edits to the end of the picture, and John Debney,
likewise versatile in this particular genre and a master of imitating
the style of other composers, was hired to use Goldsmith's ideas to
formulate an additional 13 minutes of material for the movie's final
reel. (Goldsmith was an admirer of Debney's work and thanked him for his
assistance with a generous gift of an expensive watch.) Orchestrator
Mark McKenzie, by then a frequent collaborator with Goldsmith, was
tasked with adapting a number of classical pieces into the work as well.
When the studio decided to replace certain pinpointed moments in
Goldsmith's score with actual Carl Stalling music, they brought in
Australian composer Cameron Patrick, who was a foremost expert at
transcribing Stalling's genre work, and a few of Goldsmith's cue were
replaced by these brief explosions of old favorites. Still, Goldsmith's
work is the defining character of the soundtrack as a whole. His
techniques here could only be suitable for a cartoon, and classic
slapstick composers for orchestra in this genre, including Stalling and
Raymond Scott, would be proud of his adaptation, accessing the same
musical vocabulary but expressing it in purely a Goldsmithian voice. At
the very least, it showed that Goldsmith's mental talents were still
firing on all cylinders to the very end. The amount of orchestral energy
unleashed through the rhythms, instrumentation, and tempo of
Looney
Tunes: Back in Action is staggering. It's a score that needs to be
appreciated even if it can't be enjoyed because of its rapid pace of
directional changes.
Being for a wacky cartoon, the score for
Looney
Tunes: Back in Action inherently needed a series of short cues,
often with unrelated genres in each sudden succession, and the tone is
therefore difficult to tolerate unless you know exactly what you're
getting into. The references to other scores and genres alone, however,
will keep a film music collector interested for a few listens. A theme
for Daffy Duck debuts in the middle of "Dead Duck Walking" and is
suspiciously similar to one of the plethora of pleasant ideas for
The
'Burbs, and it is stated enough times to establish itself well in
the score. A loungey electric guitar-led motif also exists throughout
the work, representing the studio-inspired espionage aspect. At times,
the guitar explodes into rhythms that mirror those heard in Edward
Shearmur's parody style for
Johnny English earlier in 2003. A
slide guitar is a common contributor during these moments, too.
Goldsmith utilizes a variation on a famous Western theme to represent
"The Bad Guys" in the score. When the setting turns to "Area 52,"
Goldsmith reprises that eerie, distant vocal from
The 'Burbs and
brackets it in between violin slashes from Bernard Herrmann's
Psycho. And whenever being "In Style" is mentioned, a lofty,
classical solo violin of pretentious attitude is offered. For scenes of
ritualistic action, such as in "Blue Monkey," Goldsmith revisits
snare-led martial ideas from
Small Soldiers. As the setting
changes to Paris, Goldsmith pours on the stereotypical accordion, and
when we meet the jungle setting, a variety of drums greets with
primitive intentions that vaguely echo
Congo. There are a few
cues of unrestrained bombast for brass, timpani, and electronic
rhythm-setters, such as "Dead Duck Walking" and "Free Fall," although
most of the faster action pieces rely on Goldsmith's creative use of
percussion to provide their attractive accompaniment for the quirky
characters. As Stalling did in the classic cartoons, every conceivable
piece of percussion was pulled out for this score, from the basic
ramblings on the piano to whistles, rattles, triangles, and
joke-accenting noisemakers. Goldsmith even incorporated a harp into the
proceedings, which was a rare event for him. (His hatred of the
instrument was a well-known source of amusement for decades.)
Goldsmith's sense of humor was unwavering, as usual,
with a full reprise of his
Gremlins theme when an appropriately
named vehicle is whipped up in "Out of the Bag." The flighty tone is a
characteristic of
Looney Tunes: Back in Action that you have to
be prepared for in order to enjoy the score on album. There's certainly
a large contingent of film music collectors who have no affinity for
Stalling's style or even Goldsmith's comedy material for Dante films,
and for these folks, this score was a disquieting way for Goldsmith to
exit the stage. None of Debney's last-minute material appeared on
Varèse Sarabande's original 37-minute album, though his music did
have a habit of readily spreading around the secondary market. The label
finally offered a "Deluxe Edition" of the score in 2021 that finally
provided Debney's four critical cues from the end of the picture. His
music, while making use of a few of Goldsmith's themes and noise-makers,
is distinctive in its more robust and consistent flow of action. Some
listeners may find his contribution to be far more palatable on album.
The 2021 2-CD set also includes the full range of McKenzie and Patrick
contributions, as well as the raw recordings of the music that Goldsmith
recorded for cues that were stricken in favor of the Stalling moments
arranged by Patrick. Most of these cues contain studio chatter at either
end of the take. The second CD also includes a remastered version of the
original Goldsmith-only album presentation. The sound quality of the
recording on both products is surprisingly flat and dry, containing none
of the ambient vivacity heard in
Small Soldiers. Overall,
Goldsmith's slapstick material for this film is well developed but not
as concise and enjoyable as his own standard of classic parody in
The
'Burbs, nor does it have the same electronic creativity. That's
likely due, once again, to the speed at which the scenes and moods in
Looney Tunes: Back in Action change. It's a very specific sound
for a very specific mood, and it should best be left for the marvel of
its own construction rather than expectations of a coherent listening
experience. With the rejection of Goldsmith's score for the
underachieving
Timeline earlier in the year, this was his only
completed screen credit in 2003, and when he succumbed to his cancer the
following summer,
Looney Tunes: Back in Action became an arguably
unceremonious conclusion to a great career.
@Amazon.com: CD or
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- Music as Written for the Film: ****
- Music as Heard on All Albums: ***
- Overall: ***
| Bias Check: |
For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.29
(in 113 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.32
(in 145,182 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
