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| Conti |
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| Ross |
The Next Karate Kid: (Bill Conti/William Ross) With
the franchise's original "karate kid" far too old by the 1990's to
continue in his original role, the producers of
The Karate Kid
sought to reboot the story while retaining popular actor Pat Morita in
the roll of the karate master and mentor. His task in 1994's
The Next
Karate Kid is to train and offer life guidance to a square-jawed and
insolent teenage girl who is the granddaughter of Mr. Miyagi's deceased,
wartime commanding officer. The movie plays on gender and religious
humor while infusing a substantial dose of high school relational angst
courtesy of new director Christopher Cain. Character actor Michael
Ironside leads a group of aspiring, young police-state males who both
woo and challenge the girl and her master. While critics and audiences
loathed the film and allowed it to become the worst performing entry in
the series, the movie did provide an opening for the tough and athletic
Hilary Swank to elevate in the industry, and the story is remembered by
some for two humorous scenes for a trio of monks who find themselves
dancing and bowling. By the 1990's, composer Bill Conti had extended his
wide reach in the sports genre beyond just the concepts of
Rocky
and
The Karate Kid, though
The Next Karate Kid represented
his final foray into a set of themes he felt quite protective about.
After a disappointing score for
The Karate Kid, Part II, Conti
offered a more mature combination of the better aspects of his music for
the franchise in
The Karate Kid, Part III. While he faithfully
extended his style and themes into the fourth score, the director was
less than impressed with several of his cues for major scenes, and
prolific orchestrator and conductor William Ross was hired to rearrange
or outright replace some of Conti's music for the picture. Conti himself
offered some revisions prior to Ross' involvement, but the director had
not been satisfied. Fortunately, Ross plays his role carefully in
The
Next Karate Kid, utilizing Conti's themes and ultimately
contributing to less than ten minutes of material that is sprinkled
amongst Conti's recordings.
It doesn't take particularly keen ears to notice the
rather significant difference in symphonic style between Conti and Ross
in the beefier replacement cues in
The Next Karate Kid, but in
some places, especially the final fight scenes, Conti's handling of his
ensemble is preferable. It's a situation in which some of the
replacements were merited while others weren't very successful, though
the multiple versions of the score's most romantic moments are
ultimately equally attractive. Conti's ensemble is most familiar to the
second score in the series in some ways, but with the excess of Japanese
instrumentation replaced with contemporary romantic comedy keyboarding,
electric bass, and percussion. The mostly string-based orchestra is
often accompanied by a mixture of synthetic keyboarding and more
authentic piano. Percussive elements are restricted to the action scenes
and source-like material for the monks. For Mr. Miyagi, the shamisen and
pan flute return, though the latter is once again synthetic, sounding
much as it did in
The Karate Kid, Part II. In some ways, the
synthetic version of the instrument better suits the sound of this
score, as the authentic alternative tends to stray into penny whistle
territory in Conti's handling of the instrument. Some of the synthetic
effects, hyper-aggressive percussion, and raging electric guitars for
the villains of the story are unlistenable, but their instances are
relatively few. Thematically, Conti reprises the primary two themes from
the first score and two ideas from
The Karate Kid, Part II.
Joining them is one very dominant love theme that represents Julie more
holistically as well. Interestingly, not returning is the honor motif
from the second and third scores despite a few good places for it, both
humorously and seriously. The teaching motif for Miyagi remains the core
element of these scores, and it is placed more effectively and sparingly
in this entry. This nine-note motif defined in "Bonsai Tree" from the
first score with a repetitive, plucked string motif underneath is barely
recognizable in the abrasively percussive "The Next Karate Kid" and is
smartly placed against militaristic snare in "Regiment of Heroes." It
returns to original form in "Julie Storms Out" and "The Pizza Guy," and
it's joined by the synth pan flute and shimmering metallics in "Gas
Station Fight/Monk Headquarters/The Rock Garden."
In the latter half of
The Next Karate Kid, Conti
allows the Miyagi thematic material to be supplanted by other ideas,
with a few notable exceptions. It's more contemplative on its base
instruments its "Dining With the Monks;" the version of the cue with a
rousing Ross insert is slightly more comedic. (Listeners will encounter
Conti's original formality in "Dining With the Monks (Alternate).") A
suspenseful variation opens "Zen Archery," and the composer sends the
theme off with the pan flute early in "Angel Flies" as he teaches one
last important lesson. One phrase opens "Miyagi's Big Fight," and pan
flute reprises the full theme at the climax of the scene. Integral with
the development of the Miyagi material is the return and shift in
emphasis for Daniel's theme, which the composer had reaffirmed in
The
Karate Kid, Part III as the main theme of the franchise. Here, Julie
replaces Daniel as the teen in need of training and, more importantly,
character building. Conti obliges by offering Daniel's theme to her,
doubling its representation to cover an injured hawk that is healed and
set free in the story. The composer's handling of Daniel's theme in the
bird's flying scenes suggests by the final shot of this film that
Daniel, Julie, and Miyagi are all symbolically freed. Daniel's theme is
re-introduced on pan flute at the end of "Regiment of Heroes" and takes
its proper place in the keyboarding, electric bass, and pan flute of
"Training Montage," though this cue is a little sparse in its depth for
the importance of the scene. The same attitude extends to "Welcome Home,
Julie," but the idea soars at 0:58 into "Angel Flies," a really good use
of the synthetic pan flute and piano before the full ensemble takes the
theme in Conti's biggest orchestral moment. A slight allusion to the
melody at the start of "Julie's Fight" reminds of past confrontations,
and Conti concludes the movie in "Miyagi's Big Fight" with an almost sad
pan flute rendition while the hawk is again shown flying, leading into
the closing credits with an inspirationally upbeat ending. The Miyagi
love and loss theme from
The Karate Kid, Part II shifts here to
underline the lost relationship between Julie and her dead parents. It
struggles against the training motif in "Julie Storms Out" and is again
keyboarded with more contemporary style late in "Julie and Miyagi." Its
soft piano rendition in "Julie-san Satori (Alternate)" was rejected.
Meanwhile, the Miyagi family theme from "The Funeral" in
The Karate
Kid, Part II is used to recognize Miyagi's connection to Julie in
"Miyagi Tears."
Conti's new theme for Julie, alternately serving as the
score's de facto love theme, is the undeniable highlight of
The Next
Karate Kid, based on an ascending phrasing written originally as a
love theme for
The Karate Kid, Part III but not used in that
picture. The theme merges Marvin Hamlisch sensibilities with Conti's own
romantic inclinations, producing arguably the most attractive theme of
the entire franchise. The theme ends "Julie Storms Out" in modern
keyboarded tones and occupies all of "Julie and Eric Meet" and
"Trainyard Emotions" on piano and strings. The latter cue is one of
Conti's best career character moments, and "Trainyard Emotions
(Alternate)" features only the piano without strings for those looking
for more of a raw performance. Conti chooses a more modern keyboarded
and bass approach in "Julie and Miyagi" while Ross' version of
"Julie-san Satori" takes this theme whimsically orchestral; Conti's
version of this cue is equally attractive but more in character with the
romance mode heard in the rest of the franchise. Julie's theme closes
out "Angel Flies" in contemporary romance form on piano and strings
while "Angel Flies (Alternate)" contains more a prominent pan flute to
lead the melody. This material continues in the latter half of "The
Monks Arrive" on piano and redemptively follows the action on keyboards
in "Miyagi's Big Fight." Conti's "Julie and Eric" is stock light rock
source only vaguely based on her theme. The monks receive a traditional
percussive rhythm at the outset of "The Monks Arrive," reprised with
more gusto in "Bowling for Monks." The action tracks in
The Next
Karate Kid are where the differences between Conti and Ross become
obvious. Ross was hired primarily to write more substantial orchestral
material for the film's confrontation scenes, as the director wanted
more "gravitas" for those moments. Generally, Ross' material has more
emotional depth and complexity, and his orchestrations are excellent.
His rearrangement of "Julie-san Satori" starts with Conti's base of
strings, adding woodwind flourishes and chimes, but the sudden horn solo
at 0:49 into that cue is so unexpected given the coloration of the rest
of the score that its impact is phenomenal. One almost wishes that Ross
could have provided rearrangements and orchestration assistance to the
entire score, essentially dramatizing Conti's sound for the franchise's
new direction. Conti himself takes a few cues in this direction ("Angel
Flies"), largely negating the contemporary elements, but Ross'
techniques provide additional dramatic weight that compliments Conti's
style quite well.
Ross' action material in
The Next Karate Kid,
though, is inconsistent. His very full-fledged horror action cue in
"Julie Runs From Ned" is surprisingly good but out of place, and the
massive brass and timpani explosions in "Julie's Fight" are almost Jerry
Goldsmith-like. On the other hand, Ross' shrill dissonance over pounding
ensemble hits in "Miyagi's Big Fight" are inferior to Conti's original
recording for that scene, which offers good rhythmic engagement that
remains consistent through the entire scene in "Miyagi's Big Fight
(Alternate)." Outside of this cue, however, Conti's music for suspense
and fighting is where the score does admittedly struggle. An electric
bass riff over aggressive percussion in "Cops Chase Julie" is joined by
what sounds like a cimbalom rambling in the background; this motif is
abandoned by the composer in the remainder of the score. This mode
devolves in "Alphas Confront Julie" to one of the worst cues of Conti's
career, with wailing electric guitar and grating percussive banging. He
improves despite minimal power in "Rooftop Fight," establishing nice
bass string phrases that return in "The Alphas Clobber Eric," becoming
more frantic, disjointed, and unpleasant. Conti's somewhat generic
villain entrance music in "The Alphas Drop In" isn't really that
imposing. Likewise, "Julie's Fight (Alternate)" is a confrontational
rhythmic jousting cue that is equal in quality to Ross' partial
replacement. Few listeners will remember
The Next Karate Kid for
its tepid and unremarkable action music, however. It's a score dominated
by its romantic inclinations, the frequently lovely performances of the
Julie and Daniel themes amounting to some of the most gorgeous material
to come from Conti, some of it embellished nicely by Ross. On album,
The Next Karate Kid did not enjoy the same availability as its
predecessors. Varèse Sarabande released a 4-CD set of all of
Conti's scores for the franchise in 2007, but the fourth entry was not
later released on its own by the label. The Varèse set, while
containing what may appear to be the full score at quick glance, did not
offer any of Ross' contributions, providing Conti's originals only.
Also, about 40 seconds of "The Monks Arrive" on that album were a
carry-over from "Getting the Tree" in the prior score. The La-La Land
Records label provided the proper experience for the score in 2021,
including the Ross and Conti alternatives to the same cues and adding
"This is My Country" as a bonus source piece. This expanded album is
highly recommended over the Varèse set as it relates to this
score, for it shines a light on all of the best highlights of the
combined work. Despite its messy origins,
The Next Karate Kid
contains more lyrical highlights than the rest of the franchise's film
scores combined.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
The inserts of both the 2007 Varèse Sarabande set and 2021 La-La
Land album contain detailed information about the score and film.
