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Review of The Next Karate Kid (Bill Conti/William Ross)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you lament the lack of sustained lyrical highlights in
the first three scores of this franchise, Bill Conti and William Ross
adding surprisingly heartfelt romance to the familiar equation.
Avoid it... if weak action sequences, a synthetic pan flute, and incongruous orchestral handling between Conti and Ross cause this score to frustrate when not expressing its melodic grace.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
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. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
2007 Varèse Sarabande Album:
Total Time: 49:48
(Music from this score exists only on CD 4 of the set.) 2021 La-La Land Album: Total Time: 72:24
* composed by William Ross ** contains music composed by William Ross
NOTES & QUOTES:
The inserts of both the 2007 Varèse Sarabande set and 2021 La-La
Land album contain detailed information about the score and film.
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