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| Silvestri |
The Parent Trap: (Alan Silvestri) The remake of a
classic 1961 film, the Walt Disney update of
The Parent Trap in
1998 was responsible for helping launch actress Lindsay Lohan to
stardom. She plays both twin daughters in much of the picture, the
characters separated early in life when their parents divorced shortly
after their birth. With each girl living her life in California and
England with one of the parents, they are completely unaware of each
other's existence until a shocking chance meeting at a summer camp in
Maine. The girls manage to figure out that they are twins sharing the
same parents, and they start plotting ways to reunite the family. Their
subterfuge starts when they assume the identities of the other and
travel home to the wrong parent intentionally. They eventually reveal
the ruse and actively push their parents back together in highly comedic
style. Not surprisingly, there's a healthy dose of sappy romance by the
end. Remembered fondly because of Lohan's performances,
The Parent
Trap was a box office hit that has endured in pop culture. The
soundtrack for the film contains a slew of pop songs, and weaving in
between them is an original score by Alan Silvestri, who was hired by
director Nancy Meyers to reprise his
Father of the Bride formula.
The composer was supplementing his major action and adventure
assignments with this kind of romantic comedy fluff in the 1990's, and
he was highly proficient at it. The result of his effort for
The
Parent Trap is highly predictable, an endearing but not particularly
memorable score despite some rousingly pretty moments. The soundscape is
lightly orchestral with a variety of eclectic, parody-like sideshows
along the way for humor. These off-beat diversions include blues and pop
rock tones on synth keyboards and guitar in "Changes," Western flavor
throughout "Vineyard Suite" with country guitars, saxophone and clarinet
jazz suggestions in "You'll Kill in It," a faux-classical diversion in
"Dad's Getting Married," and smooth 1920's jazz with saxophone and
noisemaker in "Finale." Elmer Bernstein's theme from
The Great
Escape cameos in the film, too. Otherwise, in the conventional
portions, the piano is particularly pronounced as the representation of
home and family, though Silvestri's trademark woodwind solos are not far
behind. The composer's themes are fairly standard fare, though the
melodies often repeat phrases as a clever reflection of the twins. Both
the main theme for the overall storyline and the romantic family theme
contain multiple parts that can be accessed in only one of their
collective constructs, though their performances of all their parts are
identically conveyed to serve the same purpose.
Leading the themes in
The Parent Trap is
Silvestri's main idea, which is a bit retro in its stylings and really
emphasizes the repeated phrases. It is also often accompanied by a
pulsating string rhythm of good manners in its major performances. Heard
immediately in "Suite From The Parent Trap" on chipper woodwinds, the
secondary phrasing could technically be considered by some listeners to
be the main theme at 0:35; these melodies return for the full ensemble
at 5:35. They open "Anna and Martin" on proper, stately strings,
followed by the secondary phrasing, with a quick phrase following during
the lightly cheery "Shake Hands, Girls." The theme builds to a major
performance starting at 1:23 into "Annie Meets Dad" but is lightly muted
at the end of "Hallie Breaks the News." It's lively on steel drums and
varied percussion over electric bass in "She's Gone" and returns to
early form over the string rhythm at either end of "Finale." More
wholesome is the set of different melodic sequences that form the family
and romance theme. Featured at 2:53 into "Suite From The Parent Trap,"
this idea is often the domain of rolling piano, lightly explored
throughout "Like Twins" on strings and clarinet as the girls realize
their parentage and enjoying major symphonic and piano renditions in the
second half of the lovely highlight cue. Sole acoustic guitar offers the
theme at the outset of "Hallie Meets Mom," moving on to piano, and it
shifts gears to more symphonic tones amid sensitive interludes in "Annie
Meets Dad." The theme very slowly emerges on celeste-like keyboards and
later woodwinds in "I Am Annie" while piano processes its various
phrases in "Hallie Breaks the News." After turning to more modern
synthetic keyboarding with electric bass in the easy-going "Table for
Two," the theme is restrained on piano, oboe, and strings in "Where
Dreams Have No End." Late in the score, the family theme is still rather
muted on piano in "We Actually Did It" until a nice statement with
brass. A flowing piano with elegance at 1:33 into "Finale" leads to
satisfying ensemble depth. The last theme is a motif for the twins that
utilizes repeated descending phrases typical to James Horner at the
time. It is heard at 2:44 and 5:19 into "Suite From The Parent Trap,"
tentatively and with whimsy on high piano at 0:54 into "Like Twins," and
careful on flute at 2:40 into "Hallie Meets Mom." These themes are all
proficient and at times really attractive, but they don't represent
Silvestri at his best. The sometimes distinctively punchy and
mischievous attitude of the parody cues detracts from them on album. On
that 40-minute score-only presentation, the end credits cue, "Suite From
The Parent Trap," is mostly an extension of "Finale." Seek that product
for the several wonderful piano performances in an otherwise mundane
whole.
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| Bias Check: |
For Alan Silvestri reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.34
(in 56 reviews)
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(in 41,165 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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