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Paulie
(1998)
Album Cover Art
Composed, Conducted, and Co-Produced by:

Orchestrated by:
Brad Dechter
Frank Bennett
Don Nemitz
Ira Hearshen

Co-Produced by:
Tom Carlson
Labels Icon
LABEL & RELEASE DATE
Varèse Sarabande
(May 19th, 1998)
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ALBUM AVAILABILITY
Regular U.S. release.
Awards
AWARDS
None.
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ALSO SEE





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   Availability | Viewer Ratings | Comments | Audio & Track Listings | Notes
Buy it... only if you can find John Debney's pleasantly overachieving score inexpensively in a used-CD bin.

Avoid it... if predictable light drama from the composer, similar in its anonymous tones to many of his other like-minded scores, doesn't justify a scant 24 minutes on album.
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EDITORIAL REVIEW
FILMTRACKS TRAFFIC RANK: #1,133
WRITTEN 5/19/98, REVISED 3/31/07
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Debney
Debney
Paulie: (John Debney) With constant advancements in special effects technology in films, animals of nearly all the species have been given the ability to talk through the years. While some creatures obviously lend themselves better to such artificially moving mouths, there seemed to be a universal gasp of exasperation when Dreamworks attempted to make a wise-cracking parrot the animal in the spotlight for 1998's Paulie. A natural born comedian, the talking parrot played the role of annoying pest quite well in Paulie, and despite the film's stereotypically dramatic "kid loves animal but parents don't" pull, it's natural to root for the timely death of the bird by the third act. The story exists mostly as a flashback to the flight of a talking parrot across America, thrown out of the house by unsympathetic parents of the Paulie-loving girl (parents who, in a defiance of logic, seem to be the only morons who can't hear the bird speak in coherent human tongues) and suffering through romances, crimes, and adventures on the way back to the girl. Predictably, the reunion with the now-grown woman and the story's overarching premise seemed to indicate that humans are evil for enslaving animals as "pets." But any serious, burning statement made by either the drama or the politics of the story are doused by the film's horrific casting and the downright dumb lines of the talking bird. Appropriately fading into obscurity, one of Paulie's few marginally redeeming elements is its predictable score by composer John Debney, whose career was seemingly stuck in a myriad of ridiculously stupid comedy projects in the late 1990's. He tackles the score for Paulie the same way he would with Dreamer and the plethora of similar "child and animal" genre projects that he and other composers with similar styles would write in the coming years. It's safe, lightly dramatic, slightly slapstick, and totally anonymous music. Debney has proven himself a master of anonymous music for this genre, and your tolerance for the delightful flows of orchestral themes that often come out of such projects will determine your interest level in Paulie.


Ratings Icon
VIEWER RATINGS
276 TOTAL VOTES
Average: 2.67 Stars
***** 52 5 Stars
**** 35 4 Stars
*** 45 3 Stars
** 58 2 Stars
* 86 1 Stars
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Track Listings Icon
TRACK LISTINGS AND AUDIO
Audio Samples   ▼
Total Time: 29:34
• 1. Paulie Medley (6:49)
• 2. Ivy and Paulie Head Out (1:41)
• 3. Cancion Del Mariachi (Morena de Mi Corazon)* (2:12)
• 4. The Bungled Burglar (3:04)
• 5. Misha's Memory (1:34)
• 6. New Discoveries/Paulie and Cat (3:22)
• 7. Estoy Loco** (2:16)
• 8. Paulie's Big Flight (5:07)
• 9. Reunion with Marie*** (3:26)
* Music/Lyrics by Los Lobos with Antonio Banderas.
** Music/Lyrics by Josh Cruze.
*** Contains "Marie" by Randy Newman.

Notes Icon
NOTES AND QUOTES
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film. Track times as listed on the CD are incorrect; they're typically longer than listed on the packaging.
Copyright © 1998-2025, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Paulie are Copyright © 1998, Varèse Sarabande and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 5/19/98 and last updated 3/31/07.
It's humiliating to recall that this was the only Filmtracks review I wrote while sitting in my childhood California home.
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