Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #536
Written 12/3/05
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Buy it... if you somewhat enjoyed Cliff Eidelman's ventures into
the character drama genre in the 1990's and would be interested in one
of the better variants of his softer touch.
Avoid it... if you own none off those lighter Eidelman scores (or
an equivilent Rachel Portman score, for that matter) and are still
waiting for him to return to his adventurous roots.
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| Eidelman |
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants: (Cliff
Eidelman) Based on the stories of four girls in a novel by Ann
Brashares, director Ken Kwapis' The Sisterhood of the Traveling
Pants tells of the young lives of four high school seniors who have
grown up together since birth, and share a common bond with a pair of
used pants that miraculously (given their different shapes and sizes)
fits them all. As they head off to lives of their own, they each wear
the pants for a week before shipping the pair on to the next girl on the
list. Various other rules involving the pants make The Sisterhood of
the Traveling Pants a story with innocent and decent morals. Kwapis
is no stranger to this genre of film, nor is his usual collaborator,
composer Cliff Eidelman. Together for The Beautician and the
Beast and Sexual Life, Eidelman's music has ranged from the
fully orchestral in the former to a tightly knit chamber piece for the
latter. Eidelman's career has been one of significant frustration for
collectors of film music, with many parallels being drawn between his
career and those of a few other relatively young upstarts in the 1990's,
including Joel McNeely and Mark McKenzie. It was Eidelman who hit the
scene with a bang in the early 1990's with verbose, fully orchestral
scores that promised a career of significant recognition and success.
Starting in the mid-1990's, however, Eidelman became involved with
smaller character dramas (A Simple Twist of Fate, Now and
Then, One True Thing), and since then has become seemingly
hopelessly mired in the somewhat uninspiring genre ever since. These
scores are the perpetual 3-star variety of pleasant, undemanding, and
easily listenable themes for small orchestras, often led by Eidelman's
tendency to put the piano at the forefront. Whether he likes it or not,
he has become the American version of Rachel Portman, minus the
melodramatic strings of the famed British master of light character
scores.
The most substantial evidence that Eidelman has become
an American version of Portman came with his score for
The Lizzie
McGuire Movie a few years ago, and further confirmation of this
career transformation by Eidelman would come with
The Sisterhood of
the Traveling Pants. Despite the film being known for its obvious
song usage, Eidelman offered 30+ minutes of sweet and impressively
energetic orchestral underscore for
The Lizzie McGuire Movie,
often sharing the same bouncing rhythms common to Portman comedy scores.
His parody writing for that score (especially in "Operation Sister
Surveillance" over the titles) presented a more exuberant Eidelman than
we had heard in a while. For
The Sisterhood of the Traveling
Pants, the tone is a little more restrained, though Eidelman
compensates with a more variable instrumental palette necessary for the
different world locations and differing personalities of the four main
characters. Once again led by the piano, Eidelman never short-changes
you in the theme department, sticking to not just the overarching,
tender theme for the foursome, but also branching off into consistent
sub-motifs for individual characters. A light string section, marimbas,
plentiful woodwinds, xylophones, acoustic guitar, and occasional bit
roles for mandolin and accordion provide a soft soundscape for the film.
Most interesting are wordless female vocals that elegantly grace several
cues with obvious intent. A very friendly score,
The Sisterhood of
the Traveling Pants only reaches the energetic levels of
The
Lizzie McGuire Movie in a few cues. The culmination cue of
"Sisterhood Reunites" layers the vocals with the full (though still not
large) ensemble for a satisfying conclusion. The highlight cue is "The
Traveling Song," which adds more substantial depth to the guitar, bass,
violin, piano, miramba, and vocals for a cue that stands as Eidelman's
best in several years. This direction may not be the one that many early
Eidelman fans may want to see, but the composer seems to have
established himself as very competent in the genre at the very least.
Even so, with talent like his, we can all still hope that the
ever-elusive assignment for a major film is just around the corner.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
Bias Check:
For Cliff Eidelman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.29
(in 17 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.2
(in 8,864 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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