Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #263
Written 7/13/98, Revised 1/1/08
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Buy it... if you've ever been curious about what playful mayhem
James Horner could stir up when combining the animated and Western
genres into one wild score.
Avoid it... if you'd rather not hear Horner adapt Aaron Copland,
along with a few others, in extremely obvious fashion.
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| Horner |
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West: (James Horner)
By 1991, the writing had to be on the wall for Universal; Disney's
The Little Mermaid and impending Beauty and the Beast were
displacing the Steven Spielberg-produced animation films that had
dominated the genre in the 1980's. That didn't stop the studio from
finishing production on a sequel to 1986's highly successful and lovable
An American Tail. While the 1991 follow-up took a position behind
Disney on the back burner, it was a strong entry in and of itself, aided
by an anomalous but entertaining score by the returning James Horner.
Among the composer's most memorable works for the mainstream public was
the song and score combination for An American Tail, and he would
touch upon most of his ideas from that score while seeking new musical
adventures himself in An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. Horner
has ventured into every genre of music over his long career, though the
Western is by far the most rare. Among those few visits to the Old West,
Fievel Goes West is perhaps the most obvious, and unfortunately
for Horner, his reliance on the music of Aaron Copland for inspiration
is equally as obvious. Copland's well-established styles for the era
are pervasive in several major cues in Horner's score, which is a shame
because the remaining music that he provides for the film is highly
entertaining. One of Horner's more interesting traits is his ability to
build upon his previous ideas in a sequel score (this habit extends all
the way through the outstanding The Legend of Zorro) and, for
Fievel Goes West, his reminders of the themes from An American
Tail are intelligently manipulated and well-placed. The
Russian-slanted title theme, as well as the obvious tune from "Somewhere
Out There," make frequent appearances in the first half of the score,
including a smart connection in the "Overture" for the film. Snippets of
themes from other songs in the first film also make short appearances in
Fievel Goes West, sometimes in quirky forms and/or hidden in
surrounding material.
The songs in
Fievel Goes West play a lesser role
in the success of this overall package than in the first one. The main
theme is based on the Golden Globe nominated "Dreams to Dream," a lovely
ballad performed both in character and by Linda Ronstadt at the end of
the film. The standard pop vocal version is anonymous in Horner's career
(Ronstadt replaced Horner's first choice of performer, Celine Dion,
because the film's producers claimed that no one had ever heard of
Dion), though the character performance, while grating perhaps due to
the high pitch of the girl's voice, is one of Horner's better
presentations. The other two are wild opposites: "Way Out West" is an
enthusiastic throwback to Rodgers and Hammerstein stage territory while
"The Girl You Left Behind" is an actual stage performance by the mouse
that wouldn't be missed. As for the score, Horner returns to the London
Symphony Orchestra, whose performance for
Fievel Goes West is no
less than fantastic. Specialty instruments for the location include
xylophones, fiddles, banjos, harmonicas, and the usual array of wood and
metal percussion. The highlights of the full ensemble performances are
the several cues in which Horner blatantly pulls Copland's rodeo music,
ambitious string and light percussion rhythms with brass motifs that
frankly could have resulted in a lawsuit. Most obviously conveyed in "In
Training," Horner also extends this sound to the middle of the
"Overture," "Building a New Town," and "The Shoot-Out," the last of
which containing some unconventional sounds in tribute to Ennio
Morricone in the first thirty seconds. Horner also pulls some
inspiration from Elmer Bernstein in the rolling rhythms of "Headin' Out
West," though like most of the aforementioned cues, the repackaging of
these ideas is so well accomplished by Horner (and sometimes in parody
fashion) that you have to forgive him this time. A frenetic jazzy swing
at the start of "Cat Rumble" is another humorous highlight. The more
conventional orchestral drama is a cross between
The Land Before
Time and
Cocoon; Horner only employs a choir twice in the
score, most notably for the score's only scary,
Willow-like
slashing moment in "Sacred Mountain." The final score cue wraps up the
new themes and fades away with a reminder of the first film's two
primary themes, a somewhat melancholy way to finish the otherwise upbeat
proceedings. Overall, if you can forgive Horner for his obvious
inspirations in
Fievel Goes West, then you'll enjoy his own rare
journey to the West.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.15
(in 108 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.23
(in 203,515 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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