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Review of Hidalgo (James Newton Howard)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you appreciate all the variations of predictable high desert adventure music with Western themes and occasional interludes of ethnic beauty.

Avoid it... if you sometimes enjoy James Newton Howard's adventure music upon a casual listen but often find his work for this genre to be functionally anonymous in its character.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Hidalgo: (James Newton Howard) With a winter and early spring season of 2004 dominated at every moment by Mel Gibson's controversial The Passion of the Christ, the horse-racing adventure film Hidalgo was another attempt by Hollywood to unseat the religious juggernaut from its immensely popular position atop the box office. While the production's advertising hailed Hidalgo as being based on a true story, there is debate and speculation about how truthful the memoirs of rider Frank T. Hopkins really were, and many critics have agreed that the film is a bit preposterous and, predictably, a tad racist. The story involves the centuries-old 3,000 mile survival race across the Arabian Desert and the first American invited to compete in that race in 1890. The American rider (played by the recently crowned Viggo Mortensen of The Lord of the Rings) fulfills the storybook ending despite attacks from Arabian competitors and spectacular natural obstacles. A supporting role for bouncer-punching Omar Sharif is a nice connection to an era long past. It's the perfect kind of eye candy project for film score enthusiasts, allowing the composer to unleash an Indiana Jones style of old fashioned adventure with a large orchestral ensemble. James Newton Howard was no stranger to adventure in 2004, becoming a regular composer for other fast-paced, relatively innocent films, including Disney's recent animated tales. His output for these films was very consistent, even through the previous year's Peter Pan, and yet criticism had rightfully arisen about Howard's inability to kick his scores from that three and four-star level up to full-fledged classics for the cinema. A safe choice for any project, Howard continued to write strong scores that service their films well, but his music teased film score enthusiasts who awaited the composer's evolution into one of the top few artists in the industry (a move that would come just two years later). In ways very similar to Peter Pan and half a dozen other Howard works, Hidalgo is a very good, rousing score, but it stops just short of having a truly memorable personality. Howard impressively incorporates instrumentation and vocals appropriate to the Arabian region, however, and he combines these flavors with a traditional Western orchestra that romps with spirit throughout the score. The music may very well be remembered, though, with the same mixed appreciation that the film has garnered from critics and viewers.

Howard's work for Hidalgo is a fluffy, predictable, enjoyable journey full of Western themes, somewhat cliched Arabic interludes, and predictable styles for broad expanses. At the same time, it borders on being one-dimensional and stereotypical, with a distant drum roll in "Morning of the Race" that even reminds listeners of the opening of Lawrence of Arabia. The bouncing Western theme for Hopkins and his horse (identical in many ways to Howard's own Wyatt Earp sound) is nowhere near to being as interesting as the center portions of the score that occupy the scenes of the race itself. The faint resemblances to Elmer Bernstein rhythms in the cues for the American West sometimes wander into the domain of Randy Edelman silliness (Shanghai Noon comes to mind), and the performances of the theme that accompanies these rhythms are occasionally lacking in convincing spirit by the ensemble. On the other hand, Howard shows flashes of brilliance at other moments, especially when utilizing a dozen instruments of Arabian origins and the voice of Hovig Krikorian. Introduced in "Arriving in the Desert," the culmination of these performances exists in the outstanding "Montage," a piece that sets a steady pace with the ethnic percussion and showcases Krikorian's voice while backed by the simple power of the orchestral ensemble and a few tastefully applied synthetic effects. It's at moments such as this when Howard collectors get their goose bumps, and it was said at the time that if only he could extend the passion and intrigue of these sounds into the greater majority of the running time in his scores, Howard could transcend to that next level. The final, heroic cues of Hidalgo return to the positive, albeit generic personality of the music for the American West. As a whole, the score is structured very similarly to that of his previous effort, Peter Pan. It opens and closes with a limited, but certainly passable and likable statement of theme and personality but languishes in its midsection with often drawn-out underscore that lacks the power necessary to sustain the listener's interest. Where Hidalgo exceeds Peter Pan, though, is in the few moments of ethnic magic to be heard in three or four cues throughout, and along with the multiple broad thematic statements for grand vistas, Hidalgo will likely please the casual Howard collector. It treads on familiar ground, but offers a few enjoyable deviations along the journey. The album is shorter than expected, probably due to the recording of the score in Los Angeles, and is missing a few lengthy action cues heard in the film. The intoxicating "Montage" cue alone is worth the price of this product.  ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 45:38

• 1. Main Title (3:14) • 2. Don't Waste Our Money (2:08) • 3. Arriving in the Desert (2:54) • 4. Morning of the Race (2:53) • 5. The Race Begins (2:08) • 6. The Second Half (2:23) • 7. Sandstorm (1:53)

• 8. Frank Pushes On (1:54) • 9. Katib (2:18) • 10. Montage (6:52) • 11. The Trap (3:17) • 12. The Last Push (3:08) • 13. The Final Three (5:16) • 14. Let 'er Buck (4:53)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.

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