owadays he's known primarily as the man who wrote the music for Titanic, but prior to creating the score for that blockbuster, James Horner was already a well-regarded Hollywood composer. Science fiction cinema fans should recognize many of his earlier assignments, which included both low-budget features like Battle Beyond the Stars and Humanoids from the Deep as well as large-scale productions such as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, both Cocoon movies and Aliens.
Mighty Joe Young represents Horner's latest foray into the speculative soundtrack arena. The dozen songs on this CD incorporate a variety of styles, ranging from a tribal drum-and-chorus motif on the opening cut, "Sacred Guardian of the Mountain," to the relatively traditional action-oriented orchestration on "Leaving by Night" and "The Carnival," to the invigorating African rhythms of "Dedication and Windsong."
The liner notes included with this selection are rather austere, listing the names of just eight featured musicians along with basic production and writing credits. They also include five photos from the movie, highlighted by a center spread that reproduces a shot of the eponymous 15-foot simian clinging to a Ferris wheel. The other pictures show one or both of the lead actors, Bill Paxton and Charlize Theron, tenderly touching the gigantic gorilla.
Comfortable and conventional
The ability to write melodies that emotionally complement on-screen action is one of the many qualities that make Horner such a respected composer within the film industry. On Mighty Joe Young he accomplishes this feat quite nicely, creatively integrating African themes and world-music instrumentation into a fairly conventional, and therefore comfortably familiar, orchestral score.
This stylistic mixture is especially evident on "Our Last Chance - A New World," a fairly short cue that aurally takes listeners from Mighty Joe's homeland to a California animal conservatory. Opening with soft strings and horns accompanied by a tribal flute, the initially ominous melody ultimately develops a lighthearted, optimistic tone. Horner achieves a similar yet somewhat more agitated effect on tracks such as "Hollywood Boulevard" and "Freeway Crossing," both of which intermingle booming drums with a musical approximation of the hubbub of contemporary civilized life.
Although the composer's African themes are not nearly as inspiring as the Celtic influences he incorporated into the Titanic soundtrack, the melodies created for Mighty Joe Young are reasonably engaging. True Horner aficionados will probably find works like Braveheart or Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn more impressive, but folks primarily looking for a sonic souvenir of this family adventure film aren't likely to be disappointed.
