Both composers John Debney and John Ottman have established their careers as dedicated tunesmiths.
At the time Ottman had previously delved on the darker side with director Bryan Singer for the excellent THE USUAL SUSPECTS and APT PUPIL, Debney has covered a wider spectrum of genres with scores like HOCUS
POCUS, SUDDEN DEATH and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER.
For the comedies MY FAVORITE MARTIAN and THE CABLE GUY, both composers were faced with the difficult task of satisfying producers and their temp tracks. In this case Danny Elfman's music influences both MFM and TCG from PEE-WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE to TO DIE FOR and FLUBBER. Both MY FAVORITE MARTIAN and THE CABLE GUY are fine scores in their own right and should be of great interest to those whom enjoy their music with a strong Elfmanish flavor.
John Debney has quickly become a popular composer at Disney. One of his next features is INSPECTOR GADGET, so the Mouse House and remakes are right up his alley.
MY FAVORITE MARTIAN as a film is a horrible mess. It is neither effectively humorous for kids nor do adults who would remember the original show get a kick out of it. So John Debney must overcome a lack of inspiration. What he manages to pull from the proceedings is a rather large romantic theme, but while listening to the CD, a major dominant theme is harder to grab hold of. While the disc runs almost 68 minutes, there is plenty of tip-toe cues, whacked out, theremin laced tracks, and even more where there is very little going on.
While this has nothing to do with the quality of John's music, it has probably a lot to do with the discs running time. If it were say, 20 minutes shorter, it would play tighter and it's upbeat moments would ring truer. At it's present length it runs me a bit ragged and often brings my index finger to the skip button on the CD player.
Enough with the negative vibes here - MFM in the meanwhile manages to be quite a lot of fun. As a rule, most comedy scores should include enough of everything in order to support the laughs (or lack thereof) on screen. John's score manages to do so. There's plenty of orchestral value and interesting instrumentation. Bongo samples, electric guitar, and jazz riffs are sprinkled throughout (and are included in the excellent first track "My Favorite Martian Melody" where Danny Elfman's "Uncle Martian Theme" makes a quick appearance). After the initial track, things settle down a bit. "Uncle Martian Appears" sports a lounge segment that's reminiscent of PURE LUCK.
Fans of Danny Elfman by nature would be drawn to the "Uncle Martian Theme", but what they will be surprised by is the overall kinetic feel of John Debney's score. While it may be more straightforward and linear than say, FLUBBER,
fans of Danny's light-hearted tinkling will probably enjoy it. This isn't to say that John takes a back seat to Elfmanish-ess here - on the contrary. With enough exposure to his previous work - HOCUS POCUS, PAULIE and even I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, it's easy to see that John Debney is a composer with merit and personal style.
Grade: B
Soundclip: "My Favorite Martian Melody", 1:03 [171 kB]
MY FAVORITE MARTIAN is a promotional release by the composer and was provided for this review for free. Copies of the disc are available for purchase at SuperCollector.
There are few craftsmen more versatile than John Ottman. With his breakout hit score THE USUAL SUSPECTS he established himself quickly as a composer of dramatic film music. With THE CABLE GUY, he has proven comedy is a major strength of his as well.
Surely a first, Ottman edits and composes for Bryan Singer (THE USUAL SUSPECTS, APT PUPIL). He didn't however edit THE CABLE GUY, but editing was a big issue surrounding his involvement with the film. Most of his score was left to the wayside, thankfully however it is preserved on this disc - which also features over 20 minutes of his episodic score for the FANTASY ISLAND pilot episode. THE CABLE GUY never received a commercial release as it marked the first time (and probably last) a union orchestra performed one of his scores. Re-use fees tied up the chance of the disc being released so now John records his music with non-union orchestras. The playing on TCG however is excellent, as is the sound and presentation on disc.
Ottman's THE CABLE GUY is at times wickedly funny, tongue in cheek, referential and eerie. Think POLTERGEIST (Carol Anne's theme) with TO DIE FOR, mixed with John's own personal style. It's fully orchestral and varied.
The main theme is accompanied by child's choir, mild percussion and loopy strings. Early on in the disc, the rather dramatic track "Killing The Babysitter" puts things into a darker mode (the track sequencing is different than their appearance in the film). Most of the score is the mickey-mouse, plucky style so often associated with comedies. Yet it is laden with self-referential satire and hipness. There's a nice "battle motif" for Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick's characters ("Final Joust") as well as nods to MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE ("The Air Duct") and STAR TREK.
It's hard to imagine a better non-Elfman score for Elfman fans wanting "Early Elfman". (You follow that? Best described as late 80's early 90's Elfman). Don't believe me? Listen to the beginning of track 18, "Turn of Events". Sure Danny Elfman doesn't hold a patent on "La, La, La, La, La" choir cues, but one cannot deny it reminds them of his music from SCROOGED or TO DIE FOR (which I first associated with TCGs score the first time I heard it within the film). Oddly enough there are a few moments that remind me also of Elfman's DICK TRACY (track 20 "Spiders & Threats/Steven's Pursuit"). The last track "This Concludes Our Broadcast Day..." includes some extremely heart melting choral work.
The disc is a purely enjoyable listen - including the first 10 tracks of FANTASY ISLAND score. I've read that Danny Elfman was originally asked to write the main theme for the show, but here John writes a theme all his own, with obvious nods to BEETLEJUICE. Ottman has become his own composer and interested listeners should also check out his excellent score for GOODBYE LOVER. I'm highly anticipating his next film LAKE PLACID where Ottman tackles cheesy thrills!
Grade: A-
Soundclip: "Main Theme", 0:52 [143 kB]
THE CABLE GUY/FANTASY ISLAND is a promotional release by the composer and was provided for this review for free. Copies of the disc are available for purchase at SuperCollector.
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