SMALL SOLDIERS

JERRY GOLDSMITH

Rating:

Original Review: For some unknown reason, director Joe Dante and composer Jerry Goldsmith make a marvellous team. Small Soldiers is their fifth collaboration together, after Gremlins, The Burbs, Innerspace and Matinee, and like those earlier works, this score sees Goldsmith being playfully inventive with his orchestra. A running theme throughout Dante's career has been an interest in "small things"- in Gremlins the protagonists were mischievous balls of fur known as Mogwais, while in Innerspace, Dennis Quaid was shrunk to the size of a pinhead and injected into Martin Short's backside! Continuing the trend, Small Soldiers tells the tale of two sets of action figure toys - a platoon of heroic humans known as the Commando Elite, and their sworn enemies, a gang ugly monsters from the planet Gorgon - who break out of their factory and run amok when their state of the art interactive programming goes haywire. However, Dante puts his usual spin on the proceedings by making the humans vicious and vulgar fighting machines, while the Gorgons are peaceful and gentle creatures who just want to go home. The opening cue of this rather short album from Varèse, 'Assembly Line', is a marvellously whimsical march that recalls Goldsmith's classic score for Patton with its staccato string lines and flute theme, although this time it is augmented by drum pads and whizzing synth effects to give it a slightly less brash, more light-hearted feel. The majority of the rest of the score consists of two main elements: string themes with gentle woodwind accompaniment designed to convey the placid nature of the Gorgons and their relationship with the two real children who help them, and bold brass themes overlaid with synthesisers and occasional bursts of percussion which add to the militaristic feel. However, a couple of cues really stand out from the crowd and leave a lasting impression. 'Roll Call' utilises a fantastic arrangement of the classic civil war tune "Johnny Comes Marching Home" incorporating a load of incredibly cool sampled electric guitar riffs which echo around the walls and play off some repeated horn calls reminiscent of Goldsmith's work on scores like Air Force One and Executive Decision - a motif which crops up again in the bold 'Prepare for Assault' and the surprisingly abrasive 'Special Design'. The finale, 'Off To Gorgon', is where the stakes are raised in terms of orchestral beauty, presenting a lovely, emotional string theme which acts as a moving send-off as Archer, the leader of the noble Gorgons, heads off into the sunset to find his place in the world. In this cue, the music begins to resemble Goldsmith's work on scores such Medicine Man and Powder, especially in the way the acoustic melody and subtle electronic accompaniment are blended together to produce a lyrical and attractive sound. Although Small Soldiers will certainly not be remembered as a classic Goldsmith score, it is nevertheless an enjoyable and entertaining CD which fans of any of the scores mentioned above will undoubtedly find to their liking.

Track Listing: Running Time: 31 minutes 06 seconds

Varèse Sarabande VSD-5963 (1998)

Music composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith. Orchestrations by Alexander Courage. Recorded and mixed by Bruce Botnick. Edited by Darrell Hall and Bruce Botnick. Album produced by Jerry Goldsmith.


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