FREE WILLY 2: THE ADVENTURE HOME

BASIL POLEDOURIS

Rating:

Original Review: By the time The Adventure Home came around the Free Willy phenomenon had lost the majority its impact. The original movie - a simple tale of a boy and his killer whale - hit a chord with movie audiences, and sparked off a whole host of derivative spin-offs, from similarly-themed movies to environmental protest groups clamouring to save the whales - especially Keiko, the aquatic star of the movie. The second instalment, though, was an obvious attempt to cash in on the media and public interest in the subject matter, and bombed at the box office. Again starring Jason James Richter, Free Willy 2 had a thrown-together plot about Willy the Whale needing help from Richter, his annoying kid brother and his under-age girlfriend after an oil spillage threatens the mammal's family.

To maintain continuity, the producers again commissioned Basil Poledouris to write the score. His vibrant, nautical main theme was one of the best things to emerge from the whole Free Willy phenomenon, and is always a pleasure to listen to on CD. However, the accompanying soundtrack from Epic is atrocious. Basil's score is tacked on at the end, a mere ten minutes of a 47-minute album and, to make matters worse, the album's producers seem have chosen to include some of the least interesting parts. The three cues - 'Main Titles', 'Whale Swim' and 'Reunion' - feature many of Basil's regular stylistic trademarks, but they sound uncharacteristically bland and muted, especially considering the seafaring heritage Basil has, his obvious affinity for all things oceanic, and the emotional oomph of the main theme. In fact, the Free Willy theme is only performed a twice during the ten minutes, and then only briefly - something that Basil has been guilty of in the past (his phenomenal Robocop march is grossly under-used on both soundtrack albums from those films).

Much of the rest of the music is of a soft, calming nature with prominent synthesisers, interesting organic sound effects, and a few exciting orchestral interludes. The first minute of the 'Main Title' introduces a new heroic theme; 'Whale Swim' is kind of quirky and bouncy, and introduces some attractive acoustic guitar melodies late on, while 'Reunion' slowly builds through some lovely woodwind and string figures to a satisfying climax.

Of the songs, Michael Jackson's 'Childhood' is actually rather nice, but is really much more about Jackson's personal circumstances than the movie itself (he sings "Have you seen my childhood?", a telling reflection of his own turbulent youth, and "Before you judge me try hard to love me", an obvious rebuttal to the allegations of child abuse that surrounded him at the time). In addition, the prolific Diane Warren's knockout song "I'll Say Goodbye For The Both Of Us" is performed with vocal gusto by all-girl group Exposé, while Chrissie Hinde adds a welcome touch of diversity and class with the Pretenders' rendition of Bob Dylan's 'Forever Young'. The rest of the songs are amiable, if rather bland and uninspiring R&B tracks, with one noticeably hideous exception: Brownstone's 'Sometimes Dancin', which is cursed with additional vocals by someone called Spragga Benz, a man who is obviously incapable of holding any note of any description for longer than 0.002 seconds, and whose voice I never wish to hear again in my entire life.

In truth, the soundtrack for Free Willy 2 is nothing more than another example of unscrupulous music marketing executives exploiting score fans by offering tantalising glimpses of orchestral music, but padding it out with songs, two of which - again - bear no relation to the movie. The sad fact is Poledouris fans will buy it, Michael Jackson fans will buy it, little kiddies who like whales will beg their parents to buy it, but the only people who will come out of the experience in any way satisfied will be the people at Sony.

Track Listing: Running Time: 47 minutes 01 seconds

Epic Soundtrax 480739-2 (1995)

Music composed by Basil Poledouris. Conducted by Basil Poledouris and Shirley Walker. Orchestrations by Greig McRitchie. Recorded and mixed by Tim Boyle. Edited by J.J. George. Score produced by Basil Poledouris and Tim Boyle. Album produced by Gary LeMel and Joel Sill.


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