Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home
Basil Poledouris
" Willy returns to hear Basil Poledouris' music "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
Free Willy became one of the ultimate blockbusters of the year 1993. After all it successfully delivered an unusual bond between man and beast, boy and killer whale, resulting in a world cry to save Keiko (the real name of whale Willy) from captivity and move him to a better home. Keiko however had the chance to portray Willy one more time in the sequel Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home, before he was set free in 1998. The movie didn't do as good as the original one, despite having the main actor Jason James Richter return as Jesse, alongside the musical team that made Free Willy such an illuminating experience. While Michael Jackson continued his affiliation with the Free Willy franchise, producing and performing the song "Childhood" for this movie, Basil Poledouris returned to aid the adventure with his musical beloved melodies.
Sadly Basil Poledouris his airtime is not even close to the space he had at disposal on the first CD release of Free Willy. The majority of this album is left to the songs that are heard throughout the movie. Michael Jackson's soft "Childhood" is lovely but doesn't capture the spirit of "Will you be There", and I'm not going to comment on the other songs because they don't deliver one inspirational moment to talk about.
Basil Poledouris' material is discovered in about 10 minutes after that. And luckily Basil makes them count on filmmusic level. In "Main Titles" we don't hear a basic duplicate of the main theme, but an inspiring alternate take on this main theme, showing immediately the warm kept bond between Jesse and Willy. The main theme itself returns at the end, though faster than we're used too. The new theme immediately opens "Whale Swim", diving down to show lovely and sprightly tunes based on the main theme, new theme and montage theme. And in "Reunion" ethnic instrumentation fires up the powerful and lovely unison between new theme and main theme.
Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home is a lovely continuation of the sound of the first film, but Basil Poledouris hardly gets the time to show it on this soundtrack release. Because it are the songs here that fill about 2/3 of the soundtrack's capacity, and I have to add that it aren't special songs to be begin with. Nope the saving grace and the only reason to buy this score in the first place is to taste some 10 minutes of Basil Poledouris' music for Free Willy 2. Not nearly enough but a standard presentation for these kinds of albums back in those days. Basil Poledouris' music is extremely lovely but doesn't bring anything remarkable either, making me rather hesitant to recommend this one to someone. Only if you see it somewhere really cheap, those 10 minutes function well alongside the better Free Willy.
Score: ***
Songs: ***
Tracklisting
1. Childhood: Theme from "Free Willy 2": Michael Jackson (4.29)
2. Forever Young: Rebbie Jackson (4.26)
3. Something Dancin': Brownstone, featuring Spragga Benz (4.33)
4. What Will It Take: IT (5.17)
5. I'll Say Good-Bye for the Two of Us: Expose (4.47)
6. Forever Young: The Pretenders (5.06)
7. Lou'sBlues: Nathan Cavaleri Band (3.17)
8. Main Titles (3.32)
9. Whale Swim (3.20)
10. Reunion (3.41)
11. Childhood (instrumental): Theme from "Free Willy 2": Michael Jackson (4.27)
Total Length: 46.55
Sadly Basil Poledouris his airtime is not even close to the space he had at disposal on the first CD release of Free Willy. The majority of this album is left to the songs that are heard throughout the movie. Michael Jackson's soft "Childhood" is lovely but doesn't capture the spirit of "Will you be There", and I'm not going to comment on the other songs because they don't deliver one inspirational moment to talk about.
Basil Poledouris' material is discovered in about 10 minutes after that. And luckily Basil makes them count on filmmusic level. In "Main Titles" we don't hear a basic duplicate of the main theme, but an inspiring alternate take on this main theme, showing immediately the warm kept bond between Jesse and Willy. The main theme itself returns at the end, though faster than we're used too. The new theme immediately opens "Whale Swim", diving down to show lovely and sprightly tunes based on the main theme, new theme and montage theme. And in "Reunion" ethnic instrumentation fires up the powerful and lovely unison between new theme and main theme.
Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home is a lovely continuation of the sound of the first film, but Basil Poledouris hardly gets the time to show it on this soundtrack release. Because it are the songs here that fill about 2/3 of the soundtrack's capacity, and I have to add that it aren't special songs to be begin with. Nope the saving grace and the only reason to buy this score in the first place is to taste some 10 minutes of Basil Poledouris' music for Free Willy 2. Not nearly enough but a standard presentation for these kinds of albums back in those days. Basil Poledouris' music is extremely lovely but doesn't bring anything remarkable either, making me rather hesitant to recommend this one to someone. Only if you see it somewhere really cheap, those 10 minutes function well alongside the better Free Willy.
Score: ***
Songs: ***
Tracklisting
1. Childhood: Theme from "Free Willy 2": Michael Jackson (4.29)
2. Forever Young: Rebbie Jackson (4.26)
3. Something Dancin': Brownstone, featuring Spragga Benz (4.33)
4. What Will It Take: IT (5.17)
5. I'll Say Good-Bye for the Two of Us: Expose (4.47)
6. Forever Young: The Pretenders (5.06)
7. Lou'sBlues: Nathan Cavaleri Band (3.17)
8. Main Titles (3.32)
9. Whale Swim (3.20)
10. Reunion (3.41)
11. Childhood (instrumental): Theme from "Free Willy 2": Michael Jackson (4.27)
Total Length: 46.55