The Pagemaster

As a lover of kid's films scores, this one really appeals to me. While not as good as Casper, it is certainly a very worthy effort. The opening is very much like Casper and Willow with a gentle choir. However, there is much excellent material in this score. The 'Whatever you Imagine' Melody being particularly good both in the song and when used as a fanfare. With almost as many themes as Casper, there is a great deal of variety. This is not a Disney style animation score. The songs I assume are used in the end credits and are not actually part of the film itself. Also, it has a much better score than most Disney films. Unlike Alan Menken, James Horner is a 'proper' film music composer and as such comes across much better than much of the Disney non-song parts of the scores (The Lion King being the exception). The action music never becomes too loud and annoying as Horner can be inclined to do when things get frenetic, but is always rip roaring enough to get the pulse racing. The occasional fanfares that punctuates the music give it a real sense of adventure and with melodies for the different characters met throughout the story, it becomes a real musical collage. However, there is enough cohesion to the score overall to make it recognisable all the way through as the same score. The splendid performance by The London Symphony does nothing but make it even better, nothing can ever really match the intensity of a professional orchestra, even the best of studio orchestras.