Joe Dante's first movie after the successful Gremlins was Explorers, a science fiction / fantasy effort mainly for kids about some children who manage to build a spacecraft and go out to meet aliens.  It's not as well-known as most of Dante's pictures, but is notable that the young leads were played by Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix, and it also featured notable character actors like James Cromwell and Robert Picardo (who's in all of Dante's movies).  

Dante was fortunate enough to have Jerry Goldsmith back again doing composing duties and he wrote a boistrous, entertaining and really quite charming score.  It opens with "The Construction", a simply wonderful theme, easily one of Goldsmith's most delightful - he always seems to pull out all the stops for Joe Dante and this is certainly no exception.  It's little-known for some reason but would be one of the first things I'd put on any Goldsmith compilation.  The remainder of the score is a mix of this wonderfully dynamic style and some enchantingly bucolic segments of Americana that recall past Goldsmith glories.  

Delightful tracks like "Sticks and Stones" and "Fast Getaway" are just so lovely that they prove to be really quite captivating, and despite slower moments, the score never really loses its energy or momentum.  There's a last-minute surprise when a kind of 80s rock-and-roll style comes out of nowhere in "She Likes Me" and then gets reprised in the final track, the lengthy "Have A Nice Trip", which in its eight minute length sums up most of the important ideas from the score.  Everything is complemented throughout with subtle, shimmering synths which only add to the magical air.

After Goldsmith's score - which runs for just over half an hour - come three songs, two of which are by people I've never heard of, but they're all quite good.  This is a nice package with a dynamic Bruce Botnick recording and entertaining liner notes by Robert Townson.  It's a magical score that deserves attention.

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