A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Nominated for Best Picture, all the critical acclaim you could want, and quite a lot of people actually went to see it as well, Finding Neverland would seem to have everything going for it.  That extends to Jan A.P. Kaczmarek's score, which has won numerous awards and is hotly tipped to win the Oscar in a couple of weeks.  Listening to it, I am (strangely enough) reminded of a story about the recording sessions for On Her Majesty's Secret Service.  John Barry already had three Oscars in the bag at the time and was one of the hottest film composers around.  One-hit-wonder James Bond actor George Lazenby attended the sessions and after Barry recorded his legendary theme for the movie, Lazenby proudly walked up to him, searched for the right thing to say, and came up with "It works!"  Barry was less than impressed at this comment - talk about damning with faint praise.  Of course, Lazenby meant it as a compliment, and that particular score did far more than just "work", boosting its film immeasurably and helping to paper over the cracks of Lazenby's performance.  However, just about the politest thing one can say about Kaczmarek's Finding Neverland is just that - it works!

It serves its film just fine, capturing what happens on screen quite nicely.  It's warm and attractive music, arranged in a most pleasant and easy-on-the-ear way.  It works.  It's very much written in the Rachel Portman way, with piano-led tracks featuring a light orchestra offering constantly pleasurable and, above all, nice music.  It is constantly melodic.  However, even in Portman's hands, with her albums lasting typically around 40 minutes and featuring certainly one memorable and eminently hummable theme, maybe more, the albums tend to go on a bit and outstay their welcome.  So, sadly, this album, which lasts virtually an hour and doesn't contain a memorable theme, outstays its welcome a long time before it draws to a close.

It seems churlish to go overboard with criticism because Kaczmarek's score achieves what it sets out to do, which is to cast the film in a permanently warm glow, but one can only imagine how Rachel Portman might have scored the film - or, better still, George Fenton - or, even better still, Georges Delerue in his prime.  And those imaginary scores all somehow seem rather more impressive than this one.  That said, this score is certainly not without its charms.  Taken in isolation, any of the 23 tracks would seem extremely attractive, with particular highlights including the more "theatrical" stylings of tracks like "The Peter Pan Overture" and "Impossible Opening", or classy charm of "The Park on Piano".  It is only when those 23 tracks are laid end to end that the score begins to lose its appeal, with the never-changing orchestration, and the lack of truly memorable themes.

Evidently I am the only person who thinks this way since every other report I have read about this score has been highly positive, so perhaps it's worth taking my comments with a pinch of salt.  Nobody, not even me, could deny how nice the music is to listen to, and it certainly has its share of charm - it's just that I like my listening experiences - even on slight scores like this one - to have at least some substance to them.  It's easy to see why it has been nominated for an Oscar because it's just the sort of film music that non film music fanatics always pick up on, and it's for such a well-received movie, but if it wins then I have to say I would be rather disappointed.  If this is truly considered to be as good as it gets for the film music of 2004 then things have got even worse than I thought.

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Tracks

1. Where is Mr Barrie? (3:32)
2. The Park (1:07)
3. Dancing with the Bear (2:03)
4. The Kite (1:37)
5. The Chess (1:07)
6. Neverland - Piano Variation in Blue (4:29)
7. The Spoon on the Nose (1:28)
8. The Pirates (2:11)
9. The Marriage (2:40)
10. Children Arrive (3:15)
11. Drive to the Cottage (1:04)
12. The Peter Pan Overture (1:17)
13. Peter (2:20)
14. The Park on Piano (5:23)
15. The Stairs (2:14)
16. Impossible Opening (3:26)
17. The Rehearsal (1:20)
18. Neverland - Minor Piano Variation (3:39)
19. The Play and the Flight (1:21)
20. This is Neverland (4:01)
21. Why Does She Have to Die? (2:05)
22. Another Bear (3:11)
23. Forgotten Overture (3:31)