A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

Robert Zemeckis's groundbreaking, hugely-entertaining 1988 movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (the question mark is my own - infuriatingly, none is featured in the official title of the film, suggesting that it is a statement, perhaps accusing Doctor Who himself of the crime), featuring Bob Hoskins and Christopher Lloyd acting alongside a host of animated characters, was a real treat for viewers, and was so successful that it seemed for a long time that some sort of sequel was inevitable, though the merging of Disney and Warner animated characters was probably too much of a licensing quagmire for people to want to go through it again.  Needless to say, Zemeckis's regular collaborator Alan Silvestri was on board to write the music.  The original soundtrack CD was only in print for a short time and became one of the most sought-after - but then in 2002, Disney briefly solved the problem by reissuing it.  That version is now also long out-of-print, so new Silvestri fans will once again have a struggle on their hands to get a copy.

It seems to be a very popular score amongst Silvestri fans, but is certainly not amongst his very best.  It would be hugely remiss of me not to say that the score works beautifully well in the film, and thus it completely fulfils its purpose.  Like many scores for animations, on CD it becomes a rather different prospect.  It accentuates all the things that make scores for animations sometimes to hard to bear - ideas coming from nowhere, sticking around for no more than a few seconds to be replaced by something completely different.  The purely animated opening "Maroon Cartoon" is where this is as its "worst" (I use the inverted commas because, as I said before, it works brilliantly in the film).  Some of the madcap sequences, when Silvestri allows the music to become a little more developed, certainly fare better, with "Toontown" being a standout.

The score is at its most coherent - and best, on album - during the far less frenetic sequences.  "Valiant and Valiant" introduces some wonderful noir-style scoring for the Hoskins character; "Judge Doom" offers some gratifyingly over-the-top theatricals; and then there's the superbly sultry "Jessica's Theme", whose smoky sax solo is just perfect.  Things are brought to a close in the madcap, end title suite, with blink-and-you'll-miss-them recaps of the major themes.  It's a score that certainly has a number of fine moments, but it's just too frenetic to be consistently enjoyable.  The good outweighs the bad enough for me to recommend it - Silvestri is a consistently impressive composer, after all - but good luck finding a copy!

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Tracks

1. Maroon Logo (:19)
2. Maroon Cartoon (3:25)
3. Valiant and Valiant (4:22)
4. The Weasels (2:08)
5. Hungarian Rhapsody (1:43)
6. Judge Doom (3:47)
7. Why Don't You Do Right? Amy Irving (3:07)
8. No Justice for Toons (2:45)
9. The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down (:47)
10. Jessica's Theme (2:03)
11. Toontown (4:44)
12. Eddie's Theme (5:22)
13. The Gag Factory (3:49)
14. The Will (1:10)
15. Smile Darn Ya Smile / That's All Folks! (1:17)
16. End Title (4:58)