David Michael Frank, the composer of numerous TV movies composed the music
for this kids' adventure movie, in which a kid, in trouble, is mistaken for
the hero Aladdin, and magically transferred to Baghdad by a genie.
The first thing that struck me upon listening to this score for the first
time was its resemblance to Star Trek music. To be more specific,
the way 'Desert Opening' sounded suspiciously like James Horner's Star
Trek II/III theme. I can't say whether this was intentional or not but
it feels quite disturbing. The whole score sounds very familiar in places,
which makes you wonder whether Franck has borrowed from, or was requested
to model his music on the styles of various composers. If you can overlook
this, you will probably find this Aladdin interesting and quite colourful,
with lively, fast-paced action pieces like 'The Market Chase', which borrows
from Indiana Jones' There are epic, driving marches rendered by percussion
and brass in "The Guardians of the Key', suspenseful strings in 'Sandstorm'
and mellow, sweet love themes over delicate layers of strings like in 'Love
Blooms'. Actually the whole score revolves around 2-3 specific themes
occasionally spiced by Arabic music, although not as much as one would expect
for a movie taking place in Baghdad.
The fact that this score sounds like a reworking of existing themes beyond
the point of calling it "paying tribute" does not necessarily hinder its
enjoyment. Although, quite repetitive but never becomes really boring. Proceed
with caution.
Reviewer
Kostas Anagnostou
OST
