Mighty Joe Young is a rather uneven score. What do I mean by that? Well, there are times when the score is everything I expect from a James Horner score and at other times, it just seems to be heading in directions I don't really think Horner wanted it to. For example, take the song Windsong. This song is written by Will Jennings, them man behind Titanic's blockbuster hit, My Heart Will Go On. While that was certainly an accolade, the song that is turned out here is not of the same caliber. What? Am I, one of James Horner's biggest fans, turning my back on him? Certainly not, but I felt that he could have done better.
The first track, Sacred Guardian of the Mountain starts off with a find beat but then leads into one of the main problems I found on this score. The choral notes sound like they were sung by children and are thus quite whiney in sound. It's like a group of children, crying, in synch, though slightly off-key. This then leads into the part of the track that I enjoy and saves the track from totally being written off. With music that is clearly inspired by Horner's own score to an older monkey movie, Project X, Horner finishes off the track in a decent fashion. This is repeated again for the final time in the last and probably the best track of the whole score, Dedication and Windsong.
The rest of the score is much of the same. High moments punctuated with rather mediocre or even bad portions that end up spoiling some tracks. This score came out after The Mask of Zorro and as such some of the instruments he used in that score reappear here. For those who had grown weary of Horner's use of the bagpipes, take heart, this is one score that doesn't contain bagpipe music. Choose this one at your own discretion.
Total time: 73:06
1: Sacred Guardian of the Mountain (3:57)
2: Poachers (7:52)
3: Attempted Capture (6:00)
4: The Trees (6:04)
5: Our Last Chance - A New World (3:48)
6: A Broken Promise (4:31)
7: Leaving by Night (5:15)
8: Hollywood Boulevard (7:45)
9: Freeway Crossing (4:09)
10: The Carnival (6:22)
11: The Burning Ferris Wheel (7:36)
12: Dedication and Windsong (9:44)