Tuck Everlasting
Natalie Babbitt's beloved, wistful fantasy novel has been brought to life with an eye toward bucolic timelessness by Disney and director Jay Russell. It's that magical sense of the non-specific that composer William Ross has been charged with evoking in composing the film's orchestral score. As he did in his previous collaboration with Russell, the underratedMy Dog Skip, Ross leans heavily on tradition and sentimentality without becoming the slave of either. His emotionally enchanting score is seasoned by the evocative use of Gaelic wind instruments and pastoral string passages, yet tempered by playfully exotic massed tribal percussion on "Cave Dance" and spare, ringingTom Newman -esquepiano chords set against swirling Middle Eastern string instruments elsewhere. It's masterful stuff, concocted for maximum melancholy emotional effect yet delivered with understated subtlety--and more than a few richly rewarding musical left turns.--Jerry McCulley