Forget the songs, how about that score?

I didn't know Carter Burwell is to the Coen Brothers as John Williams is to Steven Spielberg and Henry Mancini was to Blake Edwards. That this composer of BLOOD SIMPLE and NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN also did A GOOFY MOVIE shows a man of range. Actually, I'm no stranger to Live-action composers doing cartoons (Jerry Goldsmith, Christopher Franke, and James Horner), but that doesn't hamper the impressing here.

And that OOC-ness works for this film. Much of the score is pretty serious. There really isn't anything funny about it (then again, the best comedies don't need them: Elmer Bernstein's pieces for ANIMAL HOUSE and GHOSTBUSTERS). And yet this sincerity brings real heart to the proceedings. It's like the film itself. Many people who dismissed AGM as some feature-length-TV-movie or sold-out-butchery of one of its legendary characters were surprised to see a rather deep and realistic story about fathers & sons. With its happy-go-lucky star showing some new depths.

It's interesting to note that the 'Roxanne' theme and the 'Goofy & Max' theme have the same beginning, implying a conflict of choice in Max's identity (Being a Goof vs. His wish to become someone Roxanne would prefer) that is the main part of his characterization here.

Perhaps my favorite bit is the scene when Max is dangling Goofy over the waterfall. Its a brief scene of relief soon to be ruptured, but the music is played in some epic tone that belongs to different movie. And it works in defining the truth of this pair: For all the comedy in their relationship, Goofy and Max's relationship & love for each other is in essence a serious matter.

Any opinions?