My Favorite Themes - Part XXVI

Score: Racing Stripes by Mark Isham (Quiz Show)

About the film: A zebra ends up stranded near a farm in Kansas, and the young girl (Hayden Panettiere) who takes him in wants to prove to her father (Bruce Greenwood) - and herself - that Stripes, as the zebra is called, can be as good as any racehorse. A weird hook, to be sure, though apparently, these sincerely-acted scenes weren't enough for director Frederik Du Chau (the not-that-bad Underdog) and his writers, so, every so often, we'll get a scene featuring any combination of the animals chatting away and silly toilet humor. If that's what your trip is, have at it.

Theme: "A Pelican Named Goose". Goose (voiced by Joe Pantoliano, who is pretty funny here) fancies himself a mob boss, so he, in "Goose Makes a Hit on the Iron Horse" and the aforementioned "A Pelican...", receives an Italian-flavored theme with clarinet, accordion and drums. It's an amusing melody, almost reminscient of Isham's theme for Nails in Cool World.

Other themes of interest: Mostly, Isham illustrates the farm setting with a variety of percussion alongside the orchestra. The only other theme to speak of is one for Stripes (voiced by Frankie Muniz), which represents his desire to race and his African ancestry, as in cues like "The Blue Moon Races", "Twilight Run" and "If You Build It, They Will Come". The theme also forms the basis of the song "Taking the Inside Rail".

Availability: Varese Sarabande. Uh-huh.