I must say, I had really high expectations of Danny Elfman's FLUBBER score, and they were exceeded by far when I pushed the play button. This music is perfect for the equally fun movie it underscores. Elfman pulled out all of the stops in this one. The music ranges from beautiful piano solos, rousing incidental music, mambo pieces, and a subtle theme that you won't forget. It even has a newly recorded rendition of KC & The Sunshine Band's 70's classic called "Goo a Little Dance." From the first notes of this classic children's score, you know you're in for a brilliant Elfman classic.

A few others have cited this score as nothing but plain old Elfman fare, but I have to wholly disagree. It has a feel to it that most of his other soundtracks don't. Part of this comes from the inclusion of a few excellent mambo pieces. These were quite fun to experience in the theater as well as by themselves. The best example of this type of mambo has to be the track entitled "Mambo in the Sky." My only problem with this song is it is a bit too short. Not that that's bad or anything, but it left me only wanting to hear more. Strange thing is I'm usually not that enraptured by mambo music; however, Elfman makes it such a joy to listen to, there's no problem.

The other item that really makes this score stand out are the delicate piano cues that he weaves in and out at different points in the score. These are quite thematically beautiful and are a welcome treat. Many of them transport me back to his BLACK BEAUTY score from 1994. No large orchestra was used or needed, for that matter, to develop it's achingly lovely theme. Same goes for FLUBBER's central theme. The orchestra is put on temporary hold and the piano is allowed to take over. It is these little touches of elegant softness that keep the score afloat. Without them, the music still would've been outstanding, but the personality would be non-existent.

Without a doubt, this is one of the finest scores to be released this entire year. It goes without saying that Walt Disney Records released this soundtrack, and they did an excellent job. The tracks are in exact order as the scenes they underscored appeared in the film. This is always welcome because who wants the finale music up hanging around tracks 3 or 4? At any rate, Danny Elfman's immense talent for scoring movies is quite evident in every track. The only downfall of this release is KC & The Sunshine Band's song "Goo a Little Dance." It is a novelty and was moderately fun to listen to once, but it has since become quite an annoyance. But why let a song like this prevent a score from receiving the top rating FLUBBER truly deserves. In short, Danny Elfman has done it again.

Rating: *****

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Running Time: approx. 47 min.

1. Main Title
2. Beautiful Day
3. Breakfast
4. The Idea
5. It's Alive
6. Gamma Ray
7. Take Off
8. Mambo in the Sky
9. Flying High
10. Weebo Yearns
11. The Test
12. Mambo del Flubber
13. Remarkable
14. Weebo's Death
15. Revenge
16. Airborne
17. End Credits
18. "Goo a Little Dance"