Music From and Inspired by Stuart Little 2

They Say...

Review by William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

The soundtrack album for Stuart Little 2 is dominated by cheery pop/rock songs performed by artists affiliated with its releasing label, Epic Records. (Since this is a "music from and inspired by" album, some may not really be in the film.) Celine Dion occupies the position taken by Trisha Yearwood on the soundtrack to Stuart Little in 1999, singing an upbeat rhythm number called "I'm Alive." Other songs, such as Chantal Kreviazuk's "Another Small Adventure," Shawn Colvin's "Hold on to the Good Things," and Billy Gilman's "Count on Me," continue the sunny sentiments, and while Vitamin C's "Smile" acknowledges that life is not always peaches and cream, she admonishes "put a smile on your face, make the world a better place" over and over in the chorus. Making the world a better place is also the message of Mary Mary's remake of Jackie DeShannon's 1969 hit "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," one of several old songs presumably included to make parents and grandparents feel at home in the theater. The other revival of such a song is Nathan Lane's big-band version of "One," the 1969 hit by Three Dog Night written by Harry Nilsson. Lane provides the voice of a cat in the picture. Just where Steppenwolf's 1968 heavy metal anthem "Born to be Wild" or Gilbert O'Sullivan's maudlin 1972 chart-topper "Alone Again (Naturally)," in which he contemplates suicide and describes the death of his parents, fit into this scenario is not clear. But soundtrack albums of pop songs often don't make much sense unless you've seen the movies they come from. As with the first Stuart Little soundtrack, Alan Silvestri's score is restricted to two tracks. On them, he sounds like a John Williams wannabe, trying for grand themes among the by-the-numbers suspense and resolution music.