Marc Shaiman

Rob Reiner's North seems to have been intended to be cute and earnest but certainly not subtle, the kind of movie fantasy you either like a lot or not at all. Apparently, audiences weren't interested in finding out which, since the film dropped off the box office radar screen shortly after opening in the summer of 1994. Marc Shaiman's score is very much in keeping with the movie's episodic, cutesy style, interpolating everything from "If I Were A Rich Man" to "Hawaiian War Chant" into musical pieces meant to represent the various places on the globe to which the child North journeys on his search for new parents. Perhaps you can't blame Shaiman that what was intended to be endearing ends up sounding tacky -- that was the assignment. Country star Reba McEntire, who acts in the picture, is heard on the soundtrack singing new lyrics to the "Bonanza" theme with co-star Dan Aykroyd. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide