‘Anastasia’ Soundtrack Offers Kid-Friendly Array of Songs

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“Anastasia: Music From the Motion Picture”

Atlantic

Composers Stephen Flaherty, David Newman and Lynn Ahrens apply themselves gamely, but the tunes for this upcoming animated film are as typically lightweight as these types of soundtracks generally are. The kid-friendly love songs are pleasant but quickly evaporate from memory since depth and kid-friendliness aren’t usually viewed as compatible.

Country artist Deana Carter delivers the sweetly bland “Once Upon a December,” while Richard Marx and Donna Lewis do a nice job on the wistfully romantic “At the Beginning”--but both songs could hardly be fluffier.

As for Aaliyah, no one could accuse her of being one-dimensional. She has such a hip-hop, urban nymphet image that it’s surprising to hear how comfortably she fits within the wholesome, sugarcoated framework of “Journey to the Past.”

Equally at home with this tune is Latina pop star Thalia, who performs a version of it (“Viaje Tiempo Atras”) that is geared to the Spanish-language market. This is called covering your bases, and Thalia gives the song a gentle, ear-soothing treatment that the tot-sized contingent of her fan base will definitely enjoy.

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