For better or worse, composer
Randy Edelman is the king of the family-friendly film score. His lighthearted and lightweight approach emphasizes traditional virtues like heart-tugging string arrangements and fanciful piano melodies, and while it's undoubtedly pap, it's created with genuine care and craftsmanship.
Beethoven is perhaps the quintessential
Edelman soundtrack. Easy on the ears, effervescent, and utterly forgettable, it typifies the forced frivolity that is Hollywood's stock-in-trade. Though the film has nothing to do with Beethoven himself -- the title refers to a large, slobbering St. Bernard, not the famed composer --
Edelman still takes it upon himself to employ strings and other classical elements in an apparent effort to lend the film some much-needed dignity and substance; it doesn't quite work, but hey, at least he tried. ~ Jason Ankeny