For reasons never made entirely clear, Ennio Morricone's completed score for the 1988 afterlife fantasy What Dreams May Come was rejected by producers just weeks prior to the film's arrival in theaters. Composer Michael Kamen was recruited to replace Morricone at the 11th hour, and for a rush job, it's a remarkably accomplished and creative work, beautifully conveying the possibilities of life after death in a manner that's neither heavy-handed nor ponderous. By turns upliftingly radiant and suffocatingly melancholy, What Dreams May Come boasts a dreamlike lyricism that successfully captures the otherness of director Vincent Ward's onscreen milieu. At the same time, however, Kamen communicates the universal emotions at the story's core, evoking love and loss with genuine compassion and sensitivity.