I think Joe Dante was the only filmmaker in the latter half of Goldsmith's career who really inspired him. Somehow JG's employment of straight grandeur in The Ghost and the Darkness wasn't nearly as full of prime Goldsmith invention as his intentionally off-kilter stuff for the greatest of the Dante scores: Twilight Zone: The Movie, Gremlins, Explorers, and especially Matinee. IMHO, or course.
His very last score, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, has so much energy, wit, and invention you'd never know Goldsmith was battling with cancer (aside from Debney having to finish scoring duties).
I love that score. It practically out-Powells Powell in the zany fun department.
