I totally agree. There's nothing that can really be said about James Horner's original score. It just punctuated the activity onscreen so well. But what many may fail to notice, is it is pretty much entirely made up of about 5 different melodies! It's just how they play it, which instruments, which tempo, and such a melody as "If We Hold On Together" can be used to be heartwarming or heartrending. Contrast, for instance, when it was used during Mama Longneck's death scene, and its use at the very end. Exact same melody, just played differently.
But Michael Tavera did a great job in the sequels when he joined. I especially like the music he does for the opening sequences. How he can make huge, sweeping epic pieces, like in numbers 5, 6, and 7, or reallysubtle quiet pieces like in number 11. Also, I kinda like how sometimes, he'll take the melodies from one of the musical numbers, making it into the primary melody of the orchestral soundtrack, or used it as some sort of reprise in the soundtrack.
Yeah, personally, I see the soundtracks as one of the best aspects of the series. I just wish they'd release the music from the sequel as an OST