A: An eleven-year-old orphan boy (Freddie Highmore) believes that if he learns to play the music in his head, his parents will hear it in the air and come find him.
Q: Who’s in the movie?
A: Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Terrence Howard, Robin Williams
Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?
A:
Proceed with Caution. This movie didn’t make me angry enough to deserve a red light, but be warned, you will have to suspend disbelief for every plot twist, and even every plot point, in this corniest of movies ever made. Perhaps it thinks itself a musical fairy tale of sorts, but ultimately even a knight in shining armor showing up on a white horse is more believable than the idea that this orphan boy’s parents (who conceived him during a one-night stand, 12 years ago), would hear his music in the air, and go to him… Then again, maybe I’m just jaded.Q: Will this movie make me laugh?
A: It won’t even try to.
Q: Will this movie make me cry?
A: It might, but if it does, you will deny it for the rest of your living days.
Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?
A: Now that would be silly.
Q: How is the Acting?
A: Due to the fatal combination of corny dialogue and Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ natural levels of intensity, it actually feels quite creepy when he hits on Keri Russell, on the night of their fateful one-night stand. Once that’s over, all three of the separated family members (Highmore, Rhys Meyer, and Russell) spend a lot of screen time looking up at the sky meaningfully—which clearly the director has instructed them to do. On the flip side, there are break-out singing and acting performances by both Leon G. Thomas III, who plays a young street musician that August Rush (Highmore) befriends, and 11 year-old Jamia Simone Nash, as a singer in a church choir, who discovers that August is a musical prodigy.
Q: How is the Directing?
A: Very average, and (as mentioned above) sometimes detrimental to the acting.
Q: How is the story/script?
A: I’m willing to severely suspend disbelief about once a movie—twice if the writing is really clever—I shouldn’t have to do during all the pivotal moments, even in a supposed fairy-tale.
Q: Is there anything else I should know about the movie?
A: Since Music is a main character, I would be remiss not to mention it. Let me just say, this is no Once (I’m referring to the 2006 Irish musical movie). You probably won’t be humming any of the tunes as you leave the theater. The only really creative aspect of the music is that August figures out how to somehow play guitar chords simply by hitting the guitar with a flat hand. Maybe that’s possible, but in this case the visuals and sounds don’t always match up from what I could see.
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