A Sweet Melody

Rating: 9/10 (17 November 2007)

My wife and I just returned from a sneak preview and we were blown away. Admitted music fans (I played alto saxophone and sang in my high school choir and my wife plays violin and viola), we had seen previews and were very excited to see the movie. We were not disappointed.
Freddie Highmore is mesmerizing as Evan Taylor/August Rush. His potential at this point is limitless and should not be marked by the "mixed" reviews this movie is receiving. Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers are pitch-perfect in their roles as Lyla Novacek and Louis Connelly, unknowing parents of August. Terrance Howard is sincere in the role of Richard Jeffries, social worker. But the biggest surprise is Robin Williams as Wizard.
***SPOILER ALERT*** Only from reading a critic's review did we know that Wizard would turn out to be a bad guy. However, we were stunned to find out that Robin Williams plays a mean, greedy, and controlling jerk whose only goal is to manipulate young people into playing music on the street to make money for him. That being said, the fact that we hated Wizard so much in the movie shows that Robin Williams is as talented an actor as you will find in movies today.
***END SPOILER*** The only reason we are not giving August Rush 10 out of 10 stars is the limited back-story we get for many of the characters. It is not exactly clear why Lyla's father seems intent on ruining her life. Does her mother have any say? Why is Wizard so cruel? Did he grow up without parents and in foster care as it is suggested? These are just a few of the many questions for which we would have liked answers.
However, as August states in the beginning of the film, he thinks of music the way most people think of fairy tales. So a little story left to the imagination is acceptable. In the end, the movie touched our hearts. And though some are calling it too sentimental, it simply hit the right chord with us.