Hype of previews = letdown

Rating: 5/10 (30 November 2007)

After months of hype for this movie I was very much looking forward to finally seeing it. When we arrived for the second showing on the first evening at our local theater, and were the ONLY two people there, it was an omen. The story had a lot of potential. But the August Rush movie was just too thin, not fleshed out. This is one of those mystery movies that has a great cast with nowhere to go. What we were left with were a lot of longing looks and cliché'd remarks. The one person who really did come alive was Robin Williams as a Fagin-like, Dickens character. In the past I have not always enjoyed his acting, but he showed his real ability with this role. There was a lot of camera work, setting landscapes. The setting(s) were real city scenes. New York got the lion's share of exposure. At times the flashbacks and forwards made the story disjointed and confused. My description of this movie would be as a quick sketch is to a painting. There are a lot of fill-ins that were left undone. But I believe some new stars to emerge from this. One is the very young girl who played Hope and sang in the choir scene. She's darling and has a huge talent. Another is the young street performer who befriends August. In the end, this show fell far, far, short of the preview's promise.