Very Disappointing - Missable, Daft, Chick Movie (and I'm a Chick!)

Rating: 3/10 (27 December 2007)

I am writing this as an alternate viewpoint to the praise heaped on this film over these pages. Bottom line, the film is inoffensive, but really not very substantive entertainment-wise or message-wise. It starts with a CGI treatment of a wheat field on the opening credits, which looks distractingly silly. It weakly conveys that the main character (a boy named Evan Taylor) believes he has some kind of control over the field, but it falls short of the intended correlation to his sensation of "music everywhere" which is better illustrated later in the film. The story set up is VERY slow and heavy-handed in establishing Evan's beliefs about one day finding his parents. Only half way through the film does there begin to be any appreciable progress with regard to the plot. Sure, things happen to the characters, but nothing really connects the audience to their emotion.
On the positive side, Robin Williams appears in this film in a role that is suited for him and that he plays in a restrained and powerful way. His character is the least trite, although you can somewhat "see him coming" from the moment he enters. Another highlight is the character of "Arthur X" a child musician who basically drives the plot forward all on his own for most of the second act. One senses that this actor Leon G. Thomas is capable of much more than the "official black ghetto kid" dialog he is given. Terrence Howard turns in an elegant performance with his portrayal of a caring social worker. Overall, the film doesn't require a *little* imagination or suspension of disbelief, it requires whole re-calibrations of reality from scene to scene. Not that you would think it's true-to-life, but it doesn't even make sense within its own parameters. Lastly, the music is all over the place thematically, stylistically and not cohesively or meaningfully - although there are some great players performing. An interesting concept for a film, but I found nothing to take away from it. If you want to see a feel-good film in this genre done correctly, check out Serendipity.