Unique (no spoilers)

Rating: 10/10 (14 April 2008)

Imagine a modern version of Oliver Twist, add beautiful classical and rock music and finish the mix with a somewhat predictable, but nevertheless intriguing love story and "August Rush" is the best that you can possible make out of it.
By watching the opening scene, showing Freddie Highmore in a corn field, I already suspected this could become something very special. It is not very often that a movie kept me hooked from start to end while forgetting everything around me, but "August Rush" pulled it of. The main reason for this is the music and the way how music is interweaved with the plot and that is what makes this movie unique. I have never seen or heard anything like it and I sincerely hope that I'll one day watch a movie that does an even better job. Freddie Highmore, who also performed admirably in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", is one of the very few 14-year old actors that can really act without any awkward moments. Jonathan Rhys Myers and Kerri Russell also perform flawlessly and the rest of the cast does an excellent job as well. It was very interesting to see Robin Williams in a role that was somewhere between good guy, which is his regular role, and bad guy. Saying much more about this could spoil the movie and I definitely don't want that...
This is one of those movies where I'm simply not in the mood for finding something to criticize it. But lets get over that for a few moments and look at the few flaws that are in present in this movie. Basically, the movie is a bit predictable and it has some corny elements in it. When you're about halfway in the movie, then most of the plot will be clear to the majority of viewers. However, I'm not going to let this gem of a movie lose any points for that, because most viewers will be so captivated by the movie that they will hardly (or not at all) notice.
The target group for this movie is a bit difficult to assess. It's not the "Fast and the furious" crowd that wants to see this, neither is it a real kids movie or a real chick flick. Perhaps it's better to categorize this movie as being targeted at people of all ages, that love music and want to see a feel-good movie with beautiful music and top notch acting. For these people this movie is highly, highly recommended! 10* out of 10