August Rush Review

August Rush is about music and stars some appealing talent, so it seemed like a good bet, but it turned out to be just okay -- nothing special.

August Rush starts out with the chance meeting of Louis (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and Lyla (Keri Russell) on the roof of a building where there is a party. Louis plays guitar and sings in a band, while Lyla is a talented cellist with a symphony orchestra, so they both have strong musical backgrounds. The two share a magical night, then are abruptly separated in the morning, never to see each other again. Lyla gets pregnant, then believes she loses the baby in a terrible accident. Lyla and Louis get on with their lives but never forgetting about the other. Of course, Lyla has regrets over the loss of her baby as well.

As Lyla and Louis continue their lives 12 years later, on a parallel track is Evan (Freddie Highmore), the child that neither of them knows about. He busts out of an orphanage and falls in with a group of street urchins in New York City. The group is led by the Wizard (Robin Williams), a perceptive but opportunistic man who sends the kids out as beggars and street performers. He soon finds that Evan has an extraordinary musical talent and schemes to make money from it. Along the way, he gives Evan the stage name of "August Rush," which comes from a sign on a truck.

Will Lyla and Louis ever find each other? Will Lyla learn she has a son? Will Evan/August do anything with his musical talent?

August Rush had its moments. I liked the cast, particularly Keri Russell and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Robin Williams was good but grating as the Wizard and Freddie Highmore was just a little to spacey as Evan/August. Still, the cast was good. The story, on the other hand, was overbaked in spots and undercooked in others. August's explosion onto the New York longhair music scene was far-fetched to say the least. And the Wizard running a gang of precocious beggars and buskers out of a condemned but still fully functioning theater was unbelievable. However, I enjoyed August's guitar improvisations and even did something a little like that when I started guitar, before I learned "how to play."

August Rush was a decent movie but not a great one. It has a good romance, even if the ending was unsatisfying for me. Evan/August's musical gift was just too great to be believed, and his beatific attitude was a couple light years past his maturity level and circumstances. Still, I enjoyed August Rush somewhat and rooted for Lyla and Louis to find each other. A little more of that story and a little less of the Wizard and August could have made this a better movie for me.

Rated PG-13, August Rush has some off-screen sex and a little rough language, but it's fine for anyone 13 and older.

I give August Rush three stars and a mild recommendation. It's nice to see a movie with the creation of music at its heart, and perhaps the rest of the story got in the way of that somewhat.