Also, the soundtrack is not bad at all.

MOVIE August Rush
PLOT SUMMARY Fairytale scenario about kid whose parents never even knew he was born and who sets out to find them via twin powers of music and hope
WAIT, YOU ACTUALLY SAW THIS? Blow me
MOVIE EQUALS Amadeus times The Journey Of Natty Gann
DIRECTED BY Kirsten Sheridan
WHO LAST DIRECTED A bunch of Irish films you have probably never seen, but more importantly, she co-wrote In America with her dad Jim
WAS THAT ANY GOOD? Fucking right it was
STARRING Freddy Highmore as idealistic musical prodigy, Keri Russell as mourning cellist mother, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as depressed and lost rocker father, Terrance Howard as sad-eyed social worker, and Robin Williams -
WAIT, ROBIN WILLIAMS? YOU ARE SERIOUSLY TELLING ME YOU PAID TO SEE A MOVIE WITH ROBIN WILLIAMS IN IT? - ahem, let me finish - Robin Williams as a pretty creepy guy who thinks he’s charming and funny, which is some of the best casting of all time in my opinion
…OKAY, I CAN SEE THAT Naturally
ARE THEY ANY GOOD? Yes, from Robin Williams being actually quite tolerable all the way to Terrance Howard just being fucking masterful
SO I TAKE IT YOU LIKED THIS MOVIE Oh hell yes; it manages the very, very, very rare feat of being actually magical - a word so many movies want to be called, but which generally gets applied to crap like, I dunno, The Santa Clause 2 or something like that, where “magical” somehow gets redefined as “showy, over-the-top hi-glam effects” instead of “mysterious in small but precise and exact amounts”
THE TRAILER MADE IT SEEM LIKE YOUR STANDARD FEEL-GOOD FLICK Well, it’s certainly a feel-good flick - I mean, come on, it’s about a kid trying to find his parents while they try to find him and (BIG SPOILERS) they of course do so by the end, but it manages to be sentimental and warm and hopeful without ever becoming tedious or preachy or mawkish; I haven’t seen a movie achieve that since Millions, which I loved unreservedly
BEST PERFORMANCE Everybody in this movie is very good (yes, even Robin fucking Williams), and Freddy Highmore deserves note as one of the best child actors to come along in a very long time, and he’s only progressing ever-faster since his debut in James and the Giant Peach, but Terrance Howard executes his role just perfectly - subtle tics you’re vaguely wondering at the origin of early on finally become apparent as the film progresses and it’s never overdone
AWARDS? I can see this getting passed over quite easily, but I hold out hope for a few acting nods and maybe a shot at original screenplay, since the writing is so wonderfully restrained given the subject matter
IF THIS MOVIE WERE AN ICE CREAM FLAVOR IT WOULD BE Mint chocolate fudge
WORTH Full price