'August' a rush of sugary charm and formula schmaltz
The chief drawback to experiencing the aptly titled "August Rush" might be the horrendous emotional crash amongst viewers once the sugar high wears off.
With its high quotient for syrupy feelings, magical realism and hokey histrionics (most of these supplied by Robin Williams' juiced and jacked reincarnation of Oliver Twist's Fagin), "August Rush" would have worked much better as a full-blown musical in which characters are granted the license to break into song with fantastic abandon.
Here, Kirsten Sheridan's sophomore effort in the director's chair (she also directed the family unfriendly film "Disco Pigs") settles for celebrating the idea of music, along with belief in true love and formulaic storytelling.
Young Freddie Highmore, the kid who made us cry at the end of "Finding Neverland," stars as Evan Taylor, a gifted musician living in an orphanage. Convinced his parents are out there waiting for him, he tells a genuinely concerned social worker named Richard (Chicago's own Terrence Howard) that music will reunite him with his parents.
But just in case the music fails, Evan runs away to find them in the Big Apple.
Flashback alert!
Eleven years earlier, a young musical prodigy named Lyla (the luminously lovely Keri Russell) meets a devilishly handsome would-be rock singer named Louis (Jonathan Rhys Meyers).
The two fall asleep together, fully clothed, outside on a rooftop, which will likely give youngsters the impression that's all it takes to make a girl pregnant.
Nine months later, Lyla gives birth to a baby boy, and her slightly obsessed father (William Sadler) tells her the infant has died. Ten years later, the baby, now Evan, tools around Manhattan and meets an Artful Dodger named Arthur (Leon G. Thomas III), a street performer and Evan's instant best pal.
Arthur recruits Evan for his street boss, Wizard (Williams), a wily hustler who runs what appears to be an underground school for kids of actors rejected for roles in "Fame." Wizard, who dresses like he's auditioning to play Joe Buck in a "Midnight Cowboy" sequel, takes one look at Evan playing the guitar and sees dollar signs.
Wizard puts the lad out on the street as a New York performing sensation with a new name: August Rush.
Before the end credits scroll, Evan/August has composed his own symphony (which nobody notices sounds suspiciously like Van Morrison's tune to "Moondance") unknowingly played a duet with his own father and met an amazing little performer named Jamia Simone Nash who can belt out a song or a caustic comment with equal sting.
"August Rush" has plenty of raw charm to offer, mostly from little Highmore, and a couple of foot-stomping street numbers that'll get viewers' heads nodding.
But beware. This music-loaded cinematic confection isn't for the feint-hearted.
"August Rush"
Two stars out of four
Opens today
Freddie Highmore as Evan Taylor
Robin Williams as Wizard
Keri Russell as Lyla Novacek
Terrence Howard asRichard Jeffries
Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Louis Connelly
Screenplay by Nick Castle and James V. Hart. Produced by Richard Barton Lewis. Directed by Kirsten Sheridan. A Warner Bros. release. Rated PG. Running time: 113 minutes.