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August Rush | 
 enlarge | Director: Kirsten Sheridan
Actors: Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Terrence Howard, Robin Williams
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $28.98
Buy New: $19.99
You Save: $8.99 (31%)
New (53) Used (34) Collectible (1) from $7.00
Rating:  214 reviews
Sales Rank: 312
Format: Ac-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 113
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 76368
UPC: 012569763685
EAN: 0012569763685
ASIN: B00133KFGW
Theatrical Release Date: November 21, 2007
Release Date: March 11, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Music has long been considered a universal language with the power to bring people together, but can the simple act of playing music possibly unite a child with a mother and father who live in two different cities and don't even know of the child's existence? Having shared one extraordinary night, classical cellist Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell) and Irish singer and songwriter Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) were a union meant to be that was torn apart by circumstances and a protective father (William Sadler). After eleven years, both Lyla and Louis have given up performing only to find that they are unhappy and searching for a sense of fulfillment that will ultimately lead both artists back to music and performing. Evan (Freddie Highmore) is an 11-year old orphan who's grown up hearing music in everything around him and is convinced that his real parents want him and will find him with the help of music. Driven by his innate musical genius and a powerful compulsion to perform before the world, Evan runs away from the orphanage and is initially taken in by a street man known as Wizard (Robin Williams) who encourages his musical talent and renames him August Rush and, later, by a local priest who arranges for August to receive a Julliard education. August is a child prodigy who excels beyond even the wildest expectations and earns the opportunity of a lifetime--a chance to perform in front of an enormous audience in New York's Central Park. The question is; can his performance possibly reach the audience August really craves? While elements of this film are completely unbelievable (take August's instant prowess on the guitar or his immediate and sophisticated grasp of musical notation and musical theory), the message of the universality of music and the notion that "the music is all around us, all you have to do is listen" is both compelling and powerful. --Tami Horiuchi
Product Description
There?s music in the wind and sky. Can you hear it? And there?s hope. Can you feel it? The boy called August Rush can. The music mysteriously draws him penniless and alone to New York City in a quest to find ? somehow someway ? the parents separated from him years earlier. And along the way he may also find the musical genius hidden within him. Experience the magic of this rhapsodic epic of the heart starring Freddie Highmore (as August) Keri Russell Jonathan Rhys Meyers Terrence Howard and Robin Williams. ?I believe in music the way some people believe in fairy tales? August says. Open your heart and listen. You?ll believe too.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/CHILDHOOD DRAMA UPC: 012569763685 Manufacturer No: 76368
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| Customer Reviews: Read 209 more reviews...
 A Wonderful Movie August 29, 2008
I loved this movie and have already watched it three times..always recommending it to others. It takes you on a whole gammet of emotions. I had never heard of any of the actors before except for Robin Williams, but the three main actors where great! They totally draw you into their lives. This is a very captivating and inspirational movie!
one of the best movies of the year August 25, 2008
This movie is a must see for people who believe in serendipity. The combination of circumstances is truly extraordinary and stresses your ability to believe them. But in the end it is really worth it. The combination of acting, singing and music is skillfully blended and carrys you along in an emotional cloud. It is bound to make you feel better at the end. A rare movie for all ages and persuasions.
You have to understand this GENRE August 23, 2008
I won't rehash what all of the positive reviews have said. My five star rating speaks for itself.
As for the negative reviews about this movie, I can't help but make the observation that those individuals apparently don't understand or appreciate the genre of fantasy drama. There are a few somewhat implausible elements to the story, but they're done artistically enough that instead of detracting from the film, they enhance the emotion of it.
This is one of the best movies I've ever seen. It's in my top 10 for sure.
 Same Note Sammy August 19, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I'd have enjoyed this movie more if... well, if it had been better! I was expecting a serious movie and was dealt a Dickensian, Hollywood fairy-tale where actors are merely props for the movie's symbolism: Keri Russell is sublime and disciplined classical music and Jonathan Rhys Meyers is hip and emotional Rock and Roll. A short-lived fling gives birth to Freddie Highmore, a super-gifted, musically inclined child who integrates both. Robin Williams plays an interesting character, the only complex one in the movie, who represents, to me, the stages of a career in music which in the end goes bad: Inspired and driven by love of the art initially which then turns materialistic and self-destructive.
These aspects could have, if they had been done correctly by writer/director Kirsten Sheridan, been interesting. What is beyond reproach are her sets and shots; she has the ability to create in her movies a world one wants to live in. I absolutly love her use of colors and light. Yet, using actors as chess pieces to tell a story is just bad film-making, I'd have expected better from her. The problem is that once a writer or director decides to make symbols out of characters, the actor is trapped into playing the same note (and isn't that ironic?). That premise leads the movie to make several unbelievably stupid choices: After Rhys Meyers abandons his super-hip band in New York (there was talk about "going back to Ireland") he finds an unlikely, super-cushy job in California. This type of overtly-privileged fantasy life is fine for the OC or 90210, not for a movie that wants to be deep. When he runs into a former band mate years later we find that although the band broke up after he left, somehow they ALL live in California and within driving distance of each other! This is just insulting your audience. Beyond that, August Rush is just enervatingly sentimental; I haven't rolled my eyes at a movie so much since the English Patient.
This movie has heart, is beautifully shot, is family friendly and even something you might enjoy if you are in the right mood. It is about a universe of sounds and how harmony brings us together, about integrating all the notes in our scale and the value of art, discipline, emotion and Love. Too bad there's a droning single note throughout the movie and an excessive amount of emotional sap that makes it easy to be cynical about it.
Give me a break!!! August 9, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
All I can say after seeing this highly recommended movie is...Puhleeze!!! Nearly every movie has some unrealistic "hollywood" aspects to it that stretch believability, but I have never seen anything that quite compares to August Rush in this way. Keri Russell is not very believable as a renowned concert cellist in the first place. On top of that, when she is playing a concert at the beginning and end of the film, she somehow knows that her true love, Jonathan Rhys-meyers, is playing a rock concert somewhere at the same time, and he knows that she is playing a concert at the same time, and their music is perfectly in sync, and somehow at the end of the film she knows that her son can hear her playing through a subway grate, and somehow the boy ends up running away from the evil Robin Williams just in time to make it to the concert to squeeze into a tux and direct the Juilliard orchestra playing his composition, and somehow he knows that his mom and dad are in the audience standing down in the first row... you get the idea. Everyone in the film must be clairvoyant I guess. This is pure sentimental pap.
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