The movie begins with Evan Taylor explaining that he is an orphan living in different homes, but believes his parents are still alive. The story unfolds with 2 stories interweaved - the first about Evan's quest to find his parents and the second about the love story between his parents.

WARNING: This contains plot spoilers!

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THE MOVIE
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11 years earlier
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Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell) is a young talented cellist who plays with the Philharmonic Orchestra. Louis Connelly is an Irish singer in a band.

Lyla and Louis meet at a party and after an amazing connection end up spending the night together. They are found sleeping on a bench on the rooftop by Louis other bandmates in the morning. Lyla realises she is late getting back to her hotel and dashes off after agreeing to meet Louis again at 10am.

After getting back to the hotel, Lyla's father is waiting to leave and refuses to wait or listen to Lyla's pleas about wanting to meet up with Louis again. At this point we understand that Lyla's father is very controlling and very focused on her talent and achieving his ambition for her.

Louis misses her at their agreed meeting point and is very despondent. On their way to the airport, stuck in traffic, Louis abandons the taxi and runs off the Lyla's hotel. Just in time to see her drive off.

Lyla then finds out she is pregnant and a while later tells her father. He is most upset about this and they have a heated argument. To which Lyla runs out and into the path of a car and ends up in hospital. When Lyla comes rounds, her dad tells her she lost the baby. But in fact she hasn't and he lied to her.

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10 years later
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In the present day, Evan has run away from his care home and along the way meets Wizard, a sort of pimp, who uses the musical talents of the children he meets to make money. Staying in a condemned former auditorium, Evan discovers his talent for playing and composing music.

We learn that Louis is now a successful businessman after having quit the band but even though he has a girlfriend he still thinks about Lyla. After meeting an old bandmate and having an argument about leaving the band, Louis contemplates his loss and decides to find Lyla. So he heads off to Chicago.

Next Lyla discovers her father is in hospital, where he requests Lyla visits him. There he tries to explain that he gave away her baby with best intentions for her. He tells her he forged her signature on the adoption release forms. Lyla asks her father where he is now and he admits he does not know.

With Evan, Wizard encourages Evan to busk using his talent and maybe as a callout to his parents. Evan takes a lot of money for his talent. wizard thinks Evan can go far with his talent and renames him to 'August Rush' after seeing it on the side of a van.

After her father's revelation, Lyla is distraught and ends up in New York, sensing that her son is there. She goes to the government child agency looking for help and meets Mr Jeffries, who was Evan's welfare officer. Mr Jeffries is looking for Evan and places missing child posters but Wizard finds it and tears it down.

Mr Jeffries meets Wizard looking for a number of children including Evan, but Wizard refuses to say where he is so Mr Jeffries puts a call into the police. Wizard tries to get August a gig and fails, but roughs up August and tries to scare August when he refuses to stop playing his music.

The police turn up at the condemned auditorium, where August runs away from the police on the Subway (Train) and ends up at a church where it's choir is rehearsing. August befriends one of the choir singers, who when she hears August play thinks she has found a prodigy and the Reverend of the church enlists him in a Music Academy, The Juillard School.

Back with Mr Jeffries, Lyla tells him her signature was forged on the release papers and Mr Jeffries show Lyla a picture of Evan. In her quest to find him, Lyla moves to New York and hopes that if she starts playing again, Evan will hear her music. She gets a place with the Philharmonic again.

At the Juillard School, the Board tell August that they want to play his composed music, The August Rhapsody at a Garden concert and he agrees, believing his music will be heard by a lot of people including his parents.

Louis also ends up in New York with his band, securing them a gig where they first played.

Whilst August is rehearsing for his Rhapsody, Wizard blackmails August into returning back with him, where August busks for Wizard again. After an encounter with Louis in the park, August wants to leave, but Wizard will not let him.

The night of the concert arrives. Lyla takes to the stage for the first time since losing the baby. At the same time as Lyla plays, Louis is on stage performing the song he wrote for Lyla.

August finally leaves Wizard in the subway and hears Lyla playing and feels a connection. Lyla feels it too. August rushes to the concert for his Rhapsody where Lyla has just finished and is leaving. Once August's Rhapsody starts, Lyla and Louis both hear it. Lyla turns back and Louis realises it is the same kid he met in the park and rushes to the park too.

Both listen to August in awe, with Lyla realising it is her son. Louis spots Lyla in the park and follows her as she heads towards the stage. Louis takes her hand and she smiles at him. At the same time, August turns round and sees Lyla and Louis. A big grin opens on his face as he realises he has found his parents. :o)

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FILM & DVD INFORMATION
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The DVD does not have any special features. From the Main Menu, you can only access the following features:

• Movie
• Scene Selection
• Setup Options

The film is advertised as 100 mins, but is actually 103 minutes.The BBFC rating is PG. It is generally suited for children as there is no swearing or sex scenes.

The film was nominated for an Oscar in 2008 for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song. The song is "Raise It Up" written and composed by Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack and Tevin Thomas (Source: www.imdb.com)

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CAST
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Evan Taylor/August Rush - Freddie Highmore
Lyla Novacek - Keri Russell
Louis Connelly - Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Wizard - Robin Williams
Mr Jeffries - Terence Howard

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SUMMARY
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The interweaving of the 2 storylines is quite well done as you do not feel there is too much jumping around of the story. Each storyline is allowed to develop until they merge into a single storyline.

It is unusual to see Robin Williams in a 'baddie' role and it is not quite suited to his demeanour. The other actors are quite convincing in their roles, except Freddie, see below.

The film sticks to the story but does not really do enough emotional character development - the characters could be considered quite one-dimensional but then again it is a fairytale. Freddie Highmore, who plays August, is an English actor, acting with an American accent. However, it is not the best accent - it is more British with a twang.

All in all, the film is quite good and I would highly recommend it.

Thank you for reading my review.

© 2008 jupiter28