Product Details

• Actors: Freddie Highmore, Keri Russell, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Robin Williams, Terrence Howard
• Directors: Kristen Sheridan
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed: French, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Studio: Warner Home Video
• DVD Release Date: March 11, 2008
• Run Time: 114 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (559 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00133KFGW
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,540 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "August Rush" on IMDb

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.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

134 of 142 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Music and the Harmony of the Universe: A Film for Dreamers March 19, 2008

By Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

AUGUST RUSH will not go down in history as a profound film: many will even go so far as to dismiss it as kitsch, maudlin, and a simpleton take off on 'Oliver Twist', and other pejoratives. For this viewer the little film is tender and frequently requires suspension of belief, but in the end the idea of the story does indeed bring a tear to the eye.

Based on a story by Paul Castro and Nick Castle and transformed for the screen by Castle and James V. Hart, the premise is that of a fairytale, but an unusual fairytale built around the impact of music. On one magic night in New York City classical cellist Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell) and popular Irish guitarist/singer Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) meet on a rooftop, languishing in their own disappointments with life and finding solace in each other's arms, and that night Lyla becomes pregnant, never to see Louis again, and struggling to keep her baby despite her father's demands to abort. Lyla delivers her baby boy, but the child is immediately taken away (Lyla is told the child was stillborn). 'Evan Taylor' AKA August Rush (Freddie Highmore) is placed in an orphanage, longing for parents he believes he can 'hear' in the music of the spheres. Compelled to find his parents he escapes the orphanage after eleven years and is taken in by Faginesque Maxwell 'Wizard' Wallace (Robin Williams) who teaches his street urchins the fine art of pick pocketing and playing music on the streets as buskers. Renamed August Rush, Evan has uncommon musical talents and rapidly becomes a big money maker for Wizard while at the same time being discovered as a potential pupil for Juilliard by Reverend James (Mykelti Williamson) and his girl singer Hope (Jamia Simone Nash) with assistance from kindly social worker Richard Jefferies (Terrence Howard). August Rush composes a rhapsody that is to be played in Central Park, a chance to place his music before the world and attract his parents, both of whom have returned to music careers after eleven years absence and learn of the existence of August Rush, their 'unknown son'. And yes, the ending is a happily ever after one...

Kirsten Sheridan directs with a sure hand and a keen eye toward make believe. The cast is strong, especially Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and the musical score, a very mixed bag, provides a suitable background for the story. This is one of those movies that asks us to go along with a lot of improbable events, but the pleasure of the experience is worth the journey. Grady Harp, March 08

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Music and Love in Superb Dramatic Fantasy... July 6, 2008

By Benjamin J Burgraff VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

It's easy to point out the incongruities of Kirsten Sheridan's magical "August Rush"...an 11-year-old who learns guitar in one night, and piano and musical composition in another...but this is not a movie for nitpickers, but for dreamers, and all of us who hear music in everything we experience. And boy, does this film deliver!

I wasn't surprised to see Nick Castle's hand in the screenplay, as he is an old hand at finding magic in our cynical world (he wrote and directed "The Boy Who Could Fly"); here, we have the story of two incredibly gifted musicians, a Julliard-trained cellist (Keri Russell), and a self-taught Irish rock singer/composer (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who bond under the stars in New York City, then are torn apart by families with their own agendas. She carries his child, but after an accident, her ambitious father (William Sadler) steals the newborn, dumps the baby into social services, and announces to the daughter that the child had died. What is MEANT to be, never happens, the lives of both musicians unravel, and they soon give up their gifts, for mundane careers...as their unknown child (the remarkable Freddie Highmore) grows into a musical prodigy, on a mission to find them.

The bulk of the film deals with the child's search, and the remarkable people he meets along the way, from a sympathetic welfare worker (Terrence Howard), to a gifted child guitarist and his Fagin-like mentor (Leon Thomas III and Robin Williams, who is creepy, but excellent), and finally, a powerful child gospel singer, and her pastor (Jamia Simone Nash and Mykelti Williamson). Dubbed 'August Rush' by Williams, the boy harnesses his prodigious musical talents, even as his parents individually renew their own musical careers, and are drawn back to New York City, and a tear-inducing, spectacular climax. Predictable? You bet, but I dare you not to be moved, anyway!

The performances are first-rate, particularly from the child actors, and the music is awesome. This is unabashedly a 'feel-good' movie, the perfect flick to pop into the DVD player when you're feeling down.

My only real quibble is the lack of Special Features; extended scenes are all that are offered, and this is a film I'd have loved learning more about...

"August Rush" is a wonderful film that shouldn't be missed!

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Quietly Fabulous February 15, 2008

By Chuckie McDonald

Format:DVD

I didn't know what to expect with this movie. I really believed it to be a "chick-flick". I was wrong. This is an awe-inspiring movie that, I believe, most people just glossed over...a huge mistake. The critics didn't give this much of a chance...too bad for them. I found this movie to be incredible from the story line to the music to the development of the plot line. The climax was a tear jerker even though you knew all along he was going to be reunited with his parents but the process by which this happens just keeps you filled with hope. And that is the message of the movie, hope kept alive by a dream. As the song lyrics say,"Hold on tight to your dreams". Watch the movie and be throughly entertained.