From the first time I saw the trailer, I had a bad feeling about the dramatic, music-themed August Rush, which doesn’t seem to have a strong cast or even a believable storyline. Early reviews are in, and so far the criticism isn’t good.

Freddie Highmore plays a young boy with innate musical talent, who embarks upon a quest to find his parents. That, in a nutshell, is the plot. There is one scene were the young boy stands in a field and hears music on the breeze, which inspires him to head to the big city of New York to find his mom and dad (because that’s a highly likely thing for a boy under fifteen to do). His parents are played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers (you know, Henry VIII), and Keri Russell (I know, who?), both musicians themselves, who meet and conceive a baby. The mother’s father has the resulting baby (Highmore) given up for adoption, telling his daughter the baby died. But don’t let this soap operatic plot be the thing that deters you – be deterred by over-the-top acting instead.

And speaking of overacting, I haven’t even gotten around yet to Robin Williams.  He plays Wizard, a former musician who takes young Evan (Highmore) under his wing (but not in a creepy, old-man-young-boy kinda way, in a mentor-I’ll-help-you-find-what-you-seek kinda way). In New York City. Once again, a highly likely story development. Oh, by the way, it turns out that Wizard (Williams) is the one who played the mournful, romantic tune which first lured Evan’s parents into the sack together.

All of a sudden, this maddening plot tries to come together in a real way when first the lying grandfather dies (and offers, naturally, a deathbed confession of his adoptive actions) and sends the mother off on a quest to find her son. Meanwhile, the musician dad starts thinking of the past and decides to find his one night stand out of nowhere.

I’m sure you can already see the ending to this coming a mile away, and that’s just about far enough to truly appreciate this film.