MovieChat Forums > August Rush (2007) Discussion > The problem with 'it's a fairy tale'

The problem with 'it's a fairy tale'

posted 17 years ago by action-barry
46 replies | jump to latest

I have just watched this unmitigated disaster of a motion picture and was astonished to see its relatively high rating on IMDB. I immediately came to the boards to try and figure out why the people who like this movie like it.

I see that most supporters are into its "fairly tale" elements. That is certainly a fair thing to enjoy, and I'm not going to knock that. I won't tell someone they're wrong to like or dislike a movie.

That being said, I have seen a number of people who DISlike this movie raise extremely valid negative issues with the movie only to have a hoard of fans rebut with "it's a fairy tale." This is an insufficient response to valid concerns.

A good fairy tale doesn't have people walking out and pointing out the less-than-realistic elements of the story. A good fairy tale effectively sets up the rules of the universe in which it exists and then works according to them. This movie did not do that. Why are so many willing to swallow that this little boy literally follows sounds he hears to New York and in doing so is reunited with his parents (a completely fantastic notion that, in this fairy tale, I didn't object to at all) but are NOT able to swallow, say, his needing to be taught by an adorable little girl how to plop notes on a piece of sheet music but then suddenly knowing how to write complex notation (which immediately struck me as ludicrous)? The latter is, frankly, far less bizarre -- so why is it so much more objectionable? I think it is because the movie doesn't ground this incredible ability of the boy in anything that happens in the movie. Indeed, it even suggests a direct (and false) correlation with Mozart, seemingly suggesting that this sort of fantastic wunderkind ability is humanly possible (which it isn't). A fairy tale doesn't do any of this kind of dangerous mixing of the real and the fantastic. A fairy tale doesn't give you a magical wizard and then tie the wizard into the natural framework of reality. That's dangerous and, frankly, rather misanthropic.

I find this sort of so-called "fairy tale" completely reprehensible. Fairy tales are supposed to be fantastical demonstrations of some real, human truth. The point of Cinderella isn't "if you're downtrodden you can count on magic to help you out" -- it's, among many other things, the classic ugly duckling tale. What is August Rush? If you are Superboy, you will do Superthings? My, how sad I am to not be Superboy. I will not be able to do Superthings now. Thank you, August Rush, for highlighting my painful normality. Ho-hum, back to the office with me.

Indeed, I shudder at the thought of a young person watching this movie and being taught that talent isn't worked at -- it is merely given to you. By magic.

In short, this movie can only be called a "fairy tale" because certain supernatural things occur in it -- primarily Superboy's magical music gifts. Literally everything else in the movie is the stuff of reality and coincidence.

As such, I don't consider this a "fairy tale." I think "fairy tale" is a nice sounding phrase for what this actually is -- undistilled cheese.

What does it say about a fairy tale if you can remove the fantastic from it and actually have a BETTER movie? If you strip all the supernatural elements from this movie it might have actually been a bit cute.

(Also, as a Mozart fanatic, I'm immediately offended whenever any movie continues to promulgate the completely absurd notion that Mozart didn't work his butt off at his music -- that he was simply transcribing notes that were magically popping into his head. This trilling, romantic notion is demonstrably and completely untrue and is an insult to one of history's greatest composer's difficult labors.) (But this is an aside, just another little gripe :)

[–] dglsjms 15 years ago

Reality has but one attribute, and that is love, you psuedo-intellectual. And August Rush has plenty of love for anyone who can hear the Sound. The Sound ( or as the movie calls it, the "Music") is very real, and it has been the stuff of religion and spirituality since the dawn of time. Music goes way deeper than any of your senseless theories that you use to make yourself seem intelligent, but I can see right through you. I can hear the music; it's part of the spiritual ( although not religious ) path that I am on. It is more real ( for those who know how to attune themselves to It ) than a dropped out Music Theory student who couldn't cut it as a real musician ( you're the perfect example. If you knew anything about music, you would find it a waste of time to come to a message board such as this to bitch and moan ) will ever be. You are the illusion, while August Rush is the reality. Reality is one, though religions call It by various names. This is what the sages have said to be One in asserting the interiority of divinity in Soul. This inner essence, the spark of Divinity which is of the Sound, is always hidden, for it exists at a higher level of human life as the potential for God in man. All reality stands out in shining splendor and the Music is acclaimed for all who have reached the summit. Until then, each Soul exists in unreality.

Weaker minds ( such as yourself )are impressed by idiots like you that all truth is one and reality is the same for every man. This is not truth. Truth is a variation of experiences, and there cannot be any measure made of it, so who the fook do you think you are that makes you wise as to what is a fairy tail and what is not? These eternal truths that you speak about so vainly and with such pompous pride are hardly more than mouthing words. You cannot prove what you say, nor can you debate them except from an intellectual viewpoint. That is not what August Rush is about, you self serving piece of *beep* for brains. The statements you make are not truth. Anyone who experiences Truth knows it for what it is and has little to say about it. There are no words or feelings which can express feelings in the esoteric worlds. Have I said enough, or are you thirsty for more? I'll be back tomorrow. You have just been served by a Smooth Criminal.

Douglas

[–] IAmTheMessageCenter 14 years ago

It's interesting to compare the high rating on imdb with the ratings compiled by critics on sites like metacritic and rotton tomatoes. Even though I think a lot of critics are full of themselves their reviews are more grounded in reality. Compare the 37% and 38% ratings on those sites to the 7.5 here. I wasn't as hard as some people (I gave it a 5) but the movie was one of the dopiest I've seen in my life.

[–] One_Man_Army 14 years ago

That's your problem. You just didn't hear the music, apparently. Movie critics reviews are more grounded in reality? Don't make me laugh. Their reviews are certainly not more grounded in reality than anybody else's reviews.

Here's a little fact for you. EVERYTHING August Rush did in the film, including writing musical notation so quickly, has already been done by musical prodigies in the past. Heck, Jay Greenberg played the cello perfectly almost immediately after seeing one for the first time and wrote musical notation perfectly by the time he was 4, all without ANY previous training or study whatsoever in music. That is a well documented FACT made clear in this article.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/24/60minutes/main657713.shtml

Please, your mind is just closed to what prodigies have done over the years. You don't know what's possible because you don't understand prodigies. They can pick up instruments the first time and start playing perfectly because that's how quickly they think. They think in lightspeed so it can take mere seconds for them to master an instrument. There is well documented evidence of several musical prodigies over the years who learned to play an instrument perfectly the very first time. Your denial saying it is impossible is completely contrary to the facts that have already been documented, some as recently as just the past couple years.

ALL HAIL THE HIGH QUEEN!!!!!

[–] luciok-601-210740 14 years ago

you sound so ingenuous.. the most part of the people like beautiful, easy and fantastic movies. Its all over the IMDB. Crappy appelative movies with high rating... The more different to reality, the better. That is difficult to accept?

Or maybe you´re just a wanna-be intelectual that never will accept that movies are about fantasy in the name of your "superiority".. Sorry but looks like this. Movies are fantasy, for all the tastes, why don´t you just relax and respect the variety of tastes? I´m sure you will be a lot more useful in foruns like this.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] narrnia-1 14 years ago

Come on you are overdoing this i mean he was not exactly mozart ,he was a kid miracle cause he could compose music and was learning music too easy this was the reason he went to the music school ehere they were teaching him .My problem in all this story was the august rush father thing.I mean the musicians did not know that the kid had no parents?how you let it go away with this guy without asking?

[–] writerwren_2 12 years ago

You are incorrect about Mozart{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart}; he certainly was a child prodigy. They are a rarity but they do happen. Elton John is said to have been a modern day child prodigy, for instance.

I get that you don't like 'fairy tales'. Don't read or watch them, then!

It is a fairy tale from the get go and I thoroughly enjoyed the show.

[–] boudicea1967 10 years ago

Well, I think you answered your own question. Yea, you're right, things do not happen to people such as it did in the movie and we all know that. As crazy as it sounds it is a break from reality and sometimes people need that. I think what some of the movie was portraying was the idea of hope or the illusion of it because sometimes that is what people need.

I am not sure that anyone is suppose to make sense of it. They just accept it and do not pick it apart because people are aware that it isn't real and that it is imaginary. But, some times you just need to let people believe in the hope of a happy ending.