i hate to bring people down to earth, but..

That girl had to teach him basic notes in the morning and after she leaves, he then proceeds to get pages and pages of full blown symphonies, concerto pieces and the like with time signatures, ties, sixteenth note patterns all within' the span of about oh maybe ten hours. Ya no, just no. Maybe the most ridiculous scene I've ever seen in a movie.

Hi.

This is completely unrelated to any post that was posted before. To the original author's comment. Music isn't just merely a skill. Anyone can play music..anyone can hit a few notes on a piano or pluck a few strings on a guitar. True music is felt, it's absorbed...it's a feeling. That's why music speaks to many of us. It doesn't matter what person you are, because you feel it and the emotion behind it, that's true music. Musical prodigies...they feel that music, and they take it and they use it. People are born with talent. Some people are around music forever and they still can't play an instrument. How can you say that musical prodigies are not born with talent. They haven't had years of practice and practical theory. If you had to understand what music is truly about, then you'd understand what this movie is about. This actually isn't fictional...music is magical when you understand the true beauty behind it and the meaning it gives to many people. So don't try and tell me that music is just a skill, because it's soooo much more than that.

Do you also bash the Harry Potter movies for being about magic? You really are pretty cynical, but you really are no reviewer. A real critical movie reviewer knows how to look past the unrealistic situations and see what the movie is really about; they don't knit-pick and whine about things that their little, limited, closed-minded brains can't fathom.

And you're dim statements make it pretty obvious that you have no knowledge or talent when it comes to music. Musical ability can be perfected with practice but MANY people have an instilled musical instinct. Look at some of the most celebrated composers in history: Mozart started composing when he was five years old. You are clearly not a musical prodigy, nor am I, so neither of us could possibly understand how a prodigy's mind works, and you would sound less ignorant if you stopped trying to assume that prodigies don't exist.

I am a composer. This movie fully engulfed me as I believed the character. I heard music all over as a child. This is a real thing. I master instruments quickly and always hear music in everything. Ever since I was 3, I heard orchestral sounds and learned quite quickly to manifest them.

This is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Learning an instrument was not hard for me. Granted, it was a lot of work, but I seemed to progress quickly.

Hearing the music and being able to separate it's parts was my gift - still is.

It's a wonderful movie...

you're an idiot. for 99% of people it takes hard work to learn how to play an instrument. listening and practicing. probably more like 99.9%. do you think beethoven was so good because he listened to music a lot? no..he was deaf. mozart learned at juliard? no. there are people, a small percent, who just get it. it comes to them and they create masterpieces, almost without any effort. just because you and i are not those few people doesn't mean they don't exist.

Why not enjoy it for what it is...a fantasy. Why try to analyze it. Some movies are made to just enjoy.You know. If you build it...he will come.

As a musician, I play everything brass, a little bit of strings, but mostly a vocalist, I must say that after reading your critique, you have obviously not been exposed to many actual musicians. While I do agree with you that in most cases it does take more determination, practice, and love of music for the average person to acquire skills to a high level, there are many people out there that possess a natural and genius talent with their instrument or voice.

I have encountered master pianists that have never had a lesson in their life. Some cannot even read music. I have played with guitar players that could play along with a song they hear for the first time like it was something they have practiced for years. I have seen many prodigies in the music world. The reason most of them aren't well known is because a lot of them aren't egotists.

In my humble opinion, people like August Rush actually do exist.

I never doubt people like August exist, but even with talents of Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven combined, you can't suddenly start composing cantatas with a counterpoint in bass and tenor voices, deceptive cadences, and even suspensions. I recently did a project on Mozart. He was trained by his father since a very young age, and Leopold was no bad musician. Mozart traveled around Europe, visited Bach and Handel, yada yada yada. So did Bach, who studied with the great Buxtehude. Having talent is nice, but if you don't spend a lot of time cultivating it, meaning countless hours of practice, you cant do anything with it. And if you have a bit of intelligence and a wish to keep getting better at your instrument, getting better really means practicing wrong, making mistakes, and discovering those mistakes, then re - learning to get rid of those mistakes. You people think Steve Vai is very talented? He confessed himself that he had none. He just became so obsessed with the guitar, that he practiced countless hours, and became what he is.