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BY MAGGIE SCOTT

More than the hills are alive with the sound of music in the lavishly corny drama “August Rush”, about an exceptionally gifted young boy who never gives up on the idea that the parents he’s never known are out there somewhere, wanting him as much as he wants them.

His face frozen in a beatific smile, Freddie Highmore portrays the “orphan” Evan Taylor. Evan’s body is a tuning fork to the universe; a blessed-out conduit to the music of the spheres. From humming wires to waving grass, Evan feels the song of life pulsing through his world of hope that his mother and father “got lost.”

If he can learn to play the music inside himself, they will “know that I was here and come and find me.” Evan is right about one thing. His parents are lost. Lyla (Keri Russell) and Louis (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) had one magical night up on a New York roof eleven years before, and were separated by a father determined that his gifted musician daughter would not ruin her life with a baby.

Believing her child died at birth, Lyla’s lingering grief has made her retire her cello.

Louis has traded his rock guitar for hedge funds, a continent away from the girl he’s never forgotten. Feelings they dare not recognize as hope have denied them both closure. Because he takes his orders from the moon, Evan makes his way to the city, where he ecstatically conducts a cacophonous symphony of sounds and falls in with a family of street people led by Maxwell, the Wizard (Robin Williams).

Most of the kids are on the sidewalks playing music for handouts, and Evan becomes Max’s star performer when he discovers the kid has a natural virtuosity on the guitar. While Evan gets a rush playing for the admiring crowds, his motives remain pure: he believes that if his folks are listening they’re going to hear their son’s music and find him.

Fearing he’ll lose his cash cow, Max is not cooperative when he discovers that a social worker (Terrence Howard) is trying to locate Evan. A series of fortuitous events and caring people move Evan closer to his goal. A little girl in a gospel choir; a pastor; teachers at Julliard: all of them see Evan for the prodigy that he is. All of them listen. All of them hear.

With Lyla finally aware that her child is not dead, and with Louis having located Lyla through the internet, the moment of reunion is at hand. Heartwarming hyperbole can’t quite trump the preposterous sap; but actors emblazoned with belief in the power of music will make any cynic stifle a sniffle.

A Warner Bros Pictures release, rated PG for language, some thematic elements, mild violence.
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