“August Rush” is a sweet take on the orphan-finds-parents movie cliché.

Freddie Highmore, the British-born child actor best known for his role in the 2005 production of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” stars as a strong-minded orphan utterly convinced his parents will someday find him though his music.

The film begins with two contrasting scenes. One shows well-to-do cellist prodigy Lyla Novacek (Keri Russell), whose father will stop at nothing to make his plans for his daughter come to fruition. The other scene shows a gifted Irish rocker, Louis Connelly (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), passing though New York with his band.

Their “chance meeting,” or one night stand, sets the tone for the next hour and a half of random events that eventually lead exactly where you think they will.

After a short chase, the lovebirds give up and move on to their dreary lives. Soon after the predictable pregnancy, Lyla has an accident and when she awakes her ruthless father tells her the child had been lost.

Ten years later, both Lyla and Louis have moved on to unfulfilling lives. Meanwhile, their child, Evan, has escaped from a harassment-ridden orphanage and walks the many miles to New York City. How realistic.

While on his deathbed, Lyla’s father admits to giving the child away and, as expected, Lyla drops everything to find her little boy. Simultaneously, Louis leaves his high-paying white-collar job, reunites with his brother and band, and takes up his search for Lyla.

In New York, Evan meets up with an old and abusive music man named Wizard (Robin Williams). Although well played by Williams, the character is flat and stagnant, as is the case with all of the characters in the film.

Overall, the movie was sweet, but it lost all sense of realism with its chance meetings and coincidences. The characters were one dimensional and the plot was predictable. The only thing the movie had going for it was its beautiful music motif.

Unless you are a die-hard Jonathan Rhys Meyers fan, a music addict, or have absolutely nothing else to do, save yourself the nine dollars and just watch the movie trailer online. It is basically the entire movie sans about 45 minutes of boring filler.