Holstra Boring, long, and too preachy.

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Winifred The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Sean Payne A musical Extravaganza of Epic proportion on a biblical scale. this is the story of a young genius virtuoso of the ivory keys, Vitus is misunderstood until he takes maters in to his own hands, This is PG 13 due to complicated social issues, I enjoyed this film so much I bought a copy, HIs grandfather dies he was Vitus's moral grounding, and best friend but it mostly about the Music this is worth the watch God bless and enjoy

bandw *Spoilers* This is the (fictional) account of Vitus von Holzen, a piano prodigy. In the first third of the movie Vitus is six years old and in the rest he is twelve. The main stroke of brilliance this film has to offer is in the casting of two piano prodigies to play Vitus. Teo Georghiu plays Vitus at age twelve, he was about twelve at the time of the filming and is stunningly talented. Most people are captivated by genius no matter what the area of expertise, and genius in a young person is particularly fascinating. It seems that the main areas open to childhood prodigies are chess, music, and mathematics and it is not uncommon for a genius in one of these areas to have talents in the others. If you have ever attempted to excel in any area and encounter a person who is so above and beyond what is normally considered excellence, then your appreciation for such a person is heightened. Teo Gheorhiu commands such esteem. By far the high points of the movie for me were in seeing him play and marveling at his ability.Vitus faces a decision that I assume most prodigies face, and that is how much of their lives should be devoted to developing their gift. To rise to the top, the devotion required would be pretty much all-consuming, or at least it would set them apart from a more normal childhood. Vitus faces such a decision, a decision accentuated by the pressures of his parents to capitalize on his gift and the mockery of his fellow students, since he excels in the classroom as well. It seems that the only person who simply wants Vitus to find his own way is his grandfather (Bruno Ganz in a fine performance), and Vitus establishes a close bond with him.The internal conflict Vitus faces between conforming and pursuing his talent is set up nicely. In order to fit in, Vitus fakes a diminution of ability after an attempt to put on wings and jump from the second story of his house results in a concussion. It was not clear to me if Vitus purposely staged this event so that he could subsequently fake normalcy, or if he just recognized the possibilities the accident afforded him. But no matter how hard Vitus tries to be an average kid, like buying popular music CDs, his interest in classical music cannot be suppressed and he buys a CD of Bach's Goldberg Variations played by Alexey Botvinov that excites him to try his own playing on his grandfather's piano. Only his grandfather knows that Vitus' talent is still there and Vitus is faking its lack.This is a great setup for a rich final payoff that is totally squandered in the final third where Vitus starts playing the stock market in order to save his father's job. Due to insider information he makes millions and winds up buying a NASA-sized flight simulator for his aviation loving grandfather. When I saw that thing in Vitus' grandfather's shop, I knew the movie had taken a regrettable wrong turn into fantasy land. For one thing Vitus would have been slapped with an insider trading lawsuit fairly quickly. As he continued to make more millions and bought out his dad's old company, I lost respect for this movie.In addition to being a piano prodigy, Georghiu is a good actor with a winning personality. Based on the brief interview with him on the DVD extras it would appear that Georghiu has not been tortured by life decision conflicts. He says he wants to play a concert in the Royal Albert Hall by the time he is twenty and also remarks that in order to make a lot of money you have to be really good. I hope he achieves both of those goals.For a movie that treats the same themes (but chess instead of pianism) see "Searching for Bobby Fischer." That film stays grounded, perhaps because it is based on a true story.

casch0101 Everything is "German-perfect" in this film. However do not equal this comment to "coldness" or "steel-like perfect". Profound emotions are conveyed all along through it. I am a professional pianist/ composer/arranger/ orchestra Director myself, and yes, for musicians it is immediately evident the 12-yr old kid is ACTUALLY playing. Furthermore, he plays with emotion, virtuosity, sense of humor and wit!. The grandfather is played by great German actor Bruno Gantz (who indeed played one of the most realistic portrayals of Hitler I have seen, in "The Fall" - Last Days of Hitler -"..or something like that).The original music is just wonderful, not to mention the rendering of works by the classical music masters!. The casting is perfect, and the story/script simply gets unbeatable due to the writer's avoiding the focus ONLY on the kid's musical virtuosity, but due to his high IQ he mixed in Internet (IT), wall street issues, business, parents-son relationships, grandfather-grandson relationships. I am the father of three (boy 30, boy 24 and girl 18) and also had a close relation with my grandfathers. Everyone is simply perfect. Don't miss it!.

simonasidorin You like a movie , O.K. ....but then you got to explain to other people why ? As somebody already said it , no carcrashes , special effects , free and unnecessary nudities. A family movie , But it's also about life ,family relationships ,a purpose in life , spiced with comic moments and also with the dilemma : How you deal with genuine geniuses ? . As parent , friend , neighbour or simple aquintance . We all passed trough those moments in life . What are we gonna become ? Artist ? Lawyer ? Butcher ? Athlete ? Scientist ? Electrician ? Pilot ? Vet ? Carpenter ? Taxi-driver ? Did we make the right decision ? Watching this movie I thought about Mozart's childhood or maybe the waste of childhood , sacrifice of childhood he had . He was no ordinary fellow , but then again Nicola Tesla was a genius as well and who knows how his childhood was like ? But to return to the movie , Vitus loves life and his parents , even if is hard for him to express that , he is a wunderkind after all, even when he names his educator at kindergarten Obelix he does not do that out of being rude. Even if my fellow compatriot (Teo Gheorghiu) is playing a role , so it's obeying to a script it looks more like this movie is inspired by a real character , a (mini)biography of Teo Gheorghiu . In the real life he is like that..... Good performances by Bruno Ganz and of course Teo Gheorghiu. Bravo! .