Rating: 
Summary: Great family movie
Review: I don't even care for classical music that much but I loved this film. The concert at the end proves that with hard work and determination, anything is possible. I only wish that Michael Angarano could have been in the movie longer---he's great as Chance in the TV show Cover Me.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastically Heart wrenching
Review: After viewing this movie for the 5th time in two days I would have to say that I am re-energizied. I wish more teachers took their jobs as serious and so full of love. I loved the way the teacher is made to be a stong person in a very diverse atmosphere both at home and at school. To get the children's attention she merely removed them from the class so not to disrupt the other students. She may not have used the best technique at yelling at them, but in today's society I don't think kids are yelled at enough to get their attention. I wish all teachers of all kinds could see this movie. I, being a violin private teacher, would insist this be mandatory for all of us who teach music. My hats off to the real teacher in New York whom this is based on.
Rating:
Summary: Just fine
Review: I saw this film with high expectation. And it lived up to my expectations. A musical performance in this film sometimes make us laugh and sometimes make a deep impression on us. Meryl Streep and kids are good combination. I'm sure that you'll be satisfied with this film and after wathing you love classical music. Thank you.
Rating:
Summary: Very Touching and Heart-Warming
Review: Wes Craven, director of the Scream trilogy, shifts gear and releases "Music of My Heart" based on a true life story of a violin teacher in New York City. The incessant ovation of this movie has proved that shift of genre can be successful.Roberta, mother of two boys, moved to New York City after her husband had left her for another woman who happened to a good friend of hers. Through connection of a friend, Roberta secured an interview with the principal of an elementary school in Harlem. Roberta was later offered a position as a substitute music teacher. Due to meager supplies and budget, Roberta offered her own violins for students to practice. With much difficulty and challenge, Roberta founded a violin program for elementary school kids within the neighborhood. Roberta was met with immediate challenge like student discipline, low self-esteem, and opposition from parents. On one occasion, one of the kids' mother refused her son to take violin lesson because playing violin is considered a Whiteman's practice. Roberta's love for the kid has, however, won his mother over. After almost 10 years as a non-contract substitute teacher, the school faced substantial oppression from the district about dismissing Robert due to budget. The community joined together, along with Roberta's two grown-up sons and prominent musicians to raise money to preserve the program. "Music of My Heart" is a movie about love and perseverance. Meryl Streep plays a non-showy music teacher; yet through her persistance and self-denial, many students' lives are changed. A true inspiration.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: I've seen Music of the Heart, and, to be honest, I loved it! I think it is the kind of movie that touches peoples hearts very deeply. Meryl, as always is so amazing at what she does, that it's almost impossible to see any flaws in her work. Gloria Estefan does a great job in her debuut as an actress, and, hopefully, we'll be seeing her again soon. It's a great movie, with great performances, and filled with great moments. YOU MUST SEE IT.
Rating: 
Summary: Another Vividly Real Streep Performance
Review: Based on a true story about a newly-single mother who talks her way into a job teaching violin to grade schoolers in a tough Harlem neighborhood. Doesn't exactly cover new ground, but Meryl Streep is extremely likeable in the lead role and it's always entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: WHAT AN INSPIRATION
Review: When this movie came out I took my daughter who was four years old to see this particular movie. She loves all movies-- As we were leaving the theater my daughter looks up and asks "Well when do I get my violin?" Two weeks later we started her in lessons,now eight months and seven songs learned so far, she is having the time of her life- She has just recently won a gold medal at a recent competition, and for being now just barely five years old I say thank you Wes Craven and Meryl Streep for listening to the 'Music In Your Heart' and making this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: powerful version of a conventional story
Review: I must confess that I approached `Music of the Heart' with a great deal of fear and trepidation. I really had no desire to subject myself to what I envisioned to be a 124-minute barrage of inspirational life messages and feel-good sentimentality. What a pleasant surprise then to discover this to be a genuinely moving and heartwarming true-life tale of an extraordinary teacher, Roberta Gaspari, and her equally extraordinary students. In plot, `Music of the Heart' doesn't deviate much from the standard formula common to such films. We have, first, the neophyte white middle class schoolteacher, plunged into the heart of a problem-ridden inner city Harlem school, filled with burnt-out teachers who have learned to expect little (and thereby garner little) from the youngsters placed in their charge and children themselves whose troubled home lives provide little in the way of a nurturing environment for academic achievement. We encounter the predictable first-day stumbles of this headstrong, idealistic newcomer as the students challenge her authority and the relevance of her violin class in no uncertain terms; we see how, through discipline and the sheer force of her own determination, she eventually connects them to the music they are learning to play, building their self-confidence and slowly winning the respect of their often skeptical, and, occasionally, downright hostile parents in the process. Then comes the great challenge, as the school board, after ten successful years in which the program has earned a sizable reputation and even been featured in magazine articles, pulls the plug on the funding. Thanks to the sheer determination of Gaspari, the parents whose children's lives have been forever altered, a magazine writer and the voluntary participation of a number of the world's premiere violinists (a large number of whom appear as themselves in the film), the group stages an amazing fundraising concert at Carnegie Hall, the proceeds from which save the program and help ensure its survival for the next several years. One of the chief reasons that `Music of the Heart' does not dissolve (as it so easily might have) into a puddle of goopy tears lies in the matter-of-fact interpretation of the main character that both writer, Pamela Gray, and actress, Meryl Streep, bring to bear on the role. At no time is Roberta ever portrayed as a saintly figure. In fact, she is a woman filled with all sorts of insecurities and vulnerabilities, exacerbated by the devastating sense of bewilderment and loss caused by the unexpected termination of her marriage and her seeming need to be dependent on a man for comfort, support and a sense of purpose. She is often overbearing, pushy and pigheaded and not just in the classroom where it counts, but also in her personal life where it often alienates her from the ones she loves most. Yet, somehow out of this mass of self-doubts and personal missteps, she finds the inner strength and emotional wherewithal to work miracles. Streep throws herself so completely into the role that we cannot take our eyes off her for a single one of the film's 120 enthralling minutes (and I doubt that she is ever off screen for more than a few seconds in the entire film). It is a truly glowing performance. Equally impressive, director Wes Craven is to be highly commended for drawing such an impressive array of credible, down-to-earth performances from a large cast of outstanding preteen actors. Thanks to them and an air of naturalism in the dialogue, the scenes between the youngsters and their teacher always ring true and believable. I defy anyone - even the most tone deaf, musically disinterested member of the audience - not to be deeply touched by the final scenes of this film. Craven, from all his years doing those slasher films I suppose, really knows how to generate a sense of suspense as we follow the pre-show behind-the-scenes preparations of the nail-biting participants. The recreated concert itself, with a number of the real life participants brought back to play for the occasion, is utterly engrossing and leaves the audience both rheumy-eyed and covered with goose bumps. Well, maybe "Music of the Heart" is, after all, filled with the `inspirational life messages' and `feel-good sentimentality' I so dreaded at the outset of the film. That being the case, I guess that isn't such a bad thing after all!
Rating:
Summary: Moving, Heart-warming story...Directed by Wes Craven?
Review: "Music of the Heart" represents the hope that all lives in us. The hope and courage to stand by our beliefs and have a positive though about most of the negative aspects of life. Meryl Streep plays Roberta Guaspari, a newly single mother of two, with no job and a desperate need of a man in her life. When friend/lover Brian Sinclair (Aidan Quinn) sends Roberta to Harlem, New York, to become a violin teacher, Roberta gets more than she expected. The rest of the cast, Oscar award nominee Angela Bassett as Janet, the school principle, and Grammy Award Winning singer, and making her motion picture debut, Gloria Estefan, as Isabel Vasquez, (who should have debuted as Eva Peron in "Evita") give superb performances that are believable and real. Cloris Leachman, Jane Leeves Jay O. Sanders' performances were essential and very effective to the story. Director Wes Craven, who is best known for the "Scream" trilogy, proves that switching genres is, in fact, POSSIBLE. Estefan and N'Sync's closing ballad, "Music of My Heart" fits the theme of the story very well. This 2 Disc DVD Set, is a true must-have to everyone's collection.
Rating:
Summary: Heart-warming film with Streep in top form.
Review: This is one of a handful of 1999 Oscar nominated films containing no violence whatsoever. Streep gives an effective, restrained performance (earning her twelfth Oscar nom and tying with all time nom champ, Kate Hepburn). The original song also got an Oscar nod. It is a heart-warming film of a woman's dreams and their eventual fulfillment- highly recommended for the whole family.
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