You must know firstly that ‘Music of the Heart’ is actually a fictionalized version of the short documentary film called ‘Small Wonders’ and was made after the documentary won an award for its exceptional story. However, the film itself doesn’t pack as many punches as the makers would have liked it to have.

The problem with this cliché storyline, of a failing teacher stuck with a class of disobedient or frustrated students and the struggle to overcome this relationship and all the other family problems is exactly that, it is too cliché. Because there are so many similar films made with the same kind of a storyline, some just have the magic because of some special hidden factor and some others just do not. One of the few saving graces of the film is the performance of the actors which includes the power house performance by Meryl Streep who plays the role of the music teacher in the film; however even her brilliant acting is predictable even though there is no cause to complain. The original story is an uplifting one as it is true but this fictionalized version is just too full of stock characters and predicable dialogues to mark the film as very memorable or effortlessly charming. Surely, the story of a destitute mother and music teacher cannot help but be touching especially with the acting that Meryl Streep adds to the film but beside that there is not much that would make you recommend the film to others.