Amazing Grace: Lots of Grace, Needs More Amazing

As we saw with Freedom Writers, sometimes trailers do not do justice to the movies they are promoting. Unfortunately, the same appears to be true with Amazing Grace. I haven’t seen Amazing Grace yet, but I have a pretty strong suspicion that the final film is better than it looks from the preview.

Amazing Grace has some good things going for it. The movie tells a true story of an underdog fighting for what is right. Everybody knows the namesake song, but nobody knows where it came from. This looks like an interesting PG film, which is hard to find nowadays. The yummy Ioan Gruffudd stars with a great cast: Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, Romola Garai, and newcomer Youssou N’Dour.

I just wish the trailer could be a little better. Why does it starts off with a saccharine-sappy version of the song, when there are a myriad of beautiful versions? Only toward the end of the trailer do we get to hear a moving example of the song. Halfway through the trailer, I really started to notice the voiceover, which is not something that should stand out. I see a movie about abolishing the slave trade; I don’t see a movie about one of the world’s best known songs.

Still, I am intrigued enough by Amazing Grace that I am going to RENT IT. Would you change the trailer?

Amazing Grace is rated PG and opens nationwide on February 23. (Official Site)