Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.

When he took the mic upon the arrival of Tenacious D, Jack Black left no doubt to the fact that he was the self-proclaimed god of all things rock, with only an acoustic guitar, one lone bandmate, and songs about demons, destinies and devils. He looked like any overweight slacker would in his late twenties and with a bizarre fetish for progressive rock. And the thing was that, underneath the flamboyance, was pure comedic talent. It just often takes a stage, a crowd, and an acoustic Gibson to drive the point home.

Or you can view a few of Jack Black's past film work just as well, especially 2000's High Fidelity, where his character of Barry, the obnoxious and biased lead singer of Sonic Death Monkey, and also 2002's Orange County, where Black gave an underrated but awesome performance as Lance, the half-naked slacker who freeloaded off his brother yet stuck out for him amidst the inadequacies. The latter film was written by one Mike White (also wrote The Good Girl and the TV show "Freaks & Geeks"), who lived next to Black for some time and fashioned a script to his image, which was The School Of Rock. Black decided to take a chance and take on this character, and the project was secured with the arrival of Austin, TX filmmaker Richard Linklater, the acclaimed director of Slacker, Dazed And Confused, and Waking Life.

So there you have it: three independent giants, one a director, one a scriptwriter, the other a wildcat actor. They all came together to create the Paramount Pictures Fall 2003 release The School Of Rock, where one man teaches a cadre of grammar school students what it means to raise their goblets of rrrrrock! There’s no denying that this is a story marred by formula, most of the situations seem the least bit plausible, and that the personalities of the kid characters seem obviously cliché. In other words, it seems like the seeds of failure were just waiting to be sown.

But you know what...I give "The School Of Rock" five stars and an honorable place on my ten best list, above movies like 21 Grams, Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King, and Finding Nemo as well. Cameron Crowe admitted to shamelessly loving Led Zeppelin and they ended up becoming the true titans of seventies hard rock. The School Of Rock is the best film ever made about an inspirational teacher, and one of the greatest rock and roll movies in history, on the same pedestal where This Is Spinal Tap, Gimme Shelter, and...yes, High Fidelity stand. It's a blast of gut-busting, face-melting, a**-kicking comedic bliss, the Flying V of all inspirational teacher films.

If you don't think this movie rocks, maybe you've been listening to entirely too much Nickelback. It's time you need education, got to go to school like BTO's Randy Bachman sang in "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet." The School Of Rock is just the movie.

Jack Black gloriously spins and jumps around the barroom stage as Dewey Finn, the theatrically boisterous lead guitarist for the band No Vacancy, led on rhythm guitar and lead vocals by Theo (Adam Pascal, performed in the original cast of Larsen’s "Rent" as Roger), a more down-to-earth singer who breaks the big news to Dewey after their last gig ended up with the mad axesmith jumping into an open space in a failed attempt at stage diving: Dewey is voted out of the band.

This sucks big time. Not only has he been fired from the band he helped put together, but they made the decision before Battle of the Bands. This defeats Dewey's chance to make up on the promise of late back rent owed to his roommate Ned Shneebly (White), a substitute teacher waiting to be certified an actual headmaster, and his prissy girlfriend Patty (Sarah Silverman), who gets pleasure in ragging on Ned’s long time friend. Dewey faces the prospect of selling one of his guitars, but, as he inquires of Ned, "Would you tell Picasso to sell his guitars?"

Things look down until Rosalie Mullins (Joan Cusack), principal of Horace Green Elementary, calls asking for Ned to cover for an injured regular teacher, and when Dewey hears about the fat payroll that could save his tail, he can't help himself. It's off to school he goes in his exhaust-fuming pick-up van, with a clean shave, prim haircut and formal attire, to do what he thinks is babysitting. But once he lays out the plans for the day ("We’ll get started on this crapola tomorrow!"), he is met with no enthusiasm by class factotum Summer Hathaway (Miranda Cosgrove), a prim student who gets all the gold stars and watermark grades. However, that doesn't discourage Dewey from deciding it's recess all day for the time he's here. Things get worse when he can’t get together a new band, and, pressured to speak words of knowledge, tells them they can’t succeed because "the world is run by The Man," which of course means authority. "There used to be a way to stick it to the man, and it was called rock & roll," Dewey proclaims, "but guess what? Oh no! The man ruined that too with a little thing called MTV!"

Dewey chokes on his words when he hears the students have their music class, and he witnesses bottled-up potential waiting to explode, especially in the persons of expert pianist Lawrence (Robert Tsai) and fleet-fingered acoustic guitarist Zack (Joey Gaydos, Jr.). Suddenly, his eyebrows begin to wave like the crowd at a football game. With them as well as the silent Katie (Rebecca Brown) on bass and the attitude-heavy Freddy (Kevin Clark) on drums, he has finally created his own band. The plot goes into motion: for the next several weeks, he will lead them on a new, highly confidential class project called "Rock Band," where they will live, breathe and exhibit the majesty of rock in time to perform their one great show at Battle of the Bands and get Dewey the prize and the revenge.

Dewey distinguishes his idea of rock and roll from that of, say, Vince Neil. Rock and roll to him should be pure, angry, and brash, just like in the old days. He appreciates the grand priests of hard rock from Black Sabbath to Deep Purple to Motorhead to Nirvana. There’s no tolerance for hard drinking, substance abuse, or promiscuity: he wants to keep innocence in the kids’ hearts and keep them from the temptations of posers. In fact, Dewey Finn, in real life, would probably win a game of "Rock & Roll Jeopardy" without blistering his fingers.

But something happens when Dewey unleashes the inner super group in his underage musicians: he takes a shining to them. Not a seriously life-altering devotion, but a respectful and trustful bond with his students. For instance, when talented back-up singer Tomika (Maryam Hassan) confides her stage fright due to her obesity, Dewey offers true and solid advice: "You heard of Aretha Franklin? She’s a big lady, but when she gets out on stage, she blows people’s minds, and everybody wants to party with Aretha!"

And for students who have been raised on Puffy, X-Tina, and even Liza Minelli, the students discover the true meaning of rock and roll. Of course, it helps if your teacher hands out CDs as homework (Yes’ "Fragile" for the keyboardist, Rush’s "2112" for the drummer, Jimi Hendrix’s "Axis: Bold As Love" for the guitarist) and shows vintage Monterey Pop footage of Keith Moon and Hendrix, as well as post flow charts and photos of The Clash, The Ramones, and Iggy Pop. As for proper rock positions and dances, he teaches the guitarist how to power stance like a wannabe professional, and also teaches him how to play a power-chord with grunting, wide-eyed conviction. He also shows the back-up singers how to do the classic scuba dance.

I only wish that I didn’t have to home school myself on subjects like these.

In the end, it all comes down to Dewey trying to get Ms. Mullins to agree for Dewey to take the kids to on a field trip to the big venue. No problem: when Dewey learns of her infamous drunken imitation of Stevie Nicks at an old alumni dinner, it’s a date at the local bar and a jukebox copy of "Bella Donna" to the rescue.

This is where I stop talking about the movie and where I admit that the filmmakers sure know rock and roll just as much as they know how to make tired premises fresh again. Of course the movie ends at the big concert, Dewey and the band taking the stage a la the classic musical bit from 1984’s "Revenge Of The Nerds." But the ending is different from what you’d expect. In fact, the humor in this film is in many ways defiant of any preconceived notions. Writer Mike White throws zingers and throwaways that have a wild charm and high laugh factor to them, even in the littlest scenes ("Good knuckle crack"), and the movie never condescends to cutesiness and cloyingness like the worst family films. In fact, this is a family film, despite the PG-13 tag by the MPAA who, if you want to know how infallible they are, also gave the innocent and inoffensive "Whale Rider" the exact same rating, putting them in the same class as "My Boss’s Daughter" and the "Charlie’s Angels" flicks. Where’s the justice in that?

There is rude humor, although it’s not deliberately hurtful and depressing, more spirited and witty, and the one brief drug reference is nothing big at all (I guess it’s the throwaway line where Dewey tries to cover up possible noise from his room by saying another teacher was on crack). Profanity is limited as well, as I counted a few uses of the a-word, one "p*ss," and one use of the s-word (The Clash’s "Stay Free" playing in the background). Nothing big though that the movie can’t be seen by parents and kids alike, the general purpose of the PG rating exploited recently by "Kangaroo Jack" and "The Cat In The Hat."

And Richard Linklater is an assured director as well, able to get the most out of his actors and also to know how to milk certain scenes for all that they’re worth. The man has such a good hand with the material that he never lets the movie bog down into contrived sentimentality, retaining an honesty and passion that is barely seen in films of its ilk. And in lesser director’s actions, we would’ve seen fumbled versions of such plot holes as to how Dewey, who doesn’t know "disbarred" from "dismembered," manages to sucker all of the teachers and the principal, and also the fact that there is hardly any heavy suspicion when there’s constant noise from the classroom. But Linklater has fun, as does his cast, and all that they contribute to this movie makes everything so breezy and forgivable that you just get lost in the joy of it all.

And joy is something that you’ll experience from watching Jack Black’s performance. I have read many cynical reviews that toss off Black as just some dumb rock clown who goes far beyond the top. This is Jack Black’s appeal, his comedic ouevre, and people are probably forgetting that this performance in particular draws so much from his Tenacious D persona, which is the heart and soul of his humor. Linklater is able to dial down Black several notches (notice how little vulgarity Black employs), but the thing is that Black has charm, timing, energy and enthusiasm, something which in my eyes makes him a better comedian than Adam Sandler or David Spade or Tom Green or about several other popular names.

Take for instance the scene where he admits that he has written some unbelievably good new material, and Zack and Freddy insist that he sing the song. This is kind of like a variant on that bit in "The Wedding Singer" where Robbie Hart previews his latest song to Julia, which is a bitter scream-fest about his painful break-up. Black’s song is much better because it gives Black more to play with, and also has a certain appeal to it: it’s the kind of song Nigel Tufnel would have written had his two friends in Spinal Tap kicked him out instead of simply walking off in a huff. As it is, it’s an autobiographical yet hilariously pretentious bit where he rails against getting fired from No Vacancy: "You think you can kick me out of the band!/Well there’s just one problem there/The band is MINE!/How can you kick me out of what is MIIIIIIINE!" He belts that wail with Meat Loaf-worthy delivery, and I’m further convinced that Black could play Meat Loaf in a biography and luckily become a good dramatic actor.

All the while he punches out the song, he’s shooting out technical directions and melodic hooks and instrumental suggestions left and right, from having a dry-ice fog bank onstage, Zack do a face-melting mini-solo in between a verse, and Freddy copping the drum rolls from "Hawaii Five-O." The timing Black displays is pitch-perfect, and the scene immediately registered as one of my favorites of any 2003 movie.

If rock and roll ever wanted to come back with a vengeance, this is the movie that should be the bearer of justice. I haven't seen a movie this in love with real good rock 'n' roll shaking authority since "Rock 'N' Roll High School" made The Ramones pseudo-movie stars. We get the feeling that Dewey Finn is a supreme knowledgeable rock prodigy, even if he makes up in smarts what he lacks in talent. And the great thing about Jack Black is that he knows nothing about history, biology, anything from a science book or anything about the French he [never] took, but if he could put on one great rock show, what a wonderful world it would be.

Another thing to be respected highly is the casting of the children in Jack’s school. Many of these kids were already skilled musicians, and the fact that they actually performed the songs in the School of Rock band is quite amazing seeing as how they are still only children. Belleville native Joey Gaydos, Jr. is a surprisingly talented young guitarist who could grow up to a Steve Vai-like career, and his acting isn’t bad either. I was surprised to learn that he was playing against type, as he claims to be a natural rock star. Just as natural of performers are Kevin Clark and Rebecca Brown, who have a funny moment debating about great female drummers. Maryam Hassan has the pipes and the natural talent to play a convincing young outcast ready to unleash her inner ’Retha Franklin. But perhaps the most gifted and impressionable of these young performers is Miranda Cosgrove, the youngest of the bunch at 9 years, who turns in a role so hilarious and cheeky as the naturally precocious Summer that she threatens to take some scenes away from Jables himself.

The rest of the adult supporting cast fails to disappoint as well. I kind of felt cheated that Joan Cusack and Mr. Black didn’t share any scenes in "High Fidelity," but now they are here together and they both display glowing personalities and whimsical character arcs. Cusack is nothing short of a riot as the stuffy principal, who’s not just your standard shrill harridan of a headmaster, but a kindred spirit forced to grow up to please the parents of the little geniuses. Every moment she has on screen makes you smile. Mike White and Sarah Silverman have their moments as well as Dewey’s erstwhile roommates. White has a geeky quality that makes his self-doubting character sympathetic, and Sarah Silverman has fun with her insufferably one-track-minded succubus of a girlfriend. Judging from her wildly funny and taboo stand-up comedy bits (including a recent stint at the Tempe Improv), she might have required some restraint as well.

The movie also scores points for a soundtrack that contains songs that have never been played in Hollywood films before, and probably never will again. I mentioned that 1978 song from The Clash called "Stay Free," a rebellious anti-conformity punk rock classic sung by Mick Jones. There’s also The Who’s seminal "Substitute," Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love," The Darkness’ "Black Shuck" (the song is muted before the f-word in the chorus kicks in luckily), David Bowie’s "Moonage Daydream" from the Ziggy days, The Modern Lovers’ "Roadrunner," The Ramones’ long-forgotten 1986 anti-Reagan anthem "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg (My Brain Is Hanging Upside Down)," and one Led Zeppelin number I will get to talking about later. The movie’s big concert number is the band’s title anthem, "The School Of Rock," an infectious little rocker that has rollicking organs, smashing drum beats, and two guitar solos.

Why is The School Of Rock one of the best movies of the year? I paid to see this one five times already during its theatrical run simply because I loved how funny and subversive this film was, and it is now on DVD in a "Special Collector's Edition" format that has plenty of fascinating bells and whistles (I'll get to them later). Here is a movie that, unlike most family films, will appeal to parents and kids alike, despite what the MPAA might tag this film. I recommend this film above all, a movie that defies convention and delivers crowd-pleasing good times for all. There's no hard knocks in this school that rocks...and the legend of the rent is WAY HARDCORE!!!

Paramount has unleashed both separate fullscreen and widescreen versions of the film on DVD, and recently I don’t discriminate against the two, although I always seem to buy the widescreen versions mostly for the scope and technical qualities to compare it to the five times I saw the movie in theaters. The widescreen cut retains the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1.

The sharpness levels were for the most part spot-on, but several instances occur when the camera captures a wide shot, and you can see muddles in the presentation. There are least occurring instances of haloes and wear on the print, and thanks for it. Color levels were rendered moderately well, and the guitars and drums were never smearing or subject to noise. The final concert scene is looking quite good, so low-light scenes and silhouettes get rendered with distinct accuracy. The flesh tones look realistic for the most part, but I suspected some pink blushing that may or may not be natural. Overall, a fine picture transfer.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is once again delegated to mainly the front speakers, dialogue coming from the center and music selections separated amongst the various front surrounds. For the opening and ending musical performances, the rear soundscapes open up considerably. The rock and roll music at least sounds like kickin' a**, the dialogue comes across natural and distinct, effects came across fine in the spectrum, and we get some proper bass response when they're utilized. It's nothing big, but it’s serviceable given the low-key soundtrack. A 2.0 stereo surround mix is also optional, as well as a French dub in 5.1 surround that features an actual Frenchman doing his best Jack Black impersonation, so you know that's worth a laugh. Subtitle options only come in English.

There’s an audio commentary with Jack Black and Richard Linklater to kick off the many extras. Black is funny in the movie, and a lot of his humor translates well to the commentary, and both he and Linklater keep plenty of conversation going for full time. They don’t go so far as to do an actual technical track, but they remain fun and engaging throughout. Among the various factual information peppered among the praises and laughs include their involvement in the film, the outrageous term used to describe Jack Black’s personality, alternate concepts approaching Dewey landing the job, bits of casting and location detail, issues related to the musical selections, an anecdote concerning a phone call from one of the stars to J.B., and a few other little nuggets that zip by. The duo at least have fun here, and that’s all that counts.

The kids’ kommentary track brings together Joey Gaydos, Kevin Clark, Rebecca Brown, Miranda Cosgrove, Maryam Hassan, Robert Tsai and Caitlin Hale, so all the players and vocalists are here with the exception of one, Aleisha Allen. The track is mostly dominated by the two most chatty male musicians under 13 you’re ever likely to meet, Kevin and Joey. They seem to fire off the most banter, pointing out and laughing at certain things like best friends. Occasionally, I heard some comments from Brown and Cosgrove, but I didn’t hear a lot from Hassan or Hale, to whom background suddenly sounds appropriate during this track. The least talkative is Tsai, who speaks quaint English and can’t keep up with his energetic co-stars. The kids altogether spend a lot of the time...commenting! There’s lesser technical details to be found, but there is more fun to be found amongst these young but talented people. Still, it all depends whether or not you feel like enduring a room full of children, and at least it isn’t like being stuck in "Daddy Day Care" or something.

The big documentary is the 25-minute Lessons I Learned In School Of Rock, which is the best fluff documentary I’ve seen in a long time. We mostly see a lot of Jack Black, including bits where he and little Miranda Cosgrove interview each other and also some behind-the-scenes footage of the lovable oaf. We also get to know the child performers a lot more, with little profiles on each and comments from them. Also, we get comments from Linklater, White, and Jim O’Rourke, music consultant. I really would’ve loved some Joan Cusack chat, but I approached the DVD-ROM part for those. Anyway, the whole affair doesn’t get highly detailing, a common fault of all DVD featurettes, but getting details on why there should be no "the" preceding the title as well as all that fun on-set footage and the lively conversation between Black and Cosgrove are watermarks that make this worth a peek.

Perhaps even more hilarious and inspired is MTV’s Diary of Jack Black, which aired on MTV just in time for the release of the movie. Follow Jack as he wakes up late for rocking (a big no-no in his eyes), takes a small shower, gets dressed, does a 5-second meditation, lifts a few weights, and drives off for a big day of rocking, eating, rocking, celebrating, rocking, eating more, and rocking again. At least Jack Black has the inspired hilarity to make it reasonable why MTV would want to shoot this guy: here’s a man who sees imaginary bugs during his interviews, always orders fast food to fit the five food groups, and likes to write songs about taco trucks from Hell. We see him rock an audition with the School band, rock an impromptu session with Tenacious D buddy Kyle Gass, and get behind the boards for the recording of the "School of Rock" theme. Jack’s funny, man.

The kids have their own little diary, which is half the length of Jack’s 16-minite special. The Kids’ Video Diary: Toronto Film Festival follows Gaydos, Clark, Brown, Tsai and Cosgrove. The kids are all stoked at the premiere of their movie, and while there is little contrivance in the documentation, and considerably less belly laughs, these kids are obviously too cool for their school. Hurting breakfast, working with a teaching tutor, getting dressed and made-up by stylists, and eventually hitting the red carpet, it’s a treat to see these young masters get thrown into the spotlight, including footage from the press conference. There’s a few additional stuff with Black and Sarah Silverman, so enjoy.

The music video for the "School of Rock" song is a fun little clip where Jack Black, donning a wild wig and hammy facial expressions, joins Miranda as they pick up the various band members. The theatrical trailer comes included, as well as two additional previews for "Paycheck" and "The Stepford Wives." And VH1 provided a Save The Music PSA for the disc.

I saved my favorite extra for last: Jack Black’s Pitch to Led Zeppelin. Jack Black narrates this bonus extra, where he explains that he and Linklater desperately wanted to use a Led Zeppelin song for the movie, 1970’s "Immigrant Song," but because of Page and Plant’s reluctance to license their music to movies (something Amy Heckerling and Cameron Crowe experienced trying to get "Led Zeppelin IV" into their "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" in 1982), they became beggars. Filmed at the concert scene at the end of the film, a brief piece shows Jack black in front of the 1000+ crowd pleading that the Grammar of the Gods be bestowed onto them from the legends themselves. And the moral is don’t be too proud to beg: the concert footage is followed by the scene in the movie which features a snippet of Zeppelin’s "Immigrant Song." A boss extra.

Sadly, I wished Paramount would have snuck some deleted/alternate scenes onto this baby, scenes hinted at in both the audio commentaries. I tried finding an easter egg, but to no avail. Oh well.

DVD-ROM bonus features include an interactive feature called "Chalkboard of Rock," which displays the big flow chart shown in the montage sequence. A Quicktime video feature shows Black checking off his four all-time favorite bands, and there's an excerpt from the Black/Linklater commentary concerning the chalkboard. Also, there's a "Web Site Archive" containing three fun interactive games, Quicktime interview sniggets, wallpaper, Winamp skins, full text and other goodies.

Raise your goblet of rock to Jack Black, to Mike White, to Richard Linklater and to the entire cast of The School of Rock. This is the DVD well-recommended for both parents and kids, and probably never again will talented minds from beyond the system create such a witty, crafty and riotous film such as this. Class dismissed!

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8