hire someone to replace him for an upcoming Battle of the Bands contest.Downcast and distraught, Dewey doesn't know what to do. Plus, his usually patient roommate Ned Mike White , a schoolteacher, is being pressured by his aggressive girlfriend Sarah Silverman to make Dewey pay the money he owes for rent or get out. When a call comes in to Ned asking him to serve as a substitute teacher at the prestigious Horace Green Elementary School, Dewey decides to assume his identity and take the job.Of course, faced with a class of fifth-graders all nicely clothed in their school uniforms, this rocker doesn't have a clue as to what to do. So he tells them to chill out and enjoy some downtime. This scheme works for a little while but then Dewey visits the orchestra class. Lights go off in his head and bingo! -- the new class project is to form a rock band. He decides to teach them everything he knows about rock with lectures on its history, the evils of "The Man," and the essentials of playing rock songs.Dewey's spirits are lifted when he realizes that there are some talented musicians in the class including Zack Joey Gaydos, Jr. , the lead guitarist; Katie Rebecca Brown on bass; and Lawrence Robert Tsai on keyboards. Freddy Kevin Clark , the class rebel, turns out to be an eager learner on drums, and Tomika Maryam Hassan surprises him with her unusual singing talent. The smartest girl in the class, Summer Miranda Cosgrove , gets her chance to excel as band manager while others serve as back-up singers, special effects wizard, head of security, and the official selectors of the band's name.The humor quotient of the film is heightened by the funny performance of Joan Cusack as the uptight and unlocked principal of Horace Green Elementary School. When Dewey discovers that she is a secret fan of Fleetwood Mac, they are able to connect as friends. The rock fan gets his wish when he has the class entered in the local Battle of the Bands. By the end of this rollicking film, you'll happily be chanting, "For those about to rock, we salute you!"Overall: 9/10

out of his own band because of his unruly antics. To top this off, his substitute teacher roommate Ned and Ned's girlfriend Patti begin to nag Dewey for rent money. Dewey can't pay it off. After spending some time trying to sell his personal belongings, a phone call from a prestigious prep school looking for a substitute teacher catches Dewey's attention and he parades around as Ned, hoping to just walk in, let the kids do what they want, get some money, and be gone like nothing every happened.Until he finds out that the class of fifth graders he has been assigned to teach are musically and vocally talented.This sparks an idea off in Dewey's mind, thinking that he can turn his group of fifth graders into a rock group so that he can win 25,000 dollars in a contest called 'The Battle of the Bands'.This is a wonderful, classic - rock fueled movie. Jack Black is hysterical as Dewey Finn. The children are all talented, particularly the ones on instruments and vocals.If you want to love rock music, go watch this movie.If not, then you'll have missed out on something great.

Rock, just like no movie between 1900-2000 did better than the Sound Of Music in this regard.Jack Black's passion for the music is obviously sincere and true, just like the teacher lady in the Sound Of Music passionately cared about music and proceeded to teach the children the basic of doe ray memes while running through grassy fields. The Sound Of Music is the mushy Brady Bunch goody goody corny serious set-in-world war II version which can be enjoyable , the School Of Rock is the hard and humorous and much more up to date version. In the Sound Of Music the main character's main plight was surviving the harsh realities of Nazi World War II along with her love interest; in the School Of Rock, Jack Black's main plight is to survive the commercialization of music instead of Nazism , i.e. getting kicked off his own band while his band members replaced him with a gorgeous dude with a great body who is more marketable, and seeing that today's elementary kids are fed nothing but crap music. See how it is all modernized more up to date? Basically, the School of Rock ROCKS!

kids, it probably shouldn't work, and even might seem like some sort of cruel and unusual punishment to anyone with an aversion to Black, but this is feel good nirvana and a paean to rock and roll. It's perhaps unsurprising that it's crammed with clichés from the classroom splinter of moviedom, the kids a roll call of characters we have seen numerous times. The spoilt swot, the roughneck, the one suffering parental peer pressure, the weight issue one and on it goes, but boy can they play music when Dewey takes them out of classical mode and into rock central.How nice to find that director Richard Linklater and writer Mike White have managed to rise above the clichés and avoid syrupy fodder, there's such a zest and earnestness to it all, and the kids acting is high in quality as well, led by the big kid himself, Black on full tilt. But most of all, even as the morals and life affirming threads come wading in with the pulsing rock soundtrack, it's a very funny picture, the gag quota enormously high. Be it Black trying to bluff the kids, the kids trying to bluff everyone else - or the wonderful Joan Cusack as the scatty stickler for the rules Principal Mullins – a laugh is never far away. Rock on! 8.5/10

those who he later comes in contact with, world forever. Wanting to talk to his room-mate Ned who's away Horace Green Elementary School Principle Rosalie Mullins, Joan Cusack,tells Dewy that one of the teacher at the school just got hurt and that Ned was highly recommended to teach in this very prestigious prep elementary school. Dewey pretending to be Ned says he'll be over to teach as soon as possible feeling that he'll make the money he needs for the rent working there and no one will know the difference if he's a teacher or not. Dewey as well as the students that he was to teach at first didn't know it but that he as well as they were in for the surprise of their lives. Rip roaring movie much like the old Judy Garland Mickey Rooney musicals of the 1940's about a group of kids who never really had any good and constructive fun in their lives due to their strict upbringing by their stuffed up parents and teachers letting their hair down and their singing voices and musical instruments up. In the end the students making it to the "battle of the Band" competition contest and at the same time feeling a lot better about themselves and those around them by doing that; all because of that nobody who was really somebody, but at the time didn't know it, Dewey Finn. Jack Black gives a solid as well as touching performance as Dewey Finn the washed up musician who through teaching music gave him a new lease on life as well as the young students that he was teaching. What worked so well in the movie was that the music that the students were playing was a composition of all their efforts put together to make it into a beautiful harmony. Where everyone pitches in together like a well synchronized symphony orchestra to make it all work. Also very moving in the movie "School of Rock" was the Horace Green Elementary School's Principle Rosalie Mullins played by Joan Cusack. Tight and stuck up and with no sense of humor we see her after having a mug of beer with Dewey at a local bar open up and tell him the pressures that she's under from the school staff and the students parents. As it just burns her to keep all that tension in and not allowing any of her real feelings to come out. In the end the music that Dewey and his students practiced and later played at the "Battle of the Bands" competition not only let her come out of her shell but the students parents as well. Dewys music brought the best out of their kids by teaching them to be together as a team in success as well as in failure instead of trying to one up each other at the expense of those who didn't make it.Like the saying by the great American Writer/Composer Aaron Copland says about music: That after silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.

desire to perform, elevates this film into a joyous occasion in which we can all share.The young actors are worthy of mention. Fortunately, the film's an almost perfect vehicle for their talents. I'll also give credit where its due to Joan Cusack. Playing opposite Jack here as a repressed, but lovably human head mistress, she seems to be having as much fun as everyone else.So we get laughs, good acting and a rocking soundtrack. I don't think we could ask for more.

Black's wimpy friend and former bandmate. Although his acting is fine, it is White's writing that will make him rich in Hollywood. The kids in the band are wonderfully cast and appear to be very talented musically as well. Special recognition to Joan Cusack, who just nails the role of the uptight private school principal who is just itching to be unleashed. I would have enjoyed a bit more of the Rock History tossed in for the sake of today's youngsters, but the tributes to Pete Townsend, Jimi Hendrix, Zeppelin and the Ramones are much appreciated. Look for Nikki Katt in a brief role, but mostly just sit back and enjoy a pure comedy that truly ROCKS!!

desperate attempt to getting money fast, Dewey impersonates Ned and conveniently finds himself the teacher of a third grade or something like that class for several weeks ahead. Yet another one of his crazy ideas strikes him and his plan to turn his class into a rockband to win the Battle of the Bands competition is set in motion. School Of Rock is a great feel-good comedy, fun for just about anyone of any age, kids or adults. Jack Black does carry a lot of this film on his own but I won't be too harsh on the kids in the movie, they did very well also. If anyone else should play Dewey Finn rather than Jack, it just wouldn't be the same. Since Jack is actually in a rock band in real life, and has played a few characters in films before who are also into music, he just seemed to fit right into this film. His real passion for rock music helps a lot in this film, and makes Dewey Finn one hell of a good character. The plot to this film is really good I think and Mike White did a great job on the screenplay. As did Linklater on the direction of the film.This comedy should not be ignored just because there are kids in it, I enjoyed it a hell of a lot and you probably will too. 9/10

incorrect comedy tailored for Jack Black. He steals the movie and rocks in the role of a rock-and-roll lover, who dreams to be successful as a guitar player. Most of the lines belong to him, and I believe this movie is his best individual performance in his successful career. Joan Cusack is excellent as usual, and Miranda Cosgrove seems to have potential and be a great promise as actress. The soundtrack is a great homage to rock-and-roll, with many classics including Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song". The DVD is full of worthwhile Extras, and in the end this film is an excellent funny entertainment. My vote is eight.Title Brazil : "Escola de Rock" "School of Rock"