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Technical Information
Studio: Paramount
Home Entertainment
Year of Theatrical Release: 2003
Disc Format: 1
single-sided, Dual Layer
Image Format: Anamorphic
Widescreen
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Region
Encoding: 1
Sound
Format: Dolby
Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0 (pro logic)
Running Time:
108 minutes
Director: Richard
Linklater
Stars: Jack
Black, Mike White, Joan Cusack, Sarah Silverman, Joey Gaydos Jr,
Miranda Cosgrove
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Disc
Supplements:
- Audio commentary with director Richard Linklater
and actor Jack Black
- Audio commentary with the kids from School of
Rock
- Lesson Learned From School of Rock
- Jack Black's Pitch to Led Zeppelin
- School of Rock music video
- Kids' Video Diary: Toronto Film Festival
- MTV's Diary of Jack Black
- DVD-ROM content
- Theatrical trailers
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Sometimes movies have a wonderful ability
to defy preconceptions. They offer up much more than surface
appearances and therefore surprise and delight the audience.
When I first heard about the film School of
Rock, I let out a not-so-silent groan. Let's be honest here,
the premise has "stinker" written all over it: A down
and out musician teaches a bunch of kids how to be a rock band.
Either this thing was going to be a Lifetime channel sacharine
love fest, or monumentally stupid. Likely both.
Well, I'm not above admitting when I'm wrong,
and boy, was I wrong. School of Rock is not sappy, not stupid
and, I may take some heat for this, but I think it's one of
the best films of the year. It is certainly one of the best
family films of recent memory -- right up there with Whale Rider
and Bend it Like Beckham.
How is this possible? You ask. I'm as amazed
as you. I don't have anything against Jack Black, but "one
of the best family films" and "Jack Black" are
not two things one expects to find in the same review.
Black stars as Dewey Finn. Dewey has just
been kicked out of his rock band and is about to be kicked out
of his apartment by his roommate, Ned Schneebly (Mike White),
and Ned's annoying girlfriend, Patty (Sarah Silverman). In a
moment of desperation, Dewey impersonates Ned and accepts a
substitute teacher position at a prestigious private school.
The problem, of course, is that the only thing in the world
that Dewey knows anything about is rock and roll. He absolutely
is not equipped to be an effective substitute.
One day he hears his students in music class
and inspiration strikes. He can turn them into the rock band
he's always wanted. With the help of the students, Dewey initiates
a complex scheme to hide band practice from the school principal,
Rosalie Mullins (Joan Cusak) and the parents. Dewey's ultimate
goal is to enter a battle of the bands contest and show-up all
of his former band mates.
Now, there are certain things that we know
within 5 minutes of start of this film. As with all films in
this genre (the underdog movie), we know that Dewey won't be
able to keep it secret. We know that the kids will eventually
rock better than anyone. And we know that Jack Black will get
the respect he desires. None of this is a surprise, so the delight
comes from our journey to these foregone conclusions. Writer
Mike White and director Richard Linklater manage to infuse School
of Rock with just the right blend of humor and poignancy and
meanwhile Jack Black adds the insanity. The result is a film
that works absolutely perfectly.
One final bit of trivia (although it has been
mentioned elsewhere), is that the kids in this movie really
do play in the band. One of the greatest injustices in the world
is that the song the band plays was not nominated for an Academy
Award.
:::back to
top |
School of Rock takes place in upstate
New York in the fall and winter and the cinematography reflects
that with cool, somewhat muted colors. The DVD presentation is very
accurate to the theatrical presentation in terms of color and contrasts.
Black levels are strong with good shadow detail and I noticed no
evidence of compression artifacts. The only very slight flaw in
the presenation is some minimal edge halos here and there.
:::back to top |
Most of this film is fairly sedate
in terms of audio presentation, consisting of mainly dialog scenes.
However, when the music kicks in, the sound stage really comes alive.
Dynamic range is decent, with solid highs and mid-ranges and very
deep, thunderous bass. The music scenes have good ambience, enveloping
the complete listening area, whereas the the rest of the film is
almost entirely rooted to the center speaker. Overall, this is a
good track.
:::back to top |
For a single disc edition, there
is a fairly decent array of extras here and, after some of the recent
not-so-special editions, most of what's here is good quality.
First up are two audio commentaries.
The first track features director Richard Linklater and actor Jack
Black. As you might expect with Black behind the mike, this commentary
does stray at times, but Linklater does good job of pulling thing
back in and even Black offers up some good insight into the film.
For all of the rock trivia in the film, there is even more in the
commentary.
The second commentary features most
of the kids from the School of Rock band. I was expecting this track,
filled with a bunch of kids, to be irreverent and unfocused, appealing
to other kids in that age group, but offering little for the adults.
As with my preconceptions about the film, I was wrong. These kids
do act like kids through most of the track, but they remain surprisingly
focused on the film and manage to offer up some really good comments
about behind the scenes antics, and rock and roll in general. I'd
go so far as to say that this track far surpasses a lot of those
I've heard by supposedly professional adults.
Next is a behind the scenes featurette
called Lessons Learned in School of Rock. This
runs about 25 minutes and takes us mostly step-by-step through the
creation of the film. There are a lot of talking head interviews,
but also some interesting scenes of band rehersals and the expected
Jack Black antics.
Jack Black's Pitch to Led
Zeppelin is a 3 and a half minute pleading by Jack Black
to Led Zeppelin in an effort to get them to let the filmmakers feature
the song The immigrant Song in the film.
The Kids' Video Diary: Toronto
Film Festival runs about 8 minutes and is very cute. The
follows the group as they prepare for the premier of the film. The
best part is watching the kids become completely star-struck during
the premier.
Next up is MTV's Diary of
Jack Black is a 16 minute featurette of Jack Black being
Jack Black. There are no pretenses of seriousness here. The highlight
is when Black is driving down the street and sees himself on a giant
School or Rock billboard and feels compelled to stop traffic and
imitate himself.
The disc also contains the School
of Rock Music Video, which unfortunately has been edited
slightly.
Finally, the disc contains some theatrical
previews and DVD-ROM content.
:::back to top |
School of Rock is an amazingly good film. This
is one of those films where toss-up over who will like it better
-- the kids or the adults. Jack Black is perfectly cast and a great
foil for the kids. And those kids are simply astonishing. If they
don't have movie careers ahead of them, then they certainly have
a bright future in music. Paramount's DVD presentation is solid
and the special features are actually worthwhile. Buy this disc.
:::back to top |
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| This is the sort of film
that every family should see. The kids are smart and talented and
provide an excellent role model. Yes, there is some adult content,
but there is nothing explicit. This is a good-spririted real world
film for real world kids. |
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| -- By Robert Wurth. Copyright
© 2004. |
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