A modern-day Music Man with new attitudes but old-fashioned fun!

Rating: Null/10 (18 January 2004)

Check it out.
Heart. Rock. Soul. Passion. If you're low on inspiration this February (the longest month of the year), check out Jack Black's `School of Rock.' A hard-core, stage-diving rocker lands in a sterile prep school and manages to light a fire in his students and moviegoers alike. This film will leave you feeling renewed and ready to rock.
The characters are well-drawn ranging from the slovenly, beer-drinking Black himself to his timid roommate and his roommate's angry and emasculating girlfriend. An uptight, female school principal with a long-buried free spirit rounds out the main adult cast. But it's the students themselves and their heartfelt chemistry with Black that sends this show solidly into the `To Sir with Love' and `Stand and Deliver' category.
Black deftly channels the kids' `smarts' into soulfulness by being fully himself. His passion for rock music and his authenticity offer a lesson we can all embrace: Don't check your passion at life's door. The best gift you can give the world is to be ALL there! His scenes with a young, Aretha-like teenage singer suffering from stage fright are worth the price of admission alone. Thanks and kudos to Jack Black for `The School of Rock.' With its Harold Hill `Music Man' overtones, it has just the right recipe to feed your soul this winter!