Movies: School of Rock

For one of our summer vacations, my family and I went on a road trip through Canada, hitting Niagara Falls, Toronto, Quebec, and Montreal all in one weeklong trip. It was a great time, but admittedly, there was quite a bit of time spent on the road, with nothing to do except watch DVDs through the neat in-car DVD system. One of the movies we watched was "School of Rock" (AKA L'Ecole du Rock - those crazy Québécois people).

You either like Jack Black (and Tenacious D) or you don't like him, but I tend to admire the absurd tendency to rock out at inopportune moments. "School of Rock" is one of those movies that won't win any awards and that probably won't even make an impact on the popular consciousness, but you can tell everyone involved is having fun.

I do take issue with some of the film's premise. I believe you can teach a lot of the 5th grade curriculum using music (music is intimately related to mathematics, and the technology and history of rock music could occupy entire courses). Of course, that would take some of the exuberance out of the movie.

Most impressive, perhaps, is the quality of the young musicians exhibited in the film. I can't believe the lead guitarist is only 11 years old - pretty amazing talent for someone with literally decades and decades of life to live. Here's the rather uplifting finale: