May. 04, 2004 - 9:11 am

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School of Rock (2003)

well, last night was meant to be "Karate Dance Party," but Colin couldn't make it and when we went to Hollywood Video to find The Karate Kid (1984), it was actually checked out. both the dvd and the vhs. amazing. as Jill said, I guess there must be other people out there who are as cool as we are. so instead we picked School of Rock which we both had heard good things about but had not actually seen yet. luckily (i know you're all so worried) Karate Dance Party will take place tonight instead.

in the film Jack Black is a failing rocker who poses as a substitute teacher in order to make rent. when he learns that his students also take a music class, he decides that they should become his backup band so that he can compete in the local battle of the bands. he finds that the kids can teach him something about responsibility and that he can teach them something about loosening up and being themselves. it's a family film with only a hint of Jack Black's potential insanity.

one of the funnier bits was when Jack Black tries to explain his teaching philosophy to the other school teachers by quoting straight from "We Are The World" and then lying to them saying that it isn't a song. another great part was when he's pretending to give a musical math lesson and he sings "Math is a wonderful thing. Math is a really cool thing. So get off your ath, let's do some math. Math, math, math, math, math. Three minus four is?" he then gets responses from the kids. ".... -1, Thats right! 6 times a billion is....6 Billion, Nailed it! 54 is 45 more and whats the answer Marta? 9. No its 8." (He really thinks it's 8). "No its 9. Yes I was just testing you.... its 9! And thats a magic number!"

it was definitely funny at parts, but not throughout. i thought it was a bit too family oriented and wasn't as much fun as it might've been. it's hard to make a film with kids in it that is very risky though. it hasn't often been done.