Ìý User Rating 
School Of Rock is "8 Mile meets The Breakfast Club", or as its star Jack Black puts it, "Like the olden days when kids' movies were good." The kids were clearly in agreement as it scored big box office bucks for director Richard Linklater, who's been adrift in Hollywood since the success of Dazed And Confused ten years previously. As you'd expect, this DVD package rocks just as hard...
Rock Enrol
The Lessons Learned In The School Of Rock recounts all aspects of the production, from behind-the-scenes rehearsal jams to Jack Black's between-takes class in how to pop cheese balls. The kids are also impressed by Mr Black's proficiency with playground games: "He plays slapping games, pattycake and everything!" enthuses Maryam Hassan aka Tomika. No doubt this is an unorthodox tutorial in the making of a film, but it's an education nonetheless.
Jack Black embarrasses himself even further for our amusement in his Pitch To Led Zeppelin. Essentially this is Jack's plea to the legendary rock band for rights to Immigrant Song. Backed by a cheering cast of extras, he lavishes the band with shamelessly sycophantic praise. The ploy worked. "The moral of the story," Black concludes, "is don't be too proud to beg."
Cameras follow the School Of Rock kids to the film's premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Their excitement at the prospect of walking the red carpet is infectious, except in the case of musical prodigy Robert Tsai whose mother explains: "Robert doesn't know what a red carpet is. He doesn't watch TV." Priceless.
Black Ball
Mr Black is also featured in his own madcap video diary, which follows him from breakfast at the local drive-thru, to rehearsals for School Of Rock, to a jamming session with his Tenacious D band partner, and then back to dinner at the local drive-thru. (McSurf and Turf Deluxe in case you were wondering.) Who said Hollywood was glamorous?
In between, Black also drops a few pearls of wisdom about this business they call show. The highlight has to be the moment he stops his car in the middle of LA traffic to get out and worship his own billboard. Hilarious!
Jack is also on top form for his audio commentary with director Richard Linklater. Always a paragon of modesty, he announces, "I'm very pleased with myself," but Linklater also hints at the size of his ego, when he talks about redigitising producer Scott Rudin's credit because it was too big!
To top things off, the kids get their own track in which they offer endlessly entertaining insights. They include Joey Gados' observation that Jacks Black's bed sheets are exactly the same as the sheets on his dad's bed, and on working with Black: "Um, for some reason, he scares me." Educational and (sometimes unintentionally) funny, School Of Rock gets an A+ on DVD!
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