While the review title is an exaggeration, how you percieve this movie will vary greatly on how old you are (personality-wise rather than by age alone). Younger people will probably identify with the protagonists' problems and enjoy the movie's message and energy, while older viewers will find the movie naive and trite.
The movie is all about finding your place in the world and enjoying life to the fullest. Old, well-known messages, but the movie manages to pull it off without being too sappy and Robin Willams performs quite well as John Keating, adding life and humanity to what could have been a trite role. The "teacher who changes his students' lives" cliche can get old quickly, but the Dead Poets Society is a bit more complex than the average feel-good movie, even showing unfortunate consequences of Keating's teachings while still remaining idealistic at its core.
Despite its qualities, however, the movie does not bring much new and some may dislike or be unimpressed by its vague and cliched messages. Be Yourself is hardly an eye-opening message to anyone above their teens and the behavior of Keating, the "quirky messianic teacher" of the movie, could just as easily be interpreted as useless and pretentious. This type of movie tends to rub teachers in particular the wrong way, as they know by experience how difficult teaching and instilling enthusiasm on a class can be.
Ironically, many older people see the movie in the same way that older generations look upon teenagers, as foolish, confused and disregarding society's laws with no reason. Unfortunately, in both cases they misunderstand the reason behind this behavior, and fail to recognize the energy and value it has. Yes, the movie is slightly pretentious in announcing its tired old truths as if they were the secret to eternal happiness, and it also barely defines what to "suck the marrow of life" even means, agreed. But that does not mean its messages have no value.
To summarize, it is a very "young" movie, slightly naive and foolish but it also a good reminder on the importance on self-discovery and enjoying life. It's funny how easy it is to forget simple things like these.
If you hate this movie at 20, you have no heart. If you believe it at 40, you have no brain.
While the review title is an exaggeration, how you percieve this movie will vary greatly on how old you are (personality-wise rather than by age alone). Younger people will probably identify with the protagonists' problems and enjoy the movie's message and energy, while older viewers will find the movie naive and trite.
The movie is all about finding your place in the world and enjoying life to the fullest. Old, well-known messages, but the movie manages to pull it off without being too sappy and Robin Willams performs quite well as John Keating, adding life and humanity to what could have been a trite role. The "teacher who changes his students' lives" cliche can get old quickly, but the Dead Poets Society is a bit more complex than the average feel-good movie, even showing unfortunate consequences of Keating's teachings while still remaining idealistic at its core.
Despite its qualities, however, the movie does not bring much new and some may dislike or be unimpressed by its vague and cliched messages. Be Yourself is hardly an eye-opening message to anyone above their teens and the behavior of Keating, the "quirky messianic teacher" of the movie, could just as easily be interpreted as useless and pretentious. This type of movie tends to rub teachers in particular the wrong way, as they know by experience how difficult teaching and instilling enthusiasm on a class can be.
Ironically, many older people see the movie in the same way that older generations look upon teenagers, as foolish, confused and disregarding society's laws with no reason. Unfortunately, in both cases they misunderstand the reason behind this behavior, and fail to recognize the energy and value it has. Yes, the movie is slightly pretentious in announcing its tired old truths as if they were the secret to eternal happiness, and it also barely defines what to "suck the marrow of life" even means, agreed. But that does not mean its messages have no value.
To summarize, it is a very "young" movie, slightly naive and foolish but it also a good reminder on the importance on self-discovery and enjoying life. It's funny how easy it is to forget simple things like these.