Rating: 
Summary: Good Acting . . . And That's About It.
Review: The acting in this movie was amazing. I could truly believe the characters--and not just Robin Williams, either. Unfortunately, that's about all there is to be said for this movie. It starts off rather promising, in a strict New England private school, but goes downhill from there. Robin Williams plays John Keating, an English Lit teacher who also teaches his students to "Carpe Diem--Seize the Day!" with disasterous results. Those "disasterous results" were the one high point in the movie. It seems like Weir, the director, tried to stretch about thirty minutes material into a two hour movie. In other words, it was really boring. Until the end, where all the "loose ends" in the movie climax into a disaster worthy of Shakespeare. Unfortunately, this disaster lasts about ten minutes, and suddenly you find yourself looking at credits scrolling across the screen.
The bottom line: fast foward to the last ten minutes of the movie and you should be fine.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh Caption My Caption
Review: One of the few movies where Mr.Williams has shown his drama skills in acting.I absaltuly love this film.It has a wonderful messege about teaching and how to incurage your own children.
All the actors/actress did a fab job in this movie.
AAA+
Rating:
Summary: One of Robin Williams' Best Films
Review: This is a film that everyone should see at least once. And the second time you see it, there seems to be more that you didn't notice the first time. It is that deep. Robin Williams tries to tap into the lives of the young men in an intellectual journey through literature. He ends up creating chaos within his classroom and the elite school, but is able to teach the young men about life.
Rating:
Summary: As harsh as I am in judging films, this one was the best!
Review: This film, starring Robin Williams in a delightful role, is one of my favorite films of all time. Why? The message that it delivers is simply astonishing. We have a group of prep school boys who are caught in the every day rituals of typical life, only in this case typical life for them is trying to become accepted into the best Ivy League School. A new English teacher soon changes all of that. The teachers shows the boys that they can accomplish more in life by taking logistic chances and by living freely. Most of the boys respond handsomely, living life as it were intended to be lived. Sadly, though, a tragedy occurs amongst the boys and the teacher(played by Williams) is the scape goat. This is when the boys are truly put to the test. BUY THIS FILM. Watch it anyway you can. It is heartwarming and possesses one of the finest endings in movie history. PLEASE, for the love of humanity, WATCH THIS FILM! You won't be dissapointed.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Very Best
Review: I only give five stars to the very best. This movie is one of the very best. It provokes passion, dreams, and free thinking. It shows the essence of human emotions. It gives one a desire to be extraordinary and seize the day. Every high school English teacher should make their students watch this movie. Mine did (Thank you Mrs. Rogers.), and my life has changed from it.
Rating: 
Summary: Intriguing Period PieceOn Prep Schools!
Review: This film represented a breakaway opportunity for comedian Robin William, and the star of such other films as "The World According To Garp" wasted no time establishing himself as a serious actor with the role of John Keating in "The Dead Poets' Society". In his stand-up routines, Williams performance is quicksilver, and he can quickly be all over the place all at once, his mind seemingly moving at something approaching the speed of light itself. So it is interesting and impressive indeed to observe him here in such a constrained effort to be consistent and predictable, and a bit understated at that. I had more than a passing personal interest in the subject matter, having been a private school history teacher myself, and yet I felt quite comfortable with the kind of character Williams portrayed, as I found his interpretation of the professor to be both plausible and understandable. The story itself is interesting and provocative; Williams plays an English Literature teacher who returns to his alma mater and is horrified by the crass materialism and lack of intellectual curiosity the students are exhibiting. Thus, he mystifies and then intrigues a few of the students with his unconventional histrionics and intellectual zeal, and his palpable subtext of alternative ways to look at, experience and launch oneself out into the larger world beyond the campus. Two of the students, played by a very young Ethan Hawke and Robert Sean Leonard, fall under William's considerable charm and influence. Yet Leonard's father is adamantly opposed to such nonsense, and vehemently works against his son's ethereal concerns and interests. Thus is the stage set for a tragedy of monumental proportions. This is an absorbing and thoughtful period piece, and I enjoyed the insider's look at prep schools the way they existed in the time frame of the late 1950s and early 1960s. It will not only entertain you, but also give you cause for some thought and reflection. I can highly recommend this film. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: A touching film
Review: We were interested to watch this performance of Robin Williams that moved away from his usual frenetic mode and into something more serious. This is one of William's better performances, as John Keating, the inspiring and unorthodox teacher of English Lit at a prep school. We also wanted to see it because we happened to move recently to the very town where Dead Poets Society was filmed. It was fun to see some of the places we know so well transformed by a filmmaker's eye. (We have a lot of migratory birds in Spring and Fall, and a pretty lake, a wonderfully restored old theater. These were all used marvelously in the film.) The story is simple--Keating comes to teach English at his alma mater and wants to crash the ultra-conventional, don't-think-just-march-in-step-and-make-money attitudes his students are being indoctrinated in. Many students simply ignore Keating, but a few are taken with his message of free thinking. Two students, roommates, Neil and Todd (Robert Sean Leonard and Ethan Hawke) become ardent followers of Keating's Carpe Diem philosophy. But Neil's father has other plans for him. He is, in fact, stealing a second life from Neil and doing, via his son, what he wished he'd done. Not very fair, not nice, and tragedy is sure to result. We learn so little that the film becomes a bit mawkish. The moments at the end were tragic and touching--yet I would have bawled my eyes out had I been given a bit more bread and less cake frosting. Still, I like the film and we can always watch it for the lake and the migrating geese, and our beautiful Delaware sunsets.
Rating:
Summary: Carpe diem (of course . . .)
Review: This beautiful, poignant film stars Robin Williams as a new, iconclastic English teacher (John Keating) at a prestigious, conservative boarding school. Keating fans the flames of poetry and passion in several of his students, who revive a tradition Keating founded during his time as a student at the school: The Dead Poets Society. By day, the young men attend Keating's unorthodox classes, where he encourages them to think and dream for themselves and to understand that, while law and medicine and business sustain life, poetry and passion make life worth sustaining. By night, they gather in a woodland cave, sharing poetry, stories, music and friendship. Their lives grow and change . . . and ultimately collide with the strictures of the school and the destinies ordained by their parents--with tragic and touching results. Williams, Robert Sean Leonard as the inspired Neil and a young Ethan Hawke as the socially stunted Todd give wonderful, heartfelt performances; and the cinematography--depicting glorious autumn days with flocks of Canadian geese and golden light, shadows and the school's Gothic architecture--is magnificent. In particular, the scene depicting Keating's first class--wherein the students stand silently before ancient, graying photographs of their predecessors, once immortal, now dead, while Keating whispers as from beyond the grave, "Carpe diem . . . seize the day, boys . . . make your lives extraordinary"--is alone worth the viewing. Inspirational through and through, this is a film about dreams, which also shows wisdom in addressing the consequences of pursuing dreams recklessly ("Nuwanda") and not defending them when the time comes (Neil). Highly recommended. Afternote: As a high school senior visiting my future college, I attended an English class, where, for a sparkling moment, the man on whom Keating was based (Pickering, I believe) appeared in the classroom doorway to greet the professor. His eyes and smile were bright and contagious . . . though just for a moment, inspirational.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Amazing
Review: This movie had touched me in ways I never imagined. I'll admit it the first time I watched it I didn't really like it of course I was 7, but when I watched it again at age ten I thought that it was pretty good. When I watched it a third time when I was 15 I fell in love with it. I watched it three times in three days and I'm still not tired of it. Not everybody likes Robin Williams in his comody films and I am one of them. But in drama's, espicially this one, he made an outstanding preformance. His subtle and not so subtle touches of humor along with his charectors sensitivity and uniqueness helped make this movie a gem.
Though most people think that Neil Harding (Robert Sean Loenard) or Mr. Keatings (Robin Williams) are the main chairactors, they are not. Todd Anderson, played by Ethan Hawke is the main chairactor. He portrays a shy boy, often over looked by his parents as well as everyone else-including the people watching the movie.
On to the plot. Mr. Keating is a new teacher at Welton Acadamy, where everyone is tought to act be and think the same along with the cirriculum. Mr. Keating doesnt follow the mold and pushes the boys to become free thinkers, their own man. The stoy follows a group of boys who take his advice to heart and start a forbidden club, the dead poets society which Keating himself was involved in when he went to Welton.
Each of the boys in the group is different and have their story. There are more minor chairactors, Pitts, the dumb one, Meeks, the smart one, Cameron, the rule bound boy who eventually betrays the group, and Charlie, the funny guy who has a comment about everything and his own individual style. Knox is a chairactor more active in the movie, his story being one of love when he falls in love with a girl he could never have.
Neil's story is one of struggle as he trys follow the path he wants to and do what he loves, acting. His father forbids him to act and forces Neil along the path that his father whants his to take-becoming a doctor. ... his father pushes him too far.
Todd is often overlooked as a background chairactor since he doesn't have a specific storyline, but the script is angled mostly from his point of view and when you watch him you will realize he is one of the most amazing chairactors. And when you pay attention to him you will see how he changes through the movie from being a shy quiet boy who can't even talk in class into something more.
All in all, this is one of the best movies I have ever seen and my personal favorite. It is well scripted and the actors they chose played their parts perfectly. I highly advise seeing it, it shows true emotion, and will touch deeply all who see it.
Rating:
Summary: Heart-rending
Review: This is one of those few movies I never, ever want to see again. Don't get me wrong, Dead Poets Society is a fantastic movie, possibly one of the most touching films I've seen, but it simply tore my heart apart. The acting is wonderful, especially early performances by Robert Sean Leonard and Ethan Hawke, and the film is highly entertaining. But the tragedy in the film left me crying for hours. I can't even think about this movie without becoming sad.
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