As they say, it's not the destination, it's the journey. Good thing too, because the endgame in The School Of Rock is a frankly formulaic lesson in empowerment.

To wit: Misfit teacher takes downtrodden kids, fights The Man and gives everyone a valuable life lesson.

The good news -- journey-wise -- is that your tour guide is Jack Black, whose manic energy and scene-sucking charisma fully charges this preteen-comedy, which has elements from predecessors old and new. These run from The Bad News Bears (drunken reprobate adult role-model) to Daddy Day Care (inept, well-meaning newbie caregiver vs. a "system" that produces repressed, overeducated kids).

Throw in a little Smoke On The Water, Zeppelin and Black's own Angus Young/AC-DC-inspired stage moves, and you've got one of those kid-movies that hits home with Boomer and Gen-X adults as well as their offspring (particularly if they're like my 13-year-old, who has "discovered" Sabbath and Zeppelin 30 years after I did).

Black plays Dewey Finn, a lifetime wannabe "rawker" who's chronically unemployed (natch), and getting a little old and heavy to be doing stage-dives on to club crowds of metal-head teenagers. He hits a new low when he's fired by his latest band (whose preening lead singer apparently dreams about fronting the next Creed).

This is also bad news for his friend Ned (Mike White, who doubles as scriptwriter), who's been letting Dewey crash in his apartment. Egged on by Ned's nagging girlfriend (Sarah Silverman) the boom is lowered. Dewey must find prospects or be turfed.

Ever the opportunist, Dewey passes himself off as Ned and accepts a substitute job at an elite prep school, where he groggily finds himself in front of a class of 10-year-old overachievers sadly lacking in rock 'n' roll hoochie coo. Classically trained musicians all, he teaches them four-four time and self-indulgent solos, and organizes them into players, roadies, security and groupies -- all with an eye to entering them in a prestigious battle of the bands. He must pull this off without arousing the suspicions of the tightly wound principal (Joan Cusack).

There are about a hundred ways this all could have been very icky, particularly with wiseacre Hollywood brats in the kid roles. Director Richard Linklater -- an indie darling taking a turn similar to Robert Rodriguez's with Spy Kids -- did a smart thing, auditioning actual preteen musicians over actors. The result is one of the more likable kid-casts in years, though Black's sheer wattage tends to overshadow them at times.

As for Black, he cuts up with every ounce of his being, coming off as a Belushi minus the danger. This will undoubtedly not be his last kidfilm.

(This film is rated PG)

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