Robin Williams (“Good Will Hunting”, “One Hour Photo”) stars in this strange picture that tries to be both an artistic look at poetry as well as your average high school movie. For me the balance doesn’t work and it’s a real shame as the bits about poetry are really good.

Mr. Keating (Williams) is the eccentric and new English teacher at a sophisticated academy. He breathes fresh air into their lives as he passionately takes them on a journey where they will look at poetry in a completely unique way. Mr. Keating tells several of the boys of a group he was part of back in his days at the academy called ‘Dead Poets Society’.

Robin Williams is a godsend and by the far the best part of this movie. This role seems perfect for him and whenever he’s onscreen it’s magical… but sadly there are long portions of time where he’s not onscreen. None of the other characters sparked any of my interests. The only one that comes close is named Todd Anderson (Ethan Hawke “Training Day”). One of the worst characters in the movie is named Neil Perry (Robert Sean Leonard “Tape”), which is even worse as he seems to have a lot of time onscreen.

All-round there is only really one great thing about “Dead Poets Society” and that is Robin Williams. No matter how good he is, I can’t recommend a movie for just one great performance, especially as he doesn’t have an overwhelming about of screen time. Although the artistic part about poetry is something I did really enjoy, I just don’t like the high school segments. I’m sure if you like your high school movies and you are a fan of Williams then you’ll adore this. If you don’t like the high school parts to movies then you may possibly, if you are still a fan of Williams, want to check out the parts about poetry.