Dead Poets Opus Society

"The Emperor's Club" is a feel-good movie that in the end just doesn't really feel that good. Kevin Kline plays Mr. Hundert, a Greek and Roman history teacher who excels at his job. Students respect him, listen to him and work hard.\nThis is until the arrival of Sedgewick Bell (Emile Hirsch), a senator's son and a disruptive force within the classroom. Despite Bell's constant disregard for his studies, Hundert sees himself in Bell and takes the student under his wing. Bell suddenly finds the urge to work hard and rises near the top of the class.\nWhen it comes time to pick the top three students in the class for the Julius Caesar Competition, Mr. Hundert raises Bell's grade. Yet, Bell cheats during the competition and realizes that Mr. Hundert knows but cannot call him out because of the influence of Bell's father. The story jumps to 25 years in the future when Bell, now following in his father's footsteps, wants to rectify the mistakes, but Hundert finds he is still no better of a person.\nFor much of his life, Hundert felt he had failed as a teacher when Bell did not turn out to be the man of virtue he had hoped, but his other students did, thus concluding that one failure does not define one's life -- the successes do.\n"The Emperor's Club" seems to be a combination of "Dead Poets Society" and "Mr. Holland's Opus." The plotline of the movie does not do fine actors justice. There is a romantic storyline between Mr. Hundert and another teacher that doesn't progress the movie. Also, why would Bell, who has rejected Hundert's help previously, suddenly want to study just because Hundert believes in him?\nYet, the biggest problem is the overwhelming sense of failure at the end. Yes, Hundert had success with his other students, but since most of the movie's focus was on Bell, the magnitude of his failure feels much greater. Kline, Hirsch and the other actors play their parts with conviction, but essentially the movie's focus does not lead completely to the moral conclusion it tries to convey.