10 Back-to-School Movies for Parents

Dead Poets Society

Rated: PG

Year: 1989

Cast: Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke

"Carpe Diem!" is the lesson of the day when the free-thinking Williams shows up at the traditional Welton Academy, spouting Whitman and Tennyson. We know the reserved students have learned to think and stand up for themselves when a shy Hawke literally stands up on his desk and shouts, "Captain, my captain!"

What Parents Like: Admit it, after you saw this movie, you felt relieved you couldn't afford to send your kids to some posh boarding school.

What Makes Our Inner Kid Squeal: It's 1959. Young men throw off the shackles of convention and defy authority by sprinting through the forest at night and reciting poetry in caves.