The youngsters who play those students are uniformly good, with notable turns by Bruklin Harris as Callie, the smartest of the group; Renoly Santiago as Raul, whose innocence shows through, despite his tough attitude; and Wade Dominguez as Emilio, the class ring-leader.

"Dangerous Minds," scripted by Ronald Bass ("Rain Man," "The Joy Luck Club") and directed by John N. Smith (TV's "The Boys of St. Vincent"), has a number of highlights, including "the Dylan-Dylan" contest" (finding parallels in the poetry of Dylan Thomas and Bob Dylan).

When the action moves into the schoolyard, Smith's direction takes on a pseudo-documentary feel, but, thankfully, he resists any temptation toward distracting camera moves during dialogue-driven scenes. The hard-driving soundtrack score (by Wendy & Lisa) lends some urban oomph, though Smith does occasionally let it overwhelm the action.

"Dangerous Minds" is rated R for violence, profanity and vulgarity. Considering the subject matter, however, the language doesn't seem too excessive, and a PG-13 might not be out of order. Certainly teens would get the most out of what the film has to say.