I don't know why everyone it is so excited about this framework. I've had a quick look over the documentation a few months ago, when there was this hype around this new kid from the block thinking that there must be something really interesting.

I stopped reading the minute I saw they are using a template engine for rendering the views. I simply don't get it. Why would someone use a separate template engine when PHP itself is a very good one to use ? Why to add an extra layer to the app ?

We don't have to recreate anything, the views should be pure PHP, not code written in some <insert template engine name here> that is then translated to PHP.