The School for Good and Evil

The School for Good and Evil

Best friends Sophie and Agatha navigate an enchanted school for young heroes and villains — and find themselves on opposing sides of the battle between good and evil.

  • Released:
  • Runtime: 120 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Comedy, Fantasy
  • Stars: Sophia Anne Caruso, Sofia Wylie, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Flatters, Kit Young, Peter Serafinowicz, Kerry Washington, Charlize Theron, Earl Cave, Rachel Bloom, Mark Heap, Patti LuPone, Freya Parks, Demi Isaac Oviawe, Kaitlyn Akinpelumi, Briony Scarlett, Cate Blanchett, Joelle, Ali Khan, Rob Delaney, Liam Woon, Stephanie Siadatan, Adam Ray, Olivia Booth-Ford, Emma Lau, Chinenye Ezeudu, Harvey Scrimshaw, Misha Butler, John Macdonald, Shanti Deen-Ellis, Ben Aycrigg
  • Director: Paul Feig
 Comments
  • view_and_review - 22 June 2024
    Remixes Can Be Good
    I think it's kind of cool that since the days of "Shrek," there are quite a few movies retelling old fables, or just poking fun at them. From "Maleficent," to "Hoodwinked," to "Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters," and more, there are some good (and bad) remixes to established fairytales and fables.

    "The School for Good and Evil" doesn't quite rewrite fairytales and fables, but it does highlight some things about our known stories that aren't all that flattering.

    "The School" stars Sophia Anne Caruso and Sofia Wylie as Sophie and Agatha aka Aggie. They both are from the small intolerant village of Gavaldon. Sophie has read all about princesses and yearns to be one, but mostly she just yearns to be anywhere but Gavaldon. Aggie is always accused of being a witch and doesn't seem to have any desire other than to be with her best friend Sophie--wherever that may be. Rotting away in Gavaldon, or slaving away in a factory, Aggie just wanted to be with her bestie.

    After Sophie made a wish to be taken to The School for Good and Evil, she got whisked away by some dark cloud-like being to an open spot in the woods where a bus-sized vulture picked her up and dropped her off on the evil side of The School. Also taken with her, however reluctantly, was Agatha. Aggie was just trying to hold onto her friend, which would be her M. O. the entire movie. Aggie was that real clingy friend who's always mothering as well. It seemed really unhealthy. She was one step away from being Jennifer Jason-Leigh in "Single White Female" (minus the white part).

    Both girls were upset with their placements at The School. Sophie believed she should be on the good side of The School, and Aggie believed she shouldn't be there at all.

    What they found at The School defied what it was to be good or evil. The good students were concerned with beauty, manners, and other shallow nonsense while they were mean, arrogant, and jerks. The evil side was concerned with "uglification" and trying to look menacing, yet sought friendship and acceptance. Neither side embodied their titles, and the "good" students especially stood out as not being about "good." The whole setup made you wonder what it was all about. Surely, they couldn't believe that this was what it meant to be "good."

    While the "good" students were cocky in their shallowness, Aggie was equally cocky in her wokeness. She was one of the types who believed she was better than everybody else because she eschewed looks and manners. So, whereas she may have been right about how shallow the good students were, she was almost equally unlikeable in her behavior.

    Meanwhile, Sophie was trying to figure out how to get to the good side of the school and become a princess. The harder she tried the more it seemed she was destined for evil.

    I thought the movie was entertaining. It got a helping hand from A-listers: Laurence Fishburne, Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Cate Blanchett, and Michelle Yeoh. They offered the movie some credibility.

    The story, based upon the book written by Soman Chainani, was solid. There were some nice twists in there even though it borrowed a little from "Frozen" and "Maleficent." I would've preferred a little bit more creativity for the ending, but I guess he was a bit hogtied by the genre. He went for the fairytale genre, so there were only so many options available. Sure, this movie could've been better, but it also could've been a lot worse.

    Netflix.
  • meelaleks - 16 January 2024
    Missed chance
    This movie is good enough as a movie for kids. For grown ups not so much... sure, the special effects are good and the music score is fitting but there are some serious problems with this movie. For one: it is way to long. Way. Secondly: the main charactors hardly ever move you. And the storyline... wow... sooo obviously, so cliche. Irritating really. The subplots and supporting charactors are also obviously and sort of hollow, predictioly. This movie heavingly leans on black and white points of view and how to battle these, but in a way it starts to be enoying, that can't be the goal. All in all: pretty made but a missed chance.