The School for Good and Evil, the first book in the revisionist fairy tale fantasy trilogy by author Soman Chainani, was published in 2013. The School for Good and Evil examines the binary concepts of good and evil through the guise of a magical institution that instructs both to the next generation.
The movie adaptation, in the extremely skilled hands of director/writer Paul Feig, succeeds as both a large-scale mythic and a personal story about the continuing strength of close friendship. Despite impossible difficulties. Yet, that doesn’t mean there weren’t areas where this film could have been improved upon.
The first novel by Chainani and the film both tells the origin tale of two teenage best friends from the made-up community of Gavaldon. Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso), a fair-haired dreamer with a Cinderella-like desire for something bigger than her modest existence, enjoys making garments. She has a messy best friend named Agatha (Sofia Wylie) who doesn't give a damn what people think of her and is content to spend time with Sophie. While avoiding the prying eyes of their hateful neighbours.
However, everything changes when Sophie learns about The School for Good and Evil. A secret organisation that cultivates the next generation of fairy tale heroes and villains. They occasionally enlist deserving outsiders to join their ranks. Sophie makes a wish to be recruited since she is desperate to be one of those deserving "readers," and her dream is fulfilled.
When Agatha tries to free Sophie from the grasp of a terrifying skeletal bird known as a stymph, she too is taken along. The two are soon placed in their designated schools: Agatha in the "Evers" side, which cultivates the most deserving pupils in order to earn their heroic stories. While Sophie is placed in the "Nevers" side, which caters to evil.
Sophie and Agatha, who are upset about being divided and placed in the "wrong" schools, must deal with the toxic personalities of the students nearby. Including their uncaring respective school mistresses, Lady Lesso (Charlize Theron) of the Nevers and Prof and Clarissa Dovey (Kerry Washington) of the Evers.
Agatha wants to return home, while Sophie wants to live with the Evers. She is, however, eager to pave the way for Sophie's dream by assisting her in obtaining the kiss of true love from Prince Tedros (Jamie Flatters). The campus bright light and the son of King Arthur.
From there, Feig and his production team take the girls and us to the school's expansive grounds, where we encounter many strange creatures. Including very bitey posey flowers, scarecrows with pumpkin faces that transform into Reapers at night, tattoos that transform into fiery dragons, and eerie cherubs that serve as the school's watchmen. Every scene offers a lot to take in, therefore the visual effects are many yet generally quite well done. There may be too many visual similarities between Hogwarts' general silhouette and appearance in the first establishing shots. Although as the two houses' distinct aesthetics become more apparent, this happens less frequently.
The School for Good and Evil never gets dull because there are always large sequences and events thrown at us. Such as magic trials and two balls in each house. In fact, the quieter exchanges between Agatha and Sophie are a much-needed relief at times. Agatha pushes Prof. Dovey, and Tedros to question the stale status quo as she witnesses the uncouth behaviour of her fellow Evers and their insatiable vanity. The conventions are questioned via Aggie's empathetic eyes, and Sophie serves as the story's unwavering conscience as she succumbs to the desire to do wrong in order to fulfill her ambitions.
The School for Good and Evil is a really satisfying setting for Feig to display his enormous talent for storytelling that is quick on its feet and emotionally driven. The friendship between Sophie and Agatha is at the centre of the story's heart.
The performances are decant, but at times you wish there was something more. Possibly, the writing limits them on what they could do. With everything, there are comedic characters, yet they feel a bit over the top at times. It can be quite corny at times. As a result, elements feel like they need to be fine-tuned.
Even at 146 minutes, the film feels rushed to get through all the explanatory scenes, in the beginning, depriving viewers of a crucial sense of discovery. Initially, I assumed this was going to be a series on Netflix, which may have been better than a film. This way we could have spent more time with the characters, and the story was given more time to establish itself and for connections to make with the characters.
Chainani claims that all the literary heroes, including Cinderella and Aladdin, studied here. Yet, it doesn't feel that magical. There are a lot of similarities between this school and Hogwarts, yet there isn't any mystery surrounding this school. Big things were promised, and it just feels a bit flat. The chemistry between some characters is strong, but in other areas such as the dialogue is lacking.
Overall, The School For Good And Evil is a good attempt. Visually, it looks interesting, but the fairytale magic is missing in some areas. I do still believe that this may have benefitted from being a series rather than an extended film. The majority of performances are strong, but some others needed a bit of refinement. This film could be an easy watch if it wasn’t so long as well.
We end this film on a cliffhanger. Also due to the fact that there are more books to be adapted we could expect a sequel. This Is yet to be confirmed, but if there is, I hope they build upon what they have started. This franchise would be really great, however, it still needs a bit more refinement to make it something really special.
Performance | 3.7/5 |
Enjoyment | 3.8/5 |
Overall Rating | 3.7/5 |