The School for Good and Evil

Like always, I went in without watching any trailers or any knowledge about the source material.

In the beginning, the movie starts with the same vibe as other generic fantasy movies out there. As you progress into the story, you feel that the movie is a try-hard Harry Potter like. You're not wrong. It is. It's Harry Potter if there were only 2 houses, Gryffindor and Slytherin. Gryffindor (Good) has all the good qualities and quite obviously Slytherin (Evil) is all bad things possible.

For 70% of the movie, things remain pretty black and white. This is really infuriating for me because I hate such movies. Hunger Games, Divergent, depict an unnatural society where humans are so easily divided based on some function or trait. Harry Potter does the same as well. This movie repeats it too. Except here, and this is after 70% of the movie, the movie shows a tiny bit of uniqueness in the form of Agatha. I love that her character is exactly like the voice of the people watching this movie. The voice of reason. She goes around pointing almost all the same things I pointed that it's Not. As. Easy. As. That. Yes, I know other movies do that too but in those movies the protagonist is supported by a mentor character who shows them "the truth". Here, it's all Agatha. It's just her common sense. There's no Dumbledore here who comes and tells her the grand plan. In a way, Agatha feels like us. If we got into a school like that, we would act exactly like that! Like seriously, you're giving me an F for not smiling good?? I love her character.

That's the thing that I like the most about this movie. The rest of movie after this is also interesting because it tries to break from the pattern. In the form of Agatha of course. I felt the self-writing book was also a very nice plot and some very interesting story lines can emerge from that alone.

The movie should target the right audience for this to get good results. It isn't a movie for most adults. Maybe the next part would be better?

I've never read the books this was based on so I cannot comment if it's faithful or accurate.. I tuned in because I saw Cate, Charlize, and Laurence in the casting. It wasn't a masterpiece but it did deliver a good light hearted fantasy story.

The overall vibe of the movie reminded me of these children's books I've read as a kid with bright colorful pictures that tell a straightforward adventure story with a simple message at the end. It's predictable and no gritty plot twists which might be a downside for some but I wasn't expecting that to begin with. It's just light and fun, perhaps also touching in some scenes.

I love that it's sharp and saturated and not dull like what we normally get currently, especially during night scenes. Here you can clearly see everything. They really nailed the aesthetic of fairytale. The costumes as well!

The CGI and action sequences are doable enough. The music choices hit and miss. As for the actors, I like them enough. Charlize and Kerry were such fun contrasts of each other. Laurence Sophia Anne Caruso I think really nailed her character. She has this very Disney princess vibe to her even her voice. Sofia Wylie also did great but I can't quite see her as a gloomy character she's supposed to be portraying?

Overall I find it quite campy to the point of cheesy drama but I liked it anyway coz to me it fits the the vibe and theme of the story. It's giving similar to Enchanted or Ella Enchanted. I also liked that the focus was their friendship. I would've rated this movie higher if they made it as a series to really flesh out the characters of more characters... but alas.

Lifelong friends Agatha (Sofia Wylie) and Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso) have been lifelong friends in their village of Gavaldon with Sophie Agatha's only friend due to unfounded rumors of Agatha and her mother being a witch. Sophie dreams of being a princess like in the fairy tale stories she's obsessed with, and after learning of the School for Good and Evil which trains the heroes and villains of the various stories that inspire mankind Sophie wishes to be enrolled in the school. Sophie initially plans to leave Gavaldon due to tensions with her family but is confronted by Agatha who tries to convince her otherwise. The two are pulled into the forest by a specter and taken by a bird to the School for Good and Evil but Agatha is dropped on the "good" side while Sophie is dropped on the "evil" against her protests she's actually good. Agatha reluctantly goes under the tutilidge of the Good school's dean Professor Dovey (Kerry Washington) while Sophie likewise is taught by Lady Lesso (Charlize Theron). Both Agatha and Sophie ask the School Master (Laurence Fishburne) to correct the mistake, but he says it's out of his power and only "true love's kiss" is powerful enough to change anything. Meanwhile, Agatha sees the spectre of the supposedly long dead brother of the School Master, Rafal (Kit Young), who has insidious plans involving Sophie. As Sophie and Agatha work their way through the school, divisions form between them with their mutual affections over Tedros (Jamie Flatters) the son of King Arthur.

The School for Good and Evil is an adaptation of the 2013 fairytale fantasy novel of the same name by author Soman Chainani which became the first in a series of the same name which at the time of this writing now consists of six books forming two trilogies (The School Years and Camelot Years). Plans for a film adaptation of the books began in 2011 a full two years before the first book saw publication but it wasn't until publication of the first book that Joe Roth of Roth Films acquired the film rights with the intention of making the film a tentpole YA fantasy franchise as Roth had experienced success with Snow White and the Huntsman, Oz the Great and Powerful, and especially Maleficent and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland all falling under that same extravagant family orientated fantasy fare that was quite popular in the early 2010s. The film languished in development hell despite Universal Pictures winning an auction for the rights with a seven-figure deal, with the box office underperformance of The Huntsman: Winter's War and Alice Through the Looking Glass also not helping the film's prospects. Eventually the rights landed at Netflix with a new creative team with the streamer interested in investing in new YA IPs to compete against the legacy brands of Wizarding World and Hunger Games. Comedy director Paul Feig was initially hesitant as he had no experience directing big budget fantasy films (Ghostbusters 2016 notwithstanding) but changed his mind after reading the script. Now after a 10+ year journey to watchable product, was it worth the wait? The movie does have the feel of something that should've come out about 10 years ago, but I will say that Paul Feig and David Magee do have fun with the formula.

The School for Good and Evil's biggest battle in terms of winning its audience will undeniably be in the sense of "deja view" as The School for Good and Evil does feel like a remix of various movies you've seen from blockbusters past, down to films like the two Maleficent and Alice films released by Disney that share producer Joe Roth of this film. There's also the more obvious comparison to be made with the Wizarding World/Harry Potter franchise with the setting of a magical school/academy. With that said that doesn't make the film bad, just familiar and the movie does at least seem aware of this aspect so it never takes itself overly seriously and allows for some decent humor in its approach to this well worn material. Much like other modern fantasy films based around fairy tale themes and iconography, The School for Good and Evil is very much a deconstruction of those themes and filters them through the lens of our times by making the story about polarization and "othering" and while that is a well-worn approach, I felt they did enough to make it engaging that I was never bored or thinking the film should "move on".

In terms of the acting, I think the actors do a good job of making the material engaging. Sofia Wylie does quite well in the role of Agatha and she does a good job of endearing us to her as a protagonist especially with her more reserved and down to earth personality contrasted against the extravagance of the Good School which leads to some humorous moments with her annoyance at various facets of the Good School's culture. Sophia Anne Caruso does okay in the role of Sophie but I think there's something about the way this character is written that doesn't make it feel quite as natural a fit as with Sofia and Agatha so I always felt Sophie's characterization was a little "off" in some way, I'm not quite sure how it could've been improved and given the nature of the character it's a challenging role to write and especially act but I don't think it quite sticks the landing in terms of performance. The movie also boasts a solid supporting cast with Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Kerry Washington, and Charlize Theron making up the various staff of the Schools and they're very entertaining in their performances. Kerry Washington in particular has a lot of fun playing a kind of tightly wound Fairy Godmother archetype and while Charlize Theron does recycle a little of her performance as Queen Ravenna from Snow White and the Huntsman, she's still very entertaining playing a character who loves evil and her scenes with Washington show some great comic friction. I also rather enjoyed Earl Cave's performance as Hort, the son of Captain Hook, and his performance and energy reminded me of the late great Rik Mayall. On a visual level the film looks very beautifully and handsomely produced with Academy Award nominated production designer of Gravity and Captain Marvel Andy Nicholson producing some beautifully decorated sets that are lovingly crafted. While the movie uses a ton of CGI as per the standard of this genre, Feig opted to use as much make-up and animatronics as possible so the movie manages to sidestep the "rubbery" sheen look of some of these films fall into. I particularly liked the design of the wolf/human guards who supposedly were (in part anyway) animatronic.

The School for Good and Evil falls in line with similar YA fantasy fare, but it's well made and doesn't play itself too seriously and has fun with its world and performances. It's pretty obvious that Netflix wants this to be a franchise (down to an ending stinger) and given the series of books and production commitment it probably will be. I can't speak to its faithfulness to the source material as I've not read the books, but if you have a soft spot for things like The 10th Kingdom or the Maleficent movies you'll probably enjoy this.

I never read the books so I can't tell how accurate the adaption is. This Netflix production is definitely not the best but also not the worst fantasy movie. It's like a typical Nickelodeon/Disney channel production (with better effects and costumes) in my feeling and I think it will find it's audience.

I was entertained by it and I guess it's fine for watching one time. It has a nice cast and costumes. The CGI could have been better but is fine compared to other movies on Disney channel level.

The story and the characters are pretty mediocre and for my taste, they are relying too hard on clichés. On the other hand I think that some people will love it especially for this. It definitely falls into the category guilty pleasure.

So if you don't expect much and like cheesy fantasy movies for children/teenager, this movie could be something for you.

If you are not the target audience or don't like these kind of movies, stay away from it. You can't compare it to movies like Harry Potter, Panem and Maze Runner. But to be fair, I don't think that the movie ever intended to be compared with them.

I enjoyed watching this movie and it was good overall. The scenery was beautiful,despite some lacking CGI like in the case of the wolf heads. I read this series of books about 6-7 years ago so I don't exactly remember the plot/essence of those, so I can't comment on the accuracy of this adaptation. The acting, especially on the part of sophie anne caruso, was pretty poorly done. To be fair, the writing did not do her character any justice either but the acting made the character overall bad. I thought sofia wylie did an excellent job, as well as charlize theron, kerry washington, and Michelle yeoh. The character of tedros was also poorly written and acted, and honestly the relationship betweeen tedros and sophie was not written or developed well in the movie. Overall this movie was just average, not terrible or anything, but I will not be rewatching ever. If the story is interesting to you, I would recommend reading the book series, as the author has quite a few other books in this series written.