The School for Good and Evil Review: Two and A Half Hours Of Magical Entertainment
Cast: Sophia Anne Caruso, Sofia Wylie, Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh
Director: Paul Feig
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3.5/5 (three and a half stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Netflix continues to calm the wave of the coming of age and the fantastic story for kids. This time it is a movie. As we will see in this review of The School for Good and Evil, a film that is eye-popping so much for its cast of big stars but is a bit too confined to the “for kids” genre. No, that there is something wrong, indeed. If we look into cinema history, many cult films are children’s films. The problem is how to approach this genre. Do we want to reason with the boys or take them for festinate children? This is the key to everything. The real problem with the film is it’s not quite knowing which direction to take, floundering in the desire to be something more but ending up being crushed under the weight of pressure and performance anxiety towards some competing franchises.
How many times as children have, we imagined, dreamed, and hoped even once that a magical world could be out there? One like the one read in fairy tales, in the stories handed down over time, between heroes and princesses to be saved, evil witches or fearsome trolls. Maybe we even dreamed of being one of those characters. We were hoping to take part in that story, or someone would write ours. Having a heroic or mysterious destiny. Does a prophecy hang over our heads? Are we the illegitimate children of some deity? Does the fate of humanity depend on us? Or will an owl bring us our letter to Hogwarts? Yes, let’s say we understood each other. Above all, the sweet and innocent Sophie can understand us, the protagonist of a fairy tale that does not go exactly as expected and as we will find out when talking about the new Netflix film directed by Paul Feig and based on the homonymous saga for children by Soman Chainani.
The School for Good and Evil Review: The Story
What is the plot of this tale at the origin of the protagonists of all the stories? Sophie and Agatha are the two most different girls to ever exist in the whole village of Gavaldon. Sophie has always dreamed of being a princess, she loves fairy tales and her only real desire is to escape from the monotony and vulgarity of her birthplace. Agatha, on the other hand, has always been marginalized, and denigrated for her dark appearance and her witch features, with unruly hair and curly knowledge of herbs, plants and potions. Both, in their way, feel alone, misunderstood and marginalized, yet precisely for this reason, despite the obvious differences, they have always been there, for each other.
Best friends since childhood. And one would never leave the other, even at the cost of finding themselves in a universe they didn’t know existed. Oh yes, this is exactly what happens to Agatha when decided not to let Sophie go away, she is dragged with the latter into the world of The School for Good and Evil where the heroes, princesses and villains of fairy tales (or rather, their children) are formed and forged. For Sophie, it is a dream come true, for Agatha a nightmare with open eyes, but the reality is very different from expectations and, for both, decidedly bitter. The girls are sorted into the wrong academy. Agatha ends up in lace and lace, a lesson in smiles and a happy ending from Miss Clarissa Dovey’s School of Good; Sophie, on the other hand, is dragged into the darkness, lessons of ugliness and evil boys whose sole purpose is to bring havoc and despair, but above all to be the pride of the Director Lady Lesso.
Both try desperately to make it clear that there was a fundamental mistake. Sophie is supposed to be in the School of Good while Agatha… just wants to go home to her mother. And as much as they try to try everything to put things right under the indifference of all and the absurd rules of the world of fairy tales, a much greater threat is the author of this exchange which reminds us that appearances always deceive and that good and evil are still two sides of the same coin. The moral of the story is clear from the beginning and is repeatedly expressed during the narrative by its protagonists, in particular by Agatha.
In the film, we see how good and evil are divided and opposed to each other, without any nuance being contemplated. This clear dichotomy is as unrealistic as it is undesirable: no human being can be categorized as good or bad in an absolute sense, all people have their complexity. Furthermore, the division between the two factions seems to be carried out without really evaluating the characteristics of its students but based on frivolous and futile parameters: the would-be princesses take a course for the perfect smile while the would-be witches a lesson in ugliness. A question, therefore, of mere appearance. The presence of Sophie and Agatha within the academy will set in motion a profound change that will highlight how our actions determine who we are, regardless of our appearance and what we carry inside. Does this concept remind you of anything?
The School for Good and Evil Review And Analysis
The School for Good and Evil is the transposition of the first book of the seven by Soman Chainani. Obviously, without going into specifics, the film concludes with the obvious hope of launching a new saga on Netflix. We are in a historical moment where, if we go to reflect, the investment in seriality for the sagas is constantly growing. Especially if we think about the fantasy genre and all its subgenres. The moment is flourishing, it is also flourishing for the literary market. If we look at the situation on the film side, however, things are slightly different. The great sagas are now over, although some cows are still being milked.
Everyone is trying to find their share in the market, launching their universe, and creating the new “Harry Potter” at the level of a cinematic phenomenon. Netflix with this product is no exception. We can’t say if he believes it or not, but he certainly hopes so. The investment is there, it is undeniable. As mentioned a few paragraphs above, from an aesthetic and image point of view, the film has nothing to envy the great Hollywood productions. Good care of the special effects, the beautiful outdoor locations, and, although the economy makes itself felt here, a little glitz even in the academy environments. We’re not talking about a Hogwarts level, but we can’t call it sloppy either. We are faced with a beautiful gift card. But the gift? Here, maybe that is less perfect.
The real problem, however, is the glossy atmosphere from the beginning to the end of this film. All a bit too cloying, set, and theatrical. From writing to directing, passing through acting. Even the “bad guys” give too much of that Disney Channel effect of new products like Descendants or Zombies or, again, the Nickelodeon effect with Monster High. That kind of representation that immediately detaches and makes the characters fake, bordering on a rag doll. The School for Good and Evil does not reach exactly this level, obviously, it has a higher quality, yet too often it lacks narrative naivety, taking it too much for granted or postponing details that, instead, would have been functional for the plot Instead, it is decided.
The impression is that there is no real focus, even if the theme is quite clear. The evil and the good that can coexist, forever go far beyond “great love”, friendship can do anything and the thirst for power corrupts anyone. All very right, all perfect, but all on the surface. The characters stay on the surface. They are caricatured, stereotyped, and two-dimensional, and you never have a real interest in them. You observe what they are doing and then realize that you are not paying attention. They would like to destroy a little the stereotype of the bad ones who are only bad and the good ones who are only good, but they end up becoming a victim of that same reasoning. A film against appearance but which then becomes appearance itself. A direction that looks in the mirror but very little passion, indeed. Feig seems to have stopped “believing in fairies”, but he seems much more focused on flaunting the production value of the film rather than the artistic one.
Good and evil cannot simply be characterized by beauty and ugliness, dazzling smiles and leeks in plain sight. People are not what they believe or hope to be, but their real essence is dictated by their actions and this is the hardest lesson that Agatha and, especially Sophie, will have to learn at the end of this adventure. But how all this is represented is a bit close to a story for an eight-year-old child, with the little voices to explain slowly and slowly easy thoughts, basic concepts, and non-composed sentences. And this, in the end, leads us not to be interested in the path of the two protagonists who would like to break the rules and be the advocates of their destiny, without principles and fee corrupted by power. A slight reference to patriarchal society, to the rejuvenation of archetypes, to the revolution of narratives. All this, however, is lost in the great cauldron of superficiality represented by the film.
And this also reminds us that the great cast, in these cases, is not enough. While on the one hand, we can save the interpretations of the two protagonists, Sophia Anne Caruso (Sophie) and Sofia Wylie (Agatha), who basically really believe in their characters and are certainly benefited from a young age; on the other hand, we have names like Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Patti LuPone and last but not least Kerry Washington and Charlize Theron, who almost seem to have found themselves there by chance. Beautiful, beautiful their characters, their scenic, but they tell nothing. Good cosplay, for sure. Their interpretation doesn’t tell us anything. They remain there for a while, pending. Were there or weren’t, it wouldn’t make a difference. They probably also enjoyed making this film, yet the grandeur of their names is undermined by the patina of ostentation that characterizes this film.
The School for Good and Evil Review: The Last Words
Two and a half hours of magical entertainment, twists and two young protagonists perfect for the role: this is The School for Good and Evil, an adaptation of the novel by Soman Chainani directed by Paul Feig. At times a bit caricatured but still funny, the film could perhaps better exploit the presence of names like Charlize Theron, Laurence Fishburne and Michelle Yeoh. The School for Good and Evil is one of those products that flaunt too much without ever really telling anything. A product that flows, not always smoothly, but that is never fully involved. It tells a story of passion but without that passion typical of the genre for children. A beautiful setting, but its focus is so poorly defined, so on the surface, that in the end there is very little left. A very scenic business card, certainly, with an impressive cast, but which then turns out not to be enough to hold everything up.
