In Gavaldon, two girls like no other, Sophie and Agatha, share a passion for enchanted worlds. Sophie dreams of escaping her boring existence and becoming a princess, while Agatha has the makings of a witch. One night, under a blood-red moon, an irresistible force drives the two friends to the School of Good and Evil, where all fairy tales truly begin. Once there, nothing happens as they wish: Sophie is catapulted to the school of evil, directed by the very beautiful Lady Leso with a sharp tongue, and Agatha goes to the school of good, led by the kind and sunny Professor Dov. Only true love’s kiss can change the rules and send young girls to the schools and destinies that truly suit them.
If the faces of the two camp heroes of Sophia Ann Caruso and Sophia Wiley (High School Musical) probably don’t tell you much, the rest of the cast makes us envious: Kerry Washington floats in an elaborate school principal’s dress. It’s good, and Charlize Theron dons the black suit of the dean of the evil school. Laurence Fishburne gives himself the prestigious role of director, with the brilliant Keith Young (Shadow and Bone) playing a younger version of him. As for Michelle Yeh, she is… The Smile Teacher (yes, you read that right).
When Soman Chainan released the first installment of his coming-of-age fantasy saga The School for Good and Evil in 2013, Hollywood immediately snapped up the rights. But it wasn’t until 2020 that Netflix picked them up from Universal and began production. It is the very classy Paul Feig who has been chosen to direct and write the screenplay. And we can already tell that the director should have stayed in comedy rather than try his hand at a fantasy film.
So, yes, the world imagined by Chainan is very beautiful: we meet sons and daughters like Descendants and Once Upon a Time. We hear about King Arthur, Excalibur, Captain Hook and Hercules and Sinbad. Something makes us smile. But now, the school of good and evil comes too late, and the genre no longer matters. You will survive to the end a moral that criticizes the Manichaeism of fairy tales and its characters… neither funny nor entertaining.
Clocking in at 2:30 (yes, that’s the length of the film…), we expect to be blown away by both the production and the writing. But visually, it’s not that pretty – like the arrival scene of the two heroes, which we already see in the trailer, or the opening scene shot entirely on green screens. As for the writing, it is of nameless plastic. We are very sorry for the famous actors who decided to participate in the project. Michelle Yeoh offers only three small scenes, as does Laurence Fishburne. As for Washington and Theron, they seem to only be there for the costumes (which are gorgeous, by the way!)
If School of Good and Evil struggled to come up with a world, characters and sub-plot to lay the groundwork for, unfortunately, everything is too weak to make us want to see a sequel…
Source: allocine
Camila Luna is a writer at Gossipify, where she covers the latest movies and television series. With a passion for all things entertainment, Camila brings her unique perspective to her writing and offers readers an inside look at the industry. Camila is a graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a degree in English and is also a avid movie watcher.
