The School for Good and Evil Review

Here’s my The School for Good and Evil review which stars Sophia Anne Caruso as Sophie and Sofia Wylie as Agatha. It also stars Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh and Cate Blanchett.

Here’s another Netflix adaptation that seems promising and features some good stuff but also mired with some crappy stuff. This is based on the novel by Soman Chainani

I gotta hand it to the folks at Netflix, when they set out to make flicks with great effects, they really do stick to their guns. Wasn’t expecting much but the first few minutes of the film was impressive. That sword fight was pretty slick and the fire and blood magic effects were OK at the least. As the story progresses, we also get to see more OK VFX. Action scenes are also serviceable and I give them a pass mostly because this is a young adult movie and not Game of Thrones.

Casting’s pretty good too although I have this nagging feeling that they stuffed a lot of Hollywood A-Listers to make the film more appealing. At one point I even thought it was overkill. Charlize Theron‘s role as Lady Leonora Lesso was a treat plus she’s looking dapper too. Same points should be given to Laurence Fishburne’s

I did like the early plot twist here which the story runs with namely Agatha and Sophie’s switch in position. It’s got a nice message for impressionable young minds, that when that situation arises, its better to make the most of things rather than fight it. Another lesson that the film pushes for is that one doesn’t always have to judge themselves in order to be the best. Plus the staples are also here, believe in yourself and more.

I also have to agree with the character Hort though, the Ever guys look like a bunch of losers with that dance and all that. And even Agatha was appealing for me. Thankfully, there’s a big transformation for Sophie and that makes her more appealing and interesting. That point that the professor talked about the importance of being ugly kind of makes sense too; by not looking good you are forced to rely on your wits and intelligence and thereby giving us freedom.

I hate that we’re getting a rehash of Frozen’s twist ending. I kinda did a dirty by reading a summary online and its definitely so far from the first book.

Overall, The School for Good and Evil was entertaining. It can be dragging from time to time and they also go to great lengths to do some worldbuilding. The cast was just “OK” for me although Agatha’s more appealing in my opinion!

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