The School for Good and Evil

The School for Good and Evil

Best friends Sophie and Agatha navigate an enchanted school for young heroes and villains — and find themselves on opposing sides of the battle between good and evil.

  • Released:
  • Runtime: 120 minutes
  • Genre: Action, Comedy, Fantasy
  • Stars: Sophia Anne Caruso, Sofia Wylie, Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Flatters, Kit Young, Peter Serafinowicz, Kerry Washington, Charlize Theron, Earl Cave, Rachel Bloom, Mark Heap, Patti LuPone, Freya Parks, Demi Isaac Oviawe, Kaitlyn Akinpelumi, Briony Scarlett, Cate Blanchett, Joelle, Ali Khan, Rob Delaney, Liam Woon, Stephanie Siadatan, Adam Ray, Olivia Booth-Ford, Emma Lau, Chinenye Ezeudu, Harvey Scrimshaw, Misha Butler, John Macdonald, Shanti Deen-Ellis, Ben Aycrigg
  • Director: Paul Feig
 Comments
  • lynette-gilbert - 27 March 2024
    Book Adaptation
    Well, I guess this is a book adaptation. Doesn't make me think very highly of the book. Unless this was just a really poor adaptation. What WAS this? I love a good fantasy, but this was SO all over the place. All of these things happened in TWO WEEKS? Give me a break. The production was fine, the CG wasn't even as bad as other reviews said. But the story was absolute garbage. If these schools aren't supposed to interact, why do they share a mess hall? Who are the first-years? And why do supposed first-years know all about the history of these schools? Are Aggie and Sophie the only non-fairy tale children who attend? Ugh. Did NOT enjoy.
  • trinaboice - 21 November 2023
    It does feel fantastical that allows us to escape into a new world.
    IN A NUTSHELL: In the village of Gavaldon, two misfits and best friends, Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso) and Agatha (Sofia Wylie), share the unlikeliest of bonds. Sophie, a golden-haired seamstress, dreams of escaping her dreary life to become a princess, while Agatha, with her grim aesthetic and offbeat mother, has the makings of a real witch. One night under a blood-red moon, a powerful force sweeps them away to the School for Good and Evil - where the true stories behind every great fairy tale begin. Yet something is amiss from the start: Sophie is dropped into the School for Evil, run by the glamorous and acid-tongued Lady Lesso (Charlize Theron), and Agatha in the School for Good, overseen by the sunny and kind Professor Dovey (Kerry Washington).

    As if navigating classes with the offspring of the Wicked Witch (Freya Parks), Captain Hook (Earl Cave), and King Arthur (Jamie Flatters) wasn't hard enough, according to the Schoolmaster (Laurence Fishburne), only true love's kiss can change the rules and send the girls to their rightful schools and destiny. But when a dark and dangerous figure (Kit Young) with mysterious ties to Sophie reemerges and threatens to destroy the school and the world beyond entirely - the only way to a happy ending is to survive their real-life fairytale first.

    The magical mayhem was directed by Paul. He also wrote the screenplay based on the book by Soman Chainani. Soman has a cameo performance in the movie as one of the teachers in the School of Evil.

    THINGS I LIKED: I absolutely adore Cate Blanchett. I wish we could have seen her in this, but it's still great to hear her voice as The Storian.

    Rachel Bloom is hilarious and so talented. It was fun to see her as Honora and I'd love to see her in even more movies. She was perfect in the TV show "My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend." The two leading ladies are Sophia Anne Caruso and Sofia Wylie, matched by Charlize Theron and Kerry Washington.

    Laurence Fishburne always makes a movie better.

    The costume design is a lot of fun. You can now see some of them on display in a pop-up store in the Grove in Los Angeles, CA.

    Most movies like this show one-dimensional characters that are either good or bad, so I appreciate that this story shows us characters that are a little bit of both.

    It does feel fantastical that allows us to escape into a new world.

    THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE: The movie is WAY too long. It feels like it would be better as a TV series or a limited movie series.

    There are so many side characters that we don't get to know much about, making the entire movie feel overstuffed.

    Despite all of the action and drama, I felt bored at times.

    I was surprised by bad acting moments from award-winning stars who I know can do better. That seems to be happening more and more with Netflix movies.

    There are some plot holes as the rules of the universe seem to change. For example, sometimes we see a character as an ugly witch and then, without explanation, she changes back into her beautiful self.

    Characters come and go quickly. It's sometimes hard to know which ones are the most important ones to focus on.

    TIPS FOR PARENTS: Lots of magical violence Some scary images People die

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