The School for Good and Evil

This movie obviously and shamelessly aims to grab the attention of the Harry Potter fans. I used to be an HP fan myself but things change – not that it kept me from tuning in out of curiosity. I expected certain things and got a few of them, but for the most part, I was pleasantly surprised at what I watched. Maybe I should stop being such a stick in the mud.

Many years ago, two powerful wizard brothers started two schools, one for evil and one for good. They were in balance until the brothers fought…yada yada yada. Now, there are two girls who live in a not so quaint village where they are vilified for being a witch. They aren’t, but Sophie dreams of escaping to the school for good, not the school for evil because she’s sweet and cute, and taking her bff Agatha with her. Off kilter Disney/Harry Potter chaos ensues.

They do end up in school “Where the true story behind any story begins.” Alumni include famous fairytale characters, and the students dream of having their own story written into the fancy book high in the tower. Students in the school for evil wear black, don’t wash, push each other around and do mean things to prove they are not nice people. Students in the school for good wear fancy dresses if they’re a girl, or poofy Disneyesque medieval garb if they’re a boy. They aspire to goodness and are graded down if they fail to smile. 

A lot of very pretty fairytale imagery makes the film easy on the eye, and there is some diversity in the characters with race and body type, though for the most part it’s standard white people. Neither girl totally fits in at first at the very Harry Potter looking – but not acting – castle they are in, nor with their fellow students. I was getting close to switching channels until I noticed the story wasn’t really as straightforward as it promised and seemed at first. It’s darker than their progenitors, not afraid to deal harshly with some characters. Then the story started getting twisty and I liked that, until I guessed the ultimate twist way, way early. That was too bad, but I think the end will be good for some little girls to see.

Earlier I said I liked it for the most part, because there are a few glaring issues, the biggest of which was the continual and strong message that ugly equals evil. The uglier a character becomes, the stronger their evil wizardry becomes, and the prettier and sweeter a character seems, they are stronger. That grated on me from the start and only got worse as the movie progressed. I was especially peeved with the scene where a student receives a failing grade because she can’t dredge up a smile on command. Maybe the teacher should have worn a construction helmet and dog whistled her first.

There are some big name adult actors, none of whom turned in better than an okay performance. The young women main characters were okay, though they each had at least one physical feature that drew my eye like a spell was on me. Those eyebrows! That hair!! Whew.

This is not a bad movie per se, but it you watch it with a child be sure to explain how some of these messages are not good. I don’t know if the filmmakers thought it would be obvious that their message is “this is bad” but I think that would go over a child’s head. It’s pretty, it’s not super confusing though there are a couple of nicely twisty things that held my attention long enough to finish watching.

Available on: Netflix, trailer (with a good amount of spoilers) on freetube.

LINKS:

• The School for Good and Evil – Official Site
• The School for Good and Evil – IMDB
• The School for Good and Evil – Wikipedia

CFR: In Addition:

Welp, I got nothin’. I’ve seen this advertised and I have been tempted to watch it. However, the idea of Good and Evil in these types of “fairytales” irritates me. I have late decided that Good and Evil are better understood as Kindness and Cruelty. Easier to distingu, Regina. And good grief! You know being kind to others doesn’t always mean you get the short end of the stick.

Plus the ugly = evil trope Cranky mentioned above, really grinds me. As a not beautiful or pretty person, really!?!?!?!

I might watch this show and thoroughly enjoy it. I might watch it and loathe it. We will see. Or not. For now, I keep wanting to rewatch Godzilla: Minus 1.