It's no surprise that Soman Chainani's 2013 novel The School for Good and Evil, set at a secret academic institution for young people with magical talents, was a bestseller in the wake of the Harry Potter phenomenon. Chainani has gone on to write five more books in the popular series, and the film version of the first novel arrives at a time when fantasy adaptations are thriving more than ever. What might have come off as a Harry Potter rip-off a decade ago now looks like just another addition to Netflix's arsenal of fantasy programming.
That's not to say it's much better than the various failed fantasy franchise-starters that hit theaters in the '00s. Director and co-writer Paul Feig has proved adept at bringing comedy into genre storytelling, in action movies The Heat and Spy and murder mystery A Simple Favor, but there's almost none of his comedic sensibility in The School for Good and Evil. Even Feig's uneven 2016 Ghostbusters reboot offered plenty of laughs before getting lost amid its own special effects. The School for Good and Evil starts with a grand battle full of swirling CGI, and it never gets more grounded, despite featuring a pair of wide-eyed teen-girl protagonists.
Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso, a Spokane native who began her youth acting career on local stages) and Agatha (Sofia Wylie) are best friends who live in a village called Gavaldon, in a world where fairy tales are real. The blond-haired Sophie wears brightly colored dresses, communes with squirrels and dreams of becoming a princess, while Agatha dresses in black, helps her mother with potions and is frequently accused of being a witch. Sophie wishes to be whisked away to the mythical School for Good and Evil, which trains fairy-tale heroes and villains, and when a strange force comes to grant her wish, Agatha tags along because she can't let her friend go.
When they arrive at the school, however, they discover that Sophie has been sorted into the School for Evil, and Agatha has been assigned to the School for Good. They each loudly protest their designated roles, but the school administrators assure them that no mistakes are ever made. Is it possible that this binary idea of good and evil is outdated and unrealistic, and Sophie and Agatha will prove that there is both good and evil in everyone, while also saving the school from destruction?
Obviously yes, and the story's predictability wouldn't be a problem if the journey were more entertaining. The friendship between Sophie and Agatha is tested as Sophie starts to embrace her evil side, and both girls are drawn to Tedros (Jamie Flatters), a prince in the School for Good who is the son of King Arthur. Caruso and Wylie are likable if a bit bland, and Feig populates the supporting cast with famous faces. Kerry Washington and Charlize Theron play the respective deans of the Schools for Good and Evil, with Laurence Fishburne as the school master, and they're all clearly having fun with their silly roles. Theron, who previously played a fairy-tale villain in 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman and its sequel, is especially delightful.
There's not enough fun elsewhere in the movie, though, and the plot trudges along for nearly two and a half hours, adding on layers of convoluted rules and rituals that only serve as distractions and delaying tactics. The special effects are mediocre, and the aesthetic is borrowed from dozens of other fantasy movies, without putting a clever spin on familiar imagery. Feig offers weak lessons about friendship and tolerance, all while setting up the inevitable sequels. It's not quite as disheartening as something like Eragon or Inkheart, but it comes close. ♦
The School for Good and Evil
