The School for Good and Evil: A Review

The School for Good and Evil is Netflix’s new fairytale movie based on the books of the same name by Soman Chainani. It stars Sophia Anne Caruso and Sofia Wylie as the main characters.

If you don’t know what happens in the movie, it basically follows the story of two best friends named Sophie and Agatha, who one day get kidnapped by a stymph (a large skeleton bird) and sent to the School for Good and Evil. However, they’re already aware this school exists, and Sophie hopes to get into the School for Good so she can become a princess. But when they get there, Sophie’s sent to the School for Evil, and Agatha is sent to the School for Good. They initially think they were put into the wrong schools, but maybe they’re where they’re supposed to be all along.

The movie received a 37% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 66% audience score. A popular critic opinion is that the movie is very visually appealing, but it lacked story structure, and felt rushed. This is also a popular opinion with people who read the books, such as myself.

I won’t necessarily say the movie is bad, but it’s not as good as the book. They remove a lot of things that were really important for the character’s developments in the movie (e.g Agatha’s self worth realization), and change very important events to something boring (i.e the Trial by Tale). Sophie’s descent into evil is portrayed as if it’s Rafal’s doing and not the consequences of her own actions. Relationships between the characters aren’t covered much, despite it being 2 hours and 21 minutes long, which is probably why people say it drags on. If important events from the book aren’t changed, they’re cut out entirely, which disappoints me.

While it does have its weak spots, the movie also has charm to it. The special effects, costumes, and just the overall setting is very nice to see. The actors and crew clearly put work into making the movie, and it really shows. Despite everything, I recommend watching this movie.