‘The School for Good and Evil’ presents itself as a fairy tale, complete with a narrator (by no less than Cate Blanchett), magic and mystical creatures, and an adventure centered on true love and friendship. It even goes as far as creating a world where fairy tales are true and that the stories are crafted in a mystical land where students are taught how to be good or evil so that they can create new stories to inspire the world.
While the film, directed by Paul Feig and co-written by Feig and David Magee (based on the book series of the same name by Soman Chainani), is filled to the brim with CGI-heavy moments of sword and sorcery and high fantasy, it also carries a tone that is whimsical, tongue-in-cheek even. It feels purposefully light-weight in its presentation, as if it doesn’t take itself too seriously, which may have been problematic if seen in the cinemas but watching it at home on Netflix gives it the right tonal atmosphere.
After all, there’s never really any sense of danger to the film. The two protagonists, the best friends Sophie and Agatha (Sophia Anne Caruso and Sofia Wylie, respectively), live as outcasts in the village of Gavaldon. Touted as a witch, Agatha is almost attacked in an alleyway but is rescued by her best friend, who lives in a chaotic home with a stepmother who cares not for her and a father oblivious to her troubles. Reminiscent of other fairy tales like Cinderella for Sophie’s home environment or the fact that the two young girls like to frequent a bookshop that’s reminiscent of Belle in ‘Beauty and the Beast.’
When Sophie makes a wish to be a student in the School for Good and Evil, she and Agatha end up there and find themselves in quite a quandary: Sophie, who wishes to be a princess, is left at the School for Evil while Agatha, who didn’t want to go in the first place, is placed in the School for Good. The depictions of good and evil are very one-dimensional. They have uglification classes for the school of evil and, in the school for good, they have classes for beauty, which involves smiling and how to use it as a weapon.
It is actually quite contrived if it weren’t for Agatha’s suspicion that something is amiss. Feig is not afraid to lay it all on thick, with big stars as the professors such as Charlize Theron as Lady Lesso, the dean of the School for Evil, and Kerry Washington as Professor Dovey, the dean of the School for Good. The two big stars, as well as Michelle Yeoh in a smaller role yet manages to pop in every scene she’s in, seem to understand the campy tone of the whole film. They are in on the joke and are having a lot of fun in the process and it amplifies the campy mood of ‘The School for Good and Evil’ but it also underscores Agatha’s complaints about the world.
Because as light and as frivolous as ‘The School for Good and Evil’ can be, it manages to question the morality of this world, the one-dimensional look into the binary of good and bad. In the process, it manages to serve as a sort of criticism against performative acts of goodness and questions deeper into how things are. It subverts the ideas of fairy tales and opens up doors to understanding the gray areas.
While big stars like Theron, Washington, Yeoh, and Laurence Fishburne are having fun playing whimsical, it is Caruso and Wylie who are pushing the deeper thoughts of the story forward. Caruso is delightful as her portrayal of Sophie is one of utter belief in the ideology of the world of fairy tales while Wylie is the opposite, questioning everything and fighting against the facade of the things in front of her. Their chemistry grounds the film because it’s their friendship that is at the center of it all.
Yes, it’s light and easy and doesn’t take itself seriously. But that is what makes it enjoyable. It’s like a refreshing antithesis to the Harry Potter series and the seriousness of its later releases. It’s perfect for younger audiences and it’s not something I wouldn’t mind seeing more of in the future.
My Rating:
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The School for Good and Evil is now streaming on Netflix.
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