Netflix subscribers can experience The School for Good and Evil, the first installment in a fantasy saga for young adults, today. To see or to skip?
What is it about ?
In Gavaldon, two girls like no other, Sophie and Agatha, share the same passion for enchanted worlds. Sophie dreams of escaping her dull existence to become a princess, while Agatha has the makings of a witch. One night, under a blood-red moon, an irresistible force takes the two friends to the School of Good and Evil, the place where all fairy tales truly begin. Once there, nothing happens as they would have liked: Sophie is catapulted into the School of Evil directed by the very chic Lady Lesso with the sharp tongue, and Agatha arrives at the School of Good supervised by the kind and Solar Professor Dovey. Only a kiss of true love can change the rules and send young girls to the schools and destinies that truly suit them.
Who is it with?
If the faces of the two heroines camped by Sophia Anne Caruso and Sofia Wylie (High School Musical), probably do not tell you much, the rest of the cast makes us envious: Kerry Washington slips into the sequined dress of the director of the school of good while Charlize Theron grants herself the black suit of the dean of the school of Evil. Laurence Fishburne grants himself the prestigious role of director, with the brilliant Kit Young (Shadow and Bone) playing his young version. As for Michelle Yeoh, she is a teacher… of smiling (yes, you read that right).
Well worth a look ?
When Soman Chainani released the first installment of his young adult fantasy saga titled The School for Good and Evil in 2013, Hollywood immediately grabbed the rights. But it wasn’t until 2020 that Netflix picked them up from Universal and started production. It is the very classy Paul Feig who is chosen to direct and write the screenplay. And we can already tell you that the director should have stayed with comedy rather than trying his hand at fantasy film.
So yes, the world imagined by Chainani is very nice: we meet the sons and daughters of, like Descendants and Once Upon a Time. We hear about King Arthur, Excalibur, Captain Hook and even Hercules and Sinbad. Something to make us smile. But now, The School of Good and Evil comes much too late and matters nothing more to the genre. You will be spared the end moral which criticizes the Manichaeism of the tales and its characters… It is neither funny nor entertaining.
In 2h30 (yes, that’s the length of the film…), we expect to be surprised, both by the production and the writing. But visually, it’s not very beautiful – like the arrival scene of the two heroines that we already see in the trailer or the opening scene shot entirely on green screens. As for the writing, it is of an unnamed platitude. We are very sorry for the renowned actors who have decided to participate in the project. Michelle Yeoh offers only three small scenes, just like Laurence Fishburne. As for Washington and Theron, they only seem to be there for the costumes (which are gorgeous, by the way!)
If The School of Good and Evil had the heavy task of introducing a universe, characters, and a subplot to be able to create the basics, the whole thing is unfortunately too weak to make us want to see the sequel…