The School for Good and Evil

The School for Good and Evil movie review: Despite a stacked cast, director Paul Feig's fantasy film is like a headless chicken scurrying across a CGI ...

It has no regard for the audience’s time, and little respect for their intelligence. The School for Good and Evil is indefensible. The comedy specialist — best known for the shows Freaks and Geeks, and hit films such as The Heat and Bridesmaids — is palpably at a loss here, unable to decide whether to lean into the coming-of-age core of the story, or to double down on the world-building. One would’ve hoped for the film’s visuals to compensate for all the narrative flaws — Feig and David Magee’s screenplay squeezes in what seems like the plot of all seven Harry Potter books into a single movie — but lack of directorial authorship adds to the overall disappointment. And all of it is plot. Like a DU student desperate to switch streams after settling for History Honours, Sophie pleads with the School Master (Lawrence Fishburne) to be allowed to attend the Good School because she’s always thought of herself as a good person.

How does The School for Good and Evil end? Do Sophie and Agatha defeat Rafal? We reveal all with our ending explained article!

The true love’s kiss between Agatha and Sophie opened up a portal that would allow them to go back to their town. Just as the film is about to close, a portal opens up nearby and Tedros’s arrow flies through it, getting lodged in a tree. She then tricks the students from the School for Good into attacking the School for Evil. The deans of the school – now released from the spell that captured them – arrive to see all the students mingling together. Although, they still get teased and taunted by the other kids in town. But Sophie pushes Agatha aside and takes the blow instead. Unable to find her way into the School of Good, Sophie soon begins to make herself at home in the School for Evil, egged on by Rafal and his promises. Agatha and Sophie return home, hand in hand. Read on to find out how The School for Good and Evil ends. The School for Good and Evil follows the story of two young girls, Sophie and Agatha, who are transported from their small medieval town to the fantasy world of the titular school. They kiss and it gives Rafal all the power he’s ever wanted. Ever since then, Rafal has been running the school under the guise of Rhian.

Released on October 19, the film stars Sofia Wylie (High School Musical: The Musical–The Series) as Agatha and Sophia Anne Caruso (The Sound of Music Live!) as ...

Chainani hopes to take a break after the graphic novel release and “hopefully invent a new series.” But in the meantime, he will be getting glammed up for the movie’s events atop a souvenir from the set: “The producer chair I had on set is a lovely reminder of the power of storytelling and how anything can happen.” The running joke is that anytime there’s an event, I find a way to get Kit involved and Kit’s like ‘how do you get away with this?’ because it’s the author and the villain of the movie at an event together,” Chainani told PW. “I think most of the time authors go in with the wrong mindset of trying to make sure it’s faithful, but you end up fighting for the wrong things,” Chainani explained. If you see a dragon, you know we’re in trouble.” Other Easter eggs fans will be excited to spot are a callback to a character named Grimm in the books, Hort’s frog pajamas, and a cameo appearance by the author himself as a teacher in the School for Evil. “I had been around the block in Hollywood to some extent and I knew the process was going to be filled with potholes, so I was cautiously optimistic.” But the film’s move to Netflix introduced a more amicable partnership. But to the girls’ horror, they are dropped off at the “wrong” schools; Sophie is placed in the School for Evil run by the stern and foreboding Lady Lesso (Theron), and Agatha at the School for Good run by sunny and upbeat Professor Dovey (Washington), making Sophie a “Never” and Agatha an “Ever.” Determined to be together and right the glaring wrong, the friends appeal to the School Master (Fishburne), but are informed that only a true love’s kiss can change the rules—a requirement Sophie has set on fulfilling by kissing the Ever’s school prince, Tedros (Flatters).

An adaptation of a YA favourite about two opposing fairytale schools is overlong, bland and utterly devoid of magic.

But the deeper purpose here is the straightforward regurgitation of archetypal Potterisms, from the lakeside training sessions to the handsome dining halls to the belief that everyone’s either a friend, rival or crush. Its determination to be like other things leaves the impression of nothing at all. With time and a daunting number of montages scored by such Gen Z-approved artists as Billie Eilish and Olivia Rodrigo, they’ll come to see through the glaringly phony divide laid out for them, mostly by Sophie learning that you can look good and dress in black.

Empty and endless, and too often leaves you wondering what's going on and why we should bother.

And the production design on both sides is enjoyably over-the-top in its contrasting extremes: the School for Good essentially looks like a wedding cake you could live inside, while the School for Evil is like a goth version of Hogwarts. Here, fellow students are whittled down to a single trait, and—as in the Disney “Descendants” movies—most are the offspring of famous cultural figures, like Prince Charming, King Arthur, and the Sheriff of Nottingham. Deauville [Cate Blanchett ](/cast-and-crew/cate-blanchett)as Narrator (voice) But when the bird drops Sophie on the evil side and Agatha on the good side, they figure it must have been a mistake and struggle to switch places. [Soman Chainani](/cast-and-crew/soman-chainani), “The School for Good and Evil” focuses on two extremely different teenage best friends looking out for each other in a harsh, fairy-tale land. The much taller, wild-haired Agatha ( [Sofia Wylie](/cast-and-crew/sofia-wylie)) lives with her mom in a cottage in the forest, where they concoct potions together; she has a hairless cat named Reaper and dresses in all black, so she must be a witch.

Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Michelle Yeoh, Sofia Wylie, and Sophia Anne Caruso lead Paul Feig's adaptation of Soman Chainani's boarding-school ...

Watching both of them evolve into the “good” and “evil” labels they resisted is satisfying, and watching their relationship grow and change is even more compelling. It’s a fairy tale where the witchy outcast girl can be a hero, and the girl who wants to be a princess falls in love with her inner dark side. Agatha is prickly, rude, and defiant, but she’s also one of the few students in the good school who actually cares about other people. But because the lead characters are so multifaceted and their relationship is so compelling, those tropes don’t weigh down the movie. Sophie, meanwhile, is so determined to make something of herself and prove she matters to the world that her ambition clouds her judgment. Fairy tales do tend to boil down to black-and-white thinking, and the main characters — who live in a more nuanced world, but are expected to take on fantasy roles — recognize that there’s something off about that. But much to their dismay, Sophie is tossed into the evil program, while Agatha ends up among the spoiled, glittery princesses of the good one. Designed to fit, then subvert and smash, archetypes, the two leads of The School for Good and Evil and their strong friendship turn the movie from fantastical fun to memorable delight. For instance, while the good-program princesses take lessons in smiling (which Agatha miserably fails), the bad school has an “uglification” class — because of course ugly is “evil,” in fairy-tale logic. But while Netflix’s new movie The School for Good and Evil does indulge all those beloved ideas in ways that might seem familiar, Director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids) treats the conventions with love and care, turning the movie into a compelling fantasy adventure. Sophie dreams of a life beyond their tiny hometown, but Agatha just wants to keep her mother and Sophie safe. Everyone calls Agatha a witch, because she’s sullen, she wears ragged, dark clothing, and her mother makes herbal remedies on the side.

Although immersed in fantasy, "The School for Good and Evil" gets lost in a nether realm somewhere between Disney Channel fare like "Descendants" and more ...

Netflix is perhaps to be forgiven for wanting a piece of Disney and Warner Bros.’ action in this fertile genre, with dreams of sequels dancing in its head. There’s plenty of action along the way, as well as more wasted cameos, like Patti LuPone and Michelle Yeoh. Both operate under the oversight of the headmaster (Laurence Fishburne), in a place billed as “where the true story behind every fairy tale begins.”

Paul Feig waves a very attractive wand at Soman Chainani's book for his take on the fairy tale world.

There’s great balance to the whole piece, but the real heart is firmly focused on the friendship between Sophie and Agatha which is what really pushes this through as a memorable and fun watch. Cate Blanchett is also given a purposeful narrator role that is vital to the story and plays into the fairy tale tweaks that work well overall. There’s also no shortage of big sequences and scenarios thrown at us, from magic trials to two balls in each house so The School for Good and Evil never gets boring. In fact, the strongest moments throughout the movie are the smaller ones between Agatha and Sophie, as well as Evers misfit Gregor (Ally Cubb) and the initially haughty but empathetic Tedros. Clarissa Dovey (Kerry Washington) of the Evers – and the whims of their flighty Schoolmaster (Laurence Fishburne). [Harry Potter ](/movies/franchise/harry-potter)series and the musical book by Winnie Holzman for [Wicked](/movies/wicked), The School for Good and Evil explores the black-and-white notions of good and evil under the roof of a magical school that teaches the next generation of both.

The Paul Feig-directed adaptation of Soman Chainani's novel stars not one, but two strong young women who must survive in a fairytale world, but unlike other ...

[Maleficent](https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/10/8559672/maleficent-mistress-of-evil-movie-review)and [Cruella](https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2021/05/10489973/cruella-movie-origin-story-dalmatians-end-credits), or even in [The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power](https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/2021/08/10613773/amazon-the-lord-of-the-rings-first-look-valinor). He made [Hansel and Gretel](https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/01/9312595/gretel-hansel-new-movie-original-fairytale-differences)murderers by letting them escape by burning the witch to death, and he orchestrated the death of the Evil Queen in the original [Snow White](https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2016/02/103654/disney-fairy-tale-stories-dark-side#slide-1), who was forced to put on iron-hot shoes and dance until she died. [damsel is not always in distress](https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2016/10/126645/tv-heroines-damsel-in-distress-stereotypes). This is reflected in the growing popularity of villain origin stories — like Disney’s live action films The first break from the expected fairy tale narrative occurs when Sophie and Agatha learn that fairy tales are real and the characters who populate the stories were all educated at the School for Good and Evil (SGE). Instead, The School for Good and Evil goes one step further, not just updating the genre to reflect a modern audience, but also calling out the entire canon of beloved [fairy tales](https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2022/02/10806042/non-romantic-platonic-love-meaning)as reductive and harmful. Rafal’s tales have also made Good pompous and proud, filled with certainty that they can only do good because they have been told that they are good. Good, evil, witch, princess, stepmother, and prince charming — these are the archetypes that populate fairy tales. The female students at the School for Good are perfectly coiffed and dressed in pastel-colored gowns. [ruthless nature of classic fairy tales](https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2016/02/103654/disney-fairy-tale-stories-dark-side), which tend to end in pretty brutal deaths for the villains (remember when Maleficent was stabbed through the heart and fell off a cliff in Sleeping Beauty?). At the School for Evil, students are all dark-haired and dressed in black. Students who fail three courses are transformed into magical creatures against their will and forced to serve the school.