The School For Good And Evil

Title: The School Of Good And Evil (PG)

Year: 2022

Running Time: 147 minutes

Director: Paul Feig

Cast: Sophia Anne Caruso (Sophie), Sofia Wylie (Agatha)

Notes: Nominated for one award.

Rating:  1

Thoughts:   Two brothers started a school to keep the balance of good and evil in the fairy world. But we are warned that such a balance seldom remains in place.

Although that last part is preceded by telling us it stayed that way for eons. It's just the start of the awkwardness.

This starts with the two brothers briefly fighting but it is just an awkward shoehorn of backstory as this appears to be the point in time when the balance changes. It's very hammy and is a weak overt scene setter.

We then jump forward "many years" and are plunged into a fairytale world that looks late medieval, and appears to have modern-day values and pretensions. The main characters are introduced and you can already see the story coming. But just in case there's an annoying voiceover to tell us what the film can't be bothered to show us.

Next, in this world where it is clear magic is normal, we suddenly have villagers muttering "witch" as one of the girls walks past. It's a false threat and just doesn't fit the look.

The girls find out about the school and resolve to attend. Of course, one ends up in the Evil half, the other in the Good half. And they are both in the opposite one to what you would predict. Now there's a surprise.

The girls aren't actually that good at magic and as this limps on their friendship causes conflict, with them being in two different halves of the school. Every cliche is thrown in. The blonde girl in the Evil school that everyone stares at. The scruffy dark-haired girl in the Good school that everyone stares at. It just continues. It feels like an idea, not a story. Of course they come into confrontation before reconciling.

This takes all the weak parts of the early Potter films and magnifies them. The story, what is left from the source material, is derivative and predictable. There is no wonder, not helped by the accents and modern vibe, and, hopefully, the threatened sequel doesn't appear.