The School For Good and Evil- A Mediocre Mess
The School for Good and Evil’s movie adaptation just came onto Netflix after much anticipation, but unfortunately, it did not live up to the book series in any way. Despite its popular cast and interesting source material, the movie did not deliver the intrigue and magic of the original story.
By: Anya Patri and Mallika Saoji
After nearly 10 years in development limbo, the film The School For Good and Evil has been released on Netflix to an audience eager for the nostalgia provided by the source material. Based on the hit young adult book series of the same name by author Soman Chainani, the fairy-tale retelling has been adapted into a film that leaves us asking the questions “Why?” and “What happened?” While the books themselves leave much to be desired, the film feels like it’s both overcompensating with its star-studded cast and underachieving with pretty much everything else. A good book to movie adaptation is hard to achieve, but The School For Good and Evil is basically Harry Potter about fairytales; it’s a book made for the screen, but the film managed against all odds to make a product worse than the original.
The film begins in the town of Gavaldon with the dynamic duo Sophie, a shrewd girl who dreams of being a princess, and Agatha, the timid daughter of a witch. When they are whisked away to the School For Good and Evil, where fairy-tale characters study to one day star in their own story, there’s a big twist; Sophie doesn’t end up with the royal and valiant Evers. Instead, she is sent to the School for Evil with Agatha dropped at the School for Good instead. The girls attempt to fix the grievous mistake and return home, but get wrapped up in a story of their own involving an age-old feud between schoolmasters, the battle between good and evil, and even a love triangle.
Besides the fact that they tried to condense a 500 page plot into a two and a half hour movie, so much of the plot was discarded or shortened, there were a lot of changes between the plot of the book and the movie that did not necessarily improve the story. First of all, Sophie’s character was changed in a way that ruined the meaning of her actions. The reason that she befriended Agatha in the books was a lot more selfish than in the movies, where they became friends as children instead of for Sophie’s “Good Deed” motivation. Additionally, a lot of her actions were motivated by young School Master Rafal, who did not even appear in the first book. Additionally, a lot of the interesting plot points like the Trial by Tale were greatly shortened, and the plot of Agatha turning into a cockroach and helping Tedros fall in love with Sophie was completely gone. The one thing that I think they got right, besides Agatha’s character, was Sophie’s dedication to her appearance, and the scene where she triumphantly walks into the hall, done up in a restyled uniform and new hairstyle, was done in a style that was true to the book.
Even without the literary discrepancies, however, the film flounders in aspects outside the story itself. The dialogue is corny and delivered dryly, even by actors who’s prestige has established them as industry giants (Come on, Charlize Theron, you can do better than this). With cameos from stars such as Kerry Washington, Michelle Yeoh, Laurence Fishbourne, and even the voice of Cate Blanchett, it’s clear the budget that could have been used on creating decent special effects and sets was blown on expensive Hollywood stars whose talents are wasted on this project. The School For Good and Evil is a testament to the fact that no number of recognisable faces can save a movie that’s just plain bad.
An example of the movie’s shortcomings is the CGI and special effects. This film is set in a fantasy world with magic and otherworldly creatures, which is interesting in concept but requires a lot of effort in execution. Unfortunately, this movie did not deliver, as both the character design for the magical creatures and the effects themselves were mediocre at best and horrifying at worst. The guards at the school are semi-cognizant wolves that are designed with the finesse of a teenager learning about deep fakes for the first time. While the wolves are the worst of the effects, the giant skeletal bird monsters that fill the school’s skies manage to defy any laws of aerodynamics while looking like a collage of KFC chicken bones.
The film could have easily been a series that allowed for the characters’ motivations and personalities to be explored more. Adaptations that are shows, such as The Summer I Turned Pretty, always fare better than their movie counterparts. Additionally, it should not have strayed from the plot of the book as much as it did. Sophie’s evil actions should have come from her own ideas and not from Rafal, as this completely discredited who she is as a character by not making any of her actions self-motivated. While the movie had many talented actors, the characters were done a disservice by the watered-down plot and exposition. While this movie could have been enjoyed by people who have never read the book, those who are loyal fans of the series are sure to be let down.