The School for Good and Evil (2022)

October 24, 2022 6:58 AM

Best friends Sophie and Agatha find themselves on opposing sides of an epic battle when they're swept away into an enchanted school where aspiring heroes and villains are trained to protect the balance between Good and Evil.
posted by restless_nomad (8 comments total)

My wife and I watched this on a whim (well, on the strength of how much I enjoy watching Charlize Theron chew scenery) and we were very pleasantly surprised. It has astounding control of its tone, riding the fine line between genre-aware humor and the kind of sincerity necessary to make a movie aimed at tweens work. (Finding out it is a Paul Feig number explained that.) Fun and detailed worldbuilding, effective (if not always brilliant) acting, and a gorgeous aesthetic. Cons: 2.5 hours is an indulgent length at best, and it doesn't 100% stick the landing. Still well worth the watch.
posted by restless_nomad at 6:58 AM on October 24, 2022 [3 favorites]

I though this was fun too. I didn't mind the length - but I watched an hour in the evening and the rest the following morning.

Nothing that hasn't been done before as far as fairy tales go, but good casting and production values. I'd watch the sequels if they do any more of the series.
posted by oh yeah! at 6:57 PM on October 24, 2022

It was fun but suffers from Agatha being pretty and sweet even in her 'before' state. She looks and behaves like a princess just fine. Once enrolled she's even wearing about as much makeup as the other evers. After a bath and blowout, that leaves only thing "wrong" with her appearance is that she doesn't straighten her hair, which is... problematic. (Also Sophie's second ugly characteristic after a wart is the large hooked nose, which, ok, is a stereotypical evil witch trait, but the reason it's a stereotypical visual signifier of evil is also problematic.)
posted by Karmakaze at 7:12 AM on October 25, 2022

There's definitely some gender-performance stuff shorthanded in ways that I think don't super work well without a lot more explicit interrogation, which the movie doesn't have time for at all. See also the visual shorthand from evil to good (for the women) being making their existing aesthetic more femme. I don't really feel that it's unconsidered so much as being a shorthand that doesn't quite work with something that can be as complex and problematic as gender expression modulated by race. (I am actually quite curious to read the books and see if that's something that comes up there or if it purely a visual choice.)
posted by restless_nomad at 7:24 AM on October 25, 2022

This is strictly a kids' movie, right?
posted by porpoise at 7:13 PM on October 25, 2022

I'd say the target age is right around 12. Probably not much younger - there's definitely some upsetting stuff, although nothing sexual and no gore.
posted by restless_nomad at 7:42 PM on October 25, 2022 [1 favorite]

(which makes it perfect for a stoned weekend evening with my wife)
posted by restless_nomad at 7:43 PM on October 25, 2022

Watched it last night and enjoyed it. I thought it was a little long. The "good never attacks" thing seemed sooooo dumb to me but the reveal at the end made that and the beautification classes and the rest make sense.
posted by joannemerriam at 9:48 AM on October 28, 2022