When I first heard about The School For Good And Evil, I didn’t realize it was a book adaptation. In hindsight, duh. I should have realized it from the title. All I really knew is that it starred Sophia Anne Caruso from Beetlejuice the Musical and Sofia Wylie from High School The Musical: The Musical: The Series. That was enough to make me want to watch it.
Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso) and Agatha (Sofia Wylie) are best friends that live in a village called Gavaldon. While Sophie dreams of being a princess, Aggie is called a witch by the townsfolk. After finding out about The School For Good And Evil, Sophie writes a letter requesting to become a student and leaves it in the Wishing Tree. That night, as Sophie attempts to run away from home, she is abducted by a skeleton bird. Agatha sees her friend being taken and grabs on, trying to keep her in Gavaldon. The bird takes both girls to The School, dropping them at their designated buildings. Sophie at the School For Evil and Aggie at the School For Good. Both girls swear they are at the wrong school and try their best to convince the deans to switch them. Or send them home.
This is one of those movies where you think you know where the story is headed but you aren’t exactly sure. I thought of at least three different ways it could have gone. But that doesn’t make the movie any less enjoyable. Actually, I think it makes it more fun to watch. While I don’t want to give too much away, there are a few things I want to talk about.
Both Caruso and Wylie are great as Sophie and Aggie, respectively. Their desperation to get out of their situation in any way possible comes through clearly. It helps that they are surrounded by some big talents too. Charlize Theron is Lady Lesso, the dean of the School of Evil, and Kerry Washington is Professor Dovey, the dean of the School of Good. Laurence Fishburne, Michelle Yeoh, Patti LuPone, Peter Serafinowicz, Rachel Bloom, Rob Delaney…there is so much talent in this movie that the only way it would have failed is if the source material was awful. Thankfully, the actual storyline is amazing. You’ll have yourself questioning the definition of good and evil at the end.
The School For Good And Evil should be on your list of movies to watch. I’m not sure how closely it follows the books, as I have not read them, but the movie is a ton of fun to watch. As of today, there are seven books in the series. I would love to see more adventures of Sophie and Aggie.