Movie Review
The film claims to subvert tropes from the start. He builds the school's obvious binary with the promise of tearing it down piece by piece. Unfortunately, it does not keep its promise. Agatha's arguments against the school are painfully obvious, and the whole conflict is oversimplified. In fact, the words 'good', 'bad', 'beauty' and 'ugliness' are used so often that you get tired of hearing them by the middle mark.
Different Themes
The film tries to touch on several different themes - from the difference between good and evil to the impossible expectations placed on young people and the power of friendship. But each of these gets a perfect treatment without room for discussion or depth.
In fact, in a moment of hilarious irony, the characters undergo a transition between good and evil, and all that changes is their clothing! Pastel and royal gold for good, black dress for evil. Fresh evil now scars their faces in the name of ugliness. While it dwells on beauty and ugliness, the film never completes its argument about physical appearance. In the end, the topic is simply thrown aside.
And while the film dresses itself up as a critique of fairy tales, it still falls prey to certain clichés. One of the most obvious is the male lead's crush on a girl who is "not like the others".
Lack Of Content
Not only does the film fail to stand out in a sea of fantastic media, but it also lacks much content, especially for young adult entertainment. YA fiction has always been more complex and nuanced than this film gives the genre credit for.
Like much of the film, the world building feels flat and empty. Sophie and Agatha jump straight into school, but they never explore the world outside of it. The film is full of references to well-known fairy tale characters, but not more than a few lines to the world or how it functions. Even magic is conveniently vague, with no rules or specifics to work with. Given that it was meant to be the origin of much-loved stories, there was a lot of potential to make it interesting.
Main Leads
Our main leads are engaging and fun to root for, but none of them have a fulfilling character arc, at least not a believable one. The rest of the cast, which is surprisingly star-studded, doesn't do much other than the very specific roles they play. While the performances themselves are top notch, none of the characters get the depth they deserve. Considering the inflated runtime of 2 hours and 27 minutes, that's quite an achievement.
In between the usual bursts of glowing light, we get an impressive blood spell and a scene where the girl's dragon tattoo comes to life from her shoulder. However, there are some shortcomings in this department as well. At one point, the statue of cupid comes to life in infancy, and it appears directly from the uncanny valley. The baby then turns into a grizzly man who chases Agatha. Apparently they were trying to replicate Hogwarts' maze of dangerous objects and creatures, but it was far from the same effect.
Ending
The movie ends very comfortably. Everything ends, wrongs are forgiven, and relationships are mended without any explanation. It has to be said that the story is well-intentioned, trying to show that people aren't just good or bad, they're just human. But the narrative thwarted not only that intention, but also the efforts of the amazing cast and some talented VFX artists, leaving The School for Good and Evil more of an aesthetic than a story with a meaningful message.