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movie review - The School for Good and Evil

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Kokubunji, 2022.10.22

This is a film with a star-studded cast and an overly ambitious plot that more than fills out its 2+ plus run-time. I watched it with my daughter for "movie night" and I have to say it reminded me of "The Descendants" and that's not a great thing.

It's about two girls who travel to a place to be inducted into one of two magic programs. One of them is angered and shocked when she's pushed into the school for evil. The plot that unfolds involves an ancient fight between the two twins who each founded one of the schools. I didn't find this terribly compelling because I found the concept of a "school for evil magic" to be absurd. Just like the "thieves' guilds" of Dungeons and Dragons. Who exactly sanctions these schools? How do they attain certification? Wouldn't it be self-defeating to teach evil? Or at least, publicly? I mean, if they're evil I imagine that everyone from the king's soldiers to the health inspectors to the unions would be at their door all day. As they are with, say, Uber.

There's a lot of grand action, and plenty of teen drama. My daughter seemed to enjoy it, but I felt I should rather have spent my time doing something else. Not recommended.

rand()m quote

One day you will take a fork in the road, and you're going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go. If you go one way, you can be somebody. You will have to make compromises and you will have to turn your back on your friends. But you will be a member of the club and you will get promoted and get good assignments. Or you can go the other way and you can do something [...] for yourself. If you decide to do something, you may not get promoted and get good assignments and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors. But you won't have to compromise yourself. To be somebody or to do something. In life there is often a roll call. That's when you have to make a decision. To be or to do.

—John Boyd, US Air Force