OK, yes, sure; this is a movie about kids who get whisked away from the normal world and stuck in a magical school taught by a plethora of A-list celebrity actors in which the heroes and the villains are rigorously defined. But if you can get certain wizards out of your head, the first trailer for Netflix’s movie adaptation of Soman Chainiani’s School for Good and Evil series looks excellent.
If you’re unaware of the book series, the premise is basically this. Two young friends, the sulky Agatha (Sofia Wylie) and the effervescent Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso), are taken to the titular school where fairy tale heroes and villains are taught to help maintain the balance between good and evil. The twist is that Sophie, who has dreamt of being a fairy tale princess, gets stuck in Villain school, while Agatha is put on the Hero track. Complications ensue:
As you can see in the trailer, the movie stars an absolutely stacked cast including Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Michelle Yeoh, and Laurence Fishburne, but IMDB lists Ben Kingsley, Rachel Bloom, Patti LuPone, Rob Delaney, and Peter Serafinowicz as well. Everyone looks like they’re having a hell of a lot of fun, and I appreciate how much this magic school doesn’t look like Hogwarts — director Paul Feig said he based its style on art nouveau for that very reason, and the result is lovely to look at.
The School for Good and Evil will hit Netflix on October 19.
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