How do you know when you’re watching a truly bad movie? Is it when the film opens with multiple flashbacks, then flashbacks within flashbacks over endless voice-over narration? Is it when a barrage of expositional set-up leaves you more confused than when the film started? Or is it when, after a grueling 2 and a half hour runtime, you’re left bored, tired, and wondering how you could have spent your precious few hours on this Earth watching this absolute dreck. All this and more happens in The School for Good and Evil, Netflix’s ambitious entry into the fantasy tween genre.

The film follows outcast best friends Sophie (Sophia Anne Caruso) and Agatha (Sofia Wylie), who have formed a bond as two misfits in the small town of Gavaldon. Blonde fashionista Sophie dreams of being a fairy tale princess, while witch’s daughter Agatha would just like to get through the day without being attacked for being a witch. Sophie is desperate to leave Gavaldon, so when she learns that there’s a School for Good and Evil that trains the next generation of heroes, princesses, and villains, and she makes a wish to enroll. Her wish comes true, but Agatha accidently comes along for the ride, and the duo get dropped off at opposite ends of the school. Sophie is enrolled at the School for Evil, led by Lady Lesso (Charlize Theron, the only actor having fun) while Agatha finds herself in the pretty pink princess world of the School for Good, run by Professor Dovey (Kerry Washington).