Based on the 2005 book by Scott Westerfeld, “Uglies” made its debut on Netflix this September, featuring Joey King and Chase Stokes, it was marketed as a thrilling movie comparable to the iconic “Hunger Games” or “Divergent”.
Spectators had high hopes for the adaptation of the famous dystopian novel, but were deceived after realizing the movie’s take on their beloved story, giving the movie a score of 15% on Rotten Tomatoes in the crowd rating.
“Uglies” takes place in a future where teenagers get a life-changing cosmetic surgery at the age of sixteen, creating a peaceful utopian society that is overpowered by beauty. Tally Youngblood, played by Joey King, is close to reaching the day of her procedure, when the city mayor assigns her a trip on which she needs to find her friend that left society to join a group that defies the authority’s way of living. Tally is told that she will “save the world” by helping the government spot these rebels, but once she joins them, issues unravel and she has to learn to think for herself.
The main message of the book is to defy conformity, something that the film was not able to capture well. It more so comes off as a “low-budget adventure movie for kids”, spectator and junior at Buena Juliana Denson said.
The pitfalls that culminate in the film’s downfall are numerous:
Time pacing
While in the book it is obvious that the story takes place during several months, track of time is completely
lost in the movie. Events occur one after the other with no indicators of how long it has been since the last thing happened.
Characters
The film never gave a real reason to care about the protagonists. It was hard to feel attached to any of them, since the movie does not focus enough on the relationships between characters and the importance they have to one another. The acting was also flat in a few scenes, making it hard to empathize with them.
Effects and editing
A lot of the movie focused on the futuristic state of the world and new technologies, but it was poorly executed through bad effects, mainly focusing on the change from an “Ugly” to a “Pretty”.
“The only difference between [an Ugly and a Pretty] is that the Pretties have an Instagram filter on.” junior and viewer Madeline Azevedo said.
Soundtrack
While the soundtrack did include some good songs, like “Such Great Heights” by The Postal Service, none of them felt very fitting for the scene they played in, or just sounded extremely outdated.
The movie wasn’t entirely horrible, however. It still stuck to the basic premise of the book and had the essential dystopian vibe. It did not achieve it as well as the “Hunger Games” or “Divergent” it compares itself to, which have really set a standard for every dystopian YA film after them.
Overall, I give the movie a 1.2/5. If you’re planning on having a fun movie night, I do not recommend putting this on. Considering the film is based on a series of books, I have doubts about Netflix coming out with a sequel after its flop among fans. The perfect time to release this was in the 2010’s, when sci-fi teen movies were at their peak, not in 2024.
