Uglies: A Movie Made Ten Years Too Late

In mid-September, Netflix released an original movie based on Scott Westerfeld’s popular book series, Uglies. Set in a futuristic dystopian society where enforced beauty standards determine life quality, the story follows Tally Youngblood, a 15-year-old girl awaiting the mandatory cosmetic surgery every citizen gets at age 16. When Tally watches her best friend Peris receive the surgery before she does, she sees the dark side of the “pretty” part of town, which leads her on a journey of rebellion against the government.

While adaptations of other popular dystopian novels like The Hunger Games and Divergent have thrived, Uglies suffers from a lack of marketing, bland casting, and a rushed plot. One of the many reasons for the success of the latter movies was the perfect timing of their release. However, Uglies’ release came a decade too late. Uglies was one of my favorite novels growing up, so for myself and many others, expectations were high. Despite this, I tried to forgo my bias when watching the film, and not be overly critical.

While popular actors Chase Stokes and Joey King are cast in the leading roles of Peris and Tally, this movie adaptation could have been an amazing opportunity for lesser-known actors to shine. One of the most important steps in creating a good movie adaptation is casting fresh faces for the main roles. This is why when actors such as Joey King and Chase Stokes who are already recognized for their previous Netflix roles (The Kissing Booth and Outer Banks, respectively) are given the pressure to live up to what people imagined for the story, they will inevitably fail.

As the film progressed, nothing piqued my interest. While it is understandably a difficult job to properly re-create a book, the low budget and minimal effort put into this adaptation stripped all of the details from the novel that gave it its original appeal. The script was lazy and repetitive with unrealistic dialogue from the characters. All of the negative aspects of this film overpower any positives, making Uglies wasted potential. The series deserved a blockbuster cinema experience, rather than a cheesy Netflix adaptation.