Before The Hunger Games became the poster child of dystopian teen literature, many authors wrote similar novels that became somewhat overshadowed.
One of those authors was Scott Westerfield, who wrote Uglies in 2005. A trilogy focusing on Tally, the main character. In Tally’s world, kids from ages 12-16 are considered “Uglies” who receive surgical alterations on their 16th birthdays. These operations make them “pretty,” and their physical health is also improved to a superhuman level. However, some Uglies rebel against their dull pre-Pretty life by doing “tricks” that include sneaking out, hacking the technology in their dorms, and communicating with rebellious “Smokies” who skipped out on the procedure entirely to fight against the oppressive government. When Tally’s new friend, Shay, starts to show her the true nature of the operations and the government, Tally questions her loyalty to her world’s beauty standards.
After a few years of being in limbo, the movie based on the first book was released to Netflix on September 13, 2024. The movie, which starred Joey King as Tally, was awaited by many fans of the series. Unfortunately, those who were excited to see the trilogy come to life were disappointed by the final result.
For this review, I’ll focus on a few main critiques of the film without spoiling its source material (for those who haven’t read the novels or seen the movie).
The glaring issue with the movie is their treatment of the “Surge” operation. Pre-surgery costume and makeup design were dull but still attempted to make the actors conventionally attractive, which I believe goes against the message of the story.
I’ve seen some reviews say that the Uglies should have had prosthetic makeup that made them fit our standards of “ugliness” but I don’t agree. I think it would have been more in line with the book if the Uglies looked like normal people, without makeup. In contrast, the Pretties could have looked unsettlingly fake with the kind of plastic surgery that makes people look like aliens or dolls. In reality, the Pretties essentially had airbrushed skin and lightened eyes, with perfect highlights. I felt this didn’t reflect how society’s standard of beauty had changed within the world of Uglies.
Another flaw of the movie was that the main roles were played by attractive actors. I thought this could have worked to emphasize how exaggerated and unreal beauty standards are. However, the casting felt unintentional.
Another issue was the movie’s pacing. The first half focused too much on action scenes and long, suspenseful moments when it should have been establishing characters, setting, and plot. The second half was too much exposition that seemed to come out of nowhere as a result of the first half’s lack of worldbuilding. The combination of the two made for an oddly paced movie that was choppy and unrealistic.
While I did enjoy some aspects of this movie–the script was well-written and I thought Shay’s trepidation was a great choice for her character–it was a poorly-informed adaptation. I think it may have been better if the creators decided to tell a story that relies more so on Tally’s perspective. I also feel Netflix’s writers didn’t understand what exactly Westerfield was trying to convey through the story of Uglies.
