The film “Uglies” on Netflix with Joey King, adapted from the dystopian saga, is not at all unanimous

FILM – That’s always the risk with book adaptations on screen: disappointing. Netflix didn’t make it easy with Ugliesreleased on the platform this Friday, September 13, almost twenty years after the release of the eponymous novel by Scott Westerfeld. The dystopian literary series had enjoyed a resurgence in success in the 2010s, driven by the film adaptation of other popular young adult sagas, such as Hunger Games et Divergent.

But ten years later the sauce does not take the same way, while the ingredients seem a priori the same. In Ugliesthe story takes place in a futuristic world that imposes cosmetic surgery from the age of 16. Those who have had the operation and then meet society’s beauty standards are called « Pretties » (THE « Beaux »), while the younger ones, or those who refuse to conform to the system, take the name of « Uglies » (THE “Ugly”).

Young Tally is eager to finally be old enough to join her best friend Peris in New Pretty Town, the city only allowed for beautiful people. But she will discover that the operation does more than just change the physical appearance, it also brainwashes the Pretties to prevent them from rebelling.

The film stars American Joey King (The Kissing Booth, Bullet Train) in the lead role of Tally Youngblood. Chase Stokes, known for the hit Netflix series Outer Banksgives him the reply as Peris. The actress Laverne Cox plays the evil Dr. Cable.

Too good to be true

An insufficient cast to meet the expectations of the spectators. Since its release, Uglies is the subject of criticism on social networks and is compared to other adaptations of dystopias, to its detriment.

I hate to say this, but Uglies sucks terribly.

It looks like the cheap version of “Divergent 2: Insurgent.”

UGLIES is atrocious and nearly unwatchable. It makes movies like Divergent and Maze Runner look like masterpieces. Maybe the books are better, but the movie is just awful in every way. Don’t watch it for your own good.

Some viewers regret that the casting is not more faithful to the book, given the importance of appearance in the story. The young adults supposed to play “ugly” teenagers already correspond too much to the stereotypes of beauty to convince, according to the mixed opinions on X.

Putting people who look like models to play the “ugly” is a bit counterintuitive, despite the good performances of the actors. As for the script, it’s an amalgam of Hunger Games and Divergent, nothing new.

I’m watching #Uglies the new Netflix movie based on a book I loved years ago. The problem is that the “Ugly” are all very attractive actors. That’s the problem with American movies, no one less than perfect can appear on screen. (and it’s even worse for Korean movies and series). It’s a bit boring.

A series Uglies rather than a movie

Several people also found that the film moved too quickly in the plot and character development. It was difficult, in fact, to remain faithful to the more than 400 pages of the first volume in only 1 hour and 40 minutes.

The main problem with Uglies is that the characters need more time to develop. The first 10 minutes were awkward and hard to watch. Things get better by the end, but it needed time to allow the characters to grow over the course of a season.

The pacing is so bad. They should have made it a series instead of rushing everything so much. That’s the only major negative so far. I have no problem with it being a bit cheesy.

Some believe that it would have been better to adapt Uglies in series, especially since dystopian and supernatural series of the same genre (like The 100 or Vampire Diaries) were very successful on the American TV channel CW a few years ago.

This could have been a great series for CW… The story is just right.

The filming ofUglies had originally ended in late 2021, but scenes had to be reshot in early 2024. The adaptation of the second volume, Prettiesis in any case not planned for the moment.

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