In the future, after the world has been burned by the excessive use of fossil fuels, a new society is built on genetically modified flowers and humans. They fixed their problem of a lack of resources in a lab, as well as their issues with negative human emotions like jealousy, anger and hatred by mandating plastic surgery at the age of 16. When everyone’s insecurities are fixed there is no need for negative emotions, everyone is happy and the world is perfect.
This is the premise of Netflix’s new it-movie “Uglies.” Based on the novel by Scott Westerfeld, the film follows Tally Youngblood, a 15-year-old girl who is faced with the choice of following her childhood friend and adhering to society’s strict beauty standards, or following her best friend and her heart to a new life of freedom.
It’s important to note that this article will only review the movie, not discuss Westerfeld’s original work.
Something We’ve Seen Before
This movie is a flashback to 2014 when YA dystopian movies dominated the big screen. While this movie may not have been able to bring Westerfeld’s world to life without the technology of today, it looks like a combination of all the elements of the previous YA worlds.
The dorm setup of the Uglies school, specifically the microwave, was immediately recognizable from “The Giver.” The montage of the waiting room emptying as Tally waits to be called in for surgery was a mirror image of Katniss waiting to be called in for her assessment in “The Hunger Games.” The introduction to the world was structured like “Divergent,” and other elements of the city’s outskirts looked like a reused set from “The Maze Runner,” so characteristic of the genre that it’s unoriginal.
Imperfect Timing
The pacing of the movie feels rushed. Within the first 30 minutes, it goes from discussions about the world to a fun flick about best friends to a call to adventure and an intense journey.
This timing is common for book adaptations, for there is so much material that needs to be condensed into an hour-and-a-half film. However, this adaptation felt rushed, going from phase to phase without giving time for the viewer to feel settled into the moment.
It felt like different genres spliced together with cuts of music to divide each section.
Uglies
As with the previous point on rushed timing, this movie’s messages were also rushed.
This movie was made on the premise of an unhealthy obsession with insecurities and physical beauty. However, it covered a lot of other themes as well. It brought up the damages of overconsumption and the ruining of the environment. It mentioned the effect of money as a value system, how it makes people greedy and proposed an alternate society where everything is free and everyone takes care of each other. Methods of science were tested and the importance of informed choice and bodily autonomy were stressed.
Although the moral of these messages is important, their discussions were rushed, being delivered in one cliché line and then moving on to the next before the viewer had time to fully process it.
“Uglies” is now streaming on Netflix.
