Young adult stories have come in many different ways over the last twenty or so years. A dystopian future is one of those. As a couple of examples, The Hunger Games and Divergent series come to mind. The latest teen dystopian future film based on a book is Uglies by author Scott Westerfield. It’s a new film coming to the streaming service Netflix this week and it surmised the world would be a better place if everybody looked pretty on the outside.

Tally/Squint (Joey King) and Peris/Nose (Chase Stokes) are teen friends who are about to undergo cosmetic surgery on their sixteenth birthday to become quote en-quote pretty. After the world destroyed itself the leaders decided that if everybody looked pretty it would solve the world’s problems. They were wrong, it wasn’t until Tally met a new friend Shay/Skinny (Brianne Tju) did she start to realize the full nature of the plan behind why the world leaders want everyone to look pretty. A young man named David (Kieth Powers) plays a big part in opening her eyes to a different way of life in the Smoke, but he is a maniacal Dr. Cable (Laverne Cox) who will stop at nothing to prevent her from seeing this and changing the status quo.

Young adult novels are usually light fare. They don’t have much to say about society as a whole. They have some underlying class system stories that make sense in today’s world, but that’s about it. This movie tries to be more cognizant of society as a whole with its plot. It deals with looks and how they are supposed to make everything better if you look pretty, but that’s not the case. It’s like a lot of rules and regulations.  They are meant to be broken. With everyone who wants to look pretty, there are a number who like the way they look and want to just live their lives. You can’t make everyone happy. Social media tries to disguise the true world by having all these pretty people posing for bikini shots and vacation photos, but we all have real-life issues if we’re pretty or not. Being pretty just opens you up to different problems people who aren’t “quote en-quote” pretty don’t have to deal with. As an added sentiment, being pretty is in the eye of the Beholder anyway. So whose to just what’s pretty or not pretty anyway?

Joey King is a young actress who has broken out as a star. Her Kissing Booth Trilogy has been seen by millions of people around the globe. It’s the other stuff she’s been in that has impressed me though. Stuff like The Princess, We Were The Lucky Ones and Bullet Train have shown she has a lot of range. Uglies though goes into a different element for her, a sci-fi dystopian romantic drama. She handles everything like the pro that she is though. It’s obvious why she chose this project though. The message about inner versus outer looks had to catch her eye. Like it will be for many people who will see it on Netflix. 

With many young adult book series, there are plot points that get the story moving forward. This one proposes that the world was destroyed by nuclear holocaust and that a flower, a white orchid, will be the thing that helps change the world for the better. Science is the answer. Science is a good thing when it’s used the right way, but as we’ve seen many times before Science can be used the wrong way. Does Frankenstein ring any bells for you? Doctor Frankenstein wanted to make a better human being instead he created a monster and in the sequel he created a bride who hated the monster so science isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. That’s what I’ve learned from all these sci-fi dystopian future novels. They just wrap a love story in these tails and they don’t always work despite how many people read the books.

This movie has a good cast of relative unknowns with King and Cox being the two that are probably known by most people. Some of the young co-stars like Tju, Powers, and Jan Luis Castellanos are standouts. They bring a sense of drama to the world and the story. Yes they are also young and pretty so the teens watching this can go all googoo gaga about them, but they represent characters that make sense in the overall story the movie is trying to convey. I hope to see some of these actors in other projects in the future.

Director McG, famous for music videos and then branched out into making films, is a pretty good director. He has chosen projects that have stretched him as a filmmaker. He’s done everything from sports Movies to horror films and everything in between. Now he branches out into sci-fi romantic young adult territory and does a good job once again. All his movies haven’t always hit, but you can tell he puts everything he has into them and gets a lot back in return. That’s how I felt here. He showed that he tried to do the best he could with this property. It just doesn’t always work for me. I may not be the demographic for this though.

Uglies is a good movie that has its moments of fault. The mix from CGI to real-life environments is a little bit disjointed.  The makeup and hairstyling aren’t exactly great. The story as a whole based on the young adult novel is good though. It’s one I think people today should think about more regarding the whole inner looks versus outer looks. Being pretty will get you far in the world but it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.  Looking at who you are as a person is more important than what you look like on the outside. McG is a good director who did the best he could with the material he was given. It’s not exactly for me, but I’m not the target audience for this. Teens and young adults are and I’m sure they’ll eat it up. Watch it over and over on Netflix.

Streaming on Netflix September 13th

2 1/2 stars

Dan Skip Allen