Uglies

This movie just became available and judging by some of the 'reviews' here many watched it (or didn't) just to leave a negative review.

While it cannot be considered a masterpiece it in fact is a fairly entertaining parody of modern society. The idea that people place an inappropriately high value on "how someone looks." When friends meet at an event or party a common greeting is "You look really good in that outfit." Or "I love your new hairstyle." I suspect being "pretty" or "handsome" helps people get jobs or elected for public office.

Some reviewers point out that the actors, including Joey King, aren't really ugly. That misses the point, in this society they are considered ugly because they are ordinary. When we see those who have turned 16 and undergone their transition, their beauty is about what you get when someone has a glamor makeup session. Or the usual makeup movie stars get for the role they are playing.

But that is only part of it, they also are brainwashed to believing that "Free thinking is a cancer" and conforming will make everyone happier. (Shades of 'Pleasantville.')

So Joey King plays 'Squint", she is about to turn 16, her mantra is "I want to be pretty." But there is a rogue world outside her city where rebels are living the old way, children with their parents, growing their own real food. And the movie ultimately gets the 'Rusties" as they are called pited against the establishment.

Movies like this are made to entertain and my wife and I were entertained, watching at home, streaming. As the movie went she said she thought maybe she had read the books some years past and later found out she did. They are considered 'Young Adult' books and that fits with the themes here.

It's shocking how much nonsense they can pile up. The dialogues are painful, and the story is hard to watch. I only feel like it deserves a 2/10, not a 1, due to the fact that it's unintentionally funny, and you can't take it seriously.

Even though Netflix films are a constant letdown, you might feel tempted to give this one a chance. The visual effects are okay; it's clear they spent money on them. I just wish they had focused more on the storytelling. The forced plot goes in every direction except the one you wish. It makes you wonder if the actors felt awkward during filming...

I really don't recommend watching this movie-unless you're with a group of friends on edibles, looking for a laugh.

So this film is fine. It sets up a standard future world we have all seen before. Typical Government villain. It does nothing new with the beauty argument. It's all just copy and paste from another script.

The main characters are all beautiful before they get the surgery. Which really hurts the logic of the movie. They needed to explain why getting mandatory surgery actually helps the world. Instead we get one paragraph at the start which just says that it does, and moves on.

They introduce hover boards which everyone in the world should have, but nope; Just these two teenagers who happen to have this super rare technology. And one of them gets given it.

They then introduce magically bracelets which protect them from falls. Might make sense after they get the boards, but nope. Main character just happens to be wearing it, when she needs it after falling off a building. But it then fails to work for the first fall from the board?

There are some nice shots of the future city which really help. But this entire world is just that one city. We never learn about the rest of the planet.

Parents abandon their children. We get some emotional manipulation line later in the film that you could say justifies this action. But it's left for you, the audience to connect the dots on that one.

Overall it's worth a background watch while doing something else. And as a straight to Netflix movie, it's above average. But the writers could have done more with the concept and I just feel like they were treading through the motions on this one, and more imagination was needed to elevate the script beyond the formulaic.

As many have pointed out, there wasn't enough run time to build the narrative and characters. The only character they slightly done justice was Shay, Brianne done really well in portraying her.

Whoever designed the set/Architecture WELL DONE, literally almost exactly how I have imagined it in my head for the last 10 years, even down to the constant fireworks.

1. "The uglies are not ugly enough" Surprisingly I disagree. I just think they haven't portrayed the pretties as radical enough, it lacked the outrageousness and complexity of the actual appearance and personality change. The uglies are meant to look NORMAL, eg. Literal models in old magazines didn't compare to pretties in the book. Although I do agree that Joey King doesn't quite suit the book perception of Squint, I can however, see their thought process (I'm looking at you people who keep calling her ugly)

2. "We never learn about the rest of the planet", yeah the readers didn't learn about that for a while either, and neither does the characters. It's actually a main plot line in one of the future books so be patient.

3. "How are they hoverboarding on water" This is where the narratives quickness and budget ruined the technology and dystopian aspect, I was looking forward to this part the most, however it all lacked clarity with too much action.

4. I've seen quite a few comments and social media posts mentioning that Tally and Shay have better chemistry than any of the others, this is the same in the books and is a really important aspect as they develop their friendship and platonic love. I really enjoyed that they adapted this aspect of the characters, however ended up lacking in others.

All in all I am not surprised it is quite cheesy, it is a dystopian movie with a plot written in the mid 2000s, I definitely think with a longer run time or series they could've smashed it, it would make the special effects appear less overwhelming and the narrative denser and consistent, not leading to confusion about the plot or meaning behind the movie. With our social media today, I think the adaption of this movie is more important now than ever, they just lacked the cinema substance.

Joey King is 25 years old and in this film she is supposed to be 15. Other than paying the actors, it seems they spent $1000 on a green screen and another $50 for the production team. I guess it might be fine if you want to throw something on for your kids to rot their brain, but I'd definitely give this one a pass. I would not recommend this to any one who values their time. These kids are literally kick flipping hoverboards and the whole show is based on "feeling pretty" with a surgery performed when they turn 16. To say unreal expectations of the world, and yourself, would be a massive understatement.