Pretty much no one likes Netflix's YA dystopian throwback "Uglies"

Back in the 2010s, YA stories were all the rage. And not just any YA stories; we went through a stretch when we were obsessed specifically with YA stories where teenagers were living under oppressive sci-fi dystopias that sorted them into categories. There was The Hunger Games, where everyone lived in increasingly impoverished districts and the teens were offered up as human sacrifices who fought to the death in public games for the amusement of the privileged. There was the Divergent series, where everyone is assigned a faction that corresponds to their personalities...except for our heroes, who are too much themselves to belong to any one faction. Teen power!

in 2005, when this kind of thing was still on trend, Scott Westerfeld wrote a book called Uglies, about a sci-fi dystopia where "uglies" are given cosmetic procedures at the age of 16 so they can become "pretties." I have to quote the Wikipedia summary of the new Uglies movie that just released on Netflix: "To keep humanity alive, scientists first create genetically modified orchids that are a new energy source, and second, a surgical procedure to make people pretty; this way, everyone's perfection will not cause any further chaos."

I don't want to be too hard on this genre — it had its moment and I liked The Hunger Games well enough — but it does seem like its time has past and it's not clear why Netflix wanted to revive it for the Uglies movie, which had some pushback from the start; for instance, the internet having a laugh at the actors the movie was trying to pass off as "ugly":

That may not be completely fair — I think the twist is that the procedure actually has little to do with physical appearance and more with control — but the point is that people came into this movie ready to not like it. And so it has come to pass, with Uglies racking up a dismal score of 19% on Rotten Tomatoes. A sampling:

• Ready Steady Cut: "The setting, outfits, CGI, action, and worldbuilding are so generic that, rather impressively, there isn’t a single element of the entire production that stands out as interesting, unique, or inspired."
• Pop Culture Planet: "Uglies would’ve been an absolute hit in the early 2000s, but, as much as I love these actors, it feels outdated. The script is awkward and the social commentary is stale. I wish they took bigger risks and updated the source material."
• The Guardian: "Though it supposedly argues against human beings turned into synthetic quasi-droids, Uglies feels like just another throwaway product."
• Fandom Wire: "Netflix's latest lackluster Joey King vehicle is grossly digitally enhanced and inefficacious, with themes so wide of the mark that the film practically becomes conceited."
• Inverse: "A series of glossy montages and sleek aesthetics, none of which can hide the clunky dialogue, simplistic worldbuilding, and questionable CGI."

You get the idea. The movie fared better with audiences, where it has a 52% favorability rating. But that's still a failing grade and a "Rotten" rating.

I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to revive the dystopian YA boom of the 2010s, but it doesn't sound like many people behind Uglies had much real passion for the project. And it looked so passé out of the gate that it was all but guaranteed to become an internet punching bag. My best to the cast and crew, but I don't think this one will be long remembered.

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