I had a hard time talking about the film Uglies because even though I am a fan of Joey King, this time, she saved the work. But maybe it is a question of demographics. The childishness of the text and script of the film is undeniable. And it seems to be only the first part.

In the school of dystopian franchises for young adults, such as The Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Maze Runner, the story revolves around themes such as physical and emotional change, the difficulties of remaining true to one’s values, and remembering who the real enemy is.

The film is Netflix’s adaptation of Scott Westerfeld‘s novel, published in 2005. Yes, we are talking about a new trilogy, so the first part is basically introductory. Here we understand that in a post-apocalyptic society, beauty effectively makes you live in a better social class and only the “touched up” are part of it. The age to undergo plastic surgery is 16 years old and so Tally Youngblood (King) anxiously awaits the day she will be transformed. Her best friend, Peris (Chase Stokes) will have surgery a month before and they plan to meet again, after all, she will have to wait a little longer because she is younger.

However, in the transformation, Peris also radically changes his personality, being cold and disdainful towards the ugly Tally, who still cannot circulate among the beautiful ones. During her escape, she meets and befriends Shay (Brianne Tju) who “leads her down the wrong path” of skipping school and questioning some concepts. Shay intends to rebel against the forced surgery and join the rebel movement known as Smoke.

On the day of Tally’s transformation, the worst happens to her: aware of what the young woman was doing, she is forbidden from operating and remaining ugly by the highest authority in society, Dr. Cable (Laverne Cox), who demands that Tally help bring down Smoke.

In fact, Tally manages to infiltrate the rebels, but falls in love with the leader David (Keith Powers) and rethinks her life goals when she realizes the freedom of being different (or ugly). There are many visual details and philosophical explanations, but of course, the clash happens, Tally is exposed as a spy and everything turns upside down because the surgeries are secretly toxic and destroy people’s brains, making them robotic and manipulable. Cable manages to kidnap and transform Shay against her will and we end the first part with Tally “sacrificing herself” in order to save her friend while the Smokes work on an antidote.

Did it sound confusing and laughable? Because it’s even worse than I described. Uglies is embarrassing in the best scenes and just horrible in the rest. Not even the presence of Joey King saves the investment. If you have the chance, stay away from this nightmare. A friendly piece of advice!

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