Despite a less-than-satisfactory rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Netflix’s adaptation of the novel Uglies has risen to the top of its film chart.
Netflix continues its streak of films that capture audiences’ attention with its latest film adaptation of a young adult book, Uglies.
However, unlike their original films like The Deliverance and Rebel Ridge, Uglies did not receive universal acclaim as many viewers were unhappy with the final outcome of the film.
Although the streaming service’s new film currently sits at a staggering 21% on Rotten Tomatoes, Uglies has established itself as the second most popular film on Netflix’s chart.
Uglies is based on the 2005 novel of the same name by Scott Westerfeld. It follows a 16-year-old girl named Tally who lives in a society where everyone undergoes surgery to become “Pretty.”
Tally’s government forces everyone to go through this physical and mental transformation so that everyone can conform to the same standard of beauty.
The overall message of the book was to promote inner beauty and not to change who you are to fit someone else’s ideals, and while the new film adaptation tried to exploit this from its source material, many viewers felt it missed the mark, which is what earned it such a low critical rating.
“UGLIES is terrible and nearly unwatchable. It makes movies like Divergent and Maze Runner look like masterpieces. The books may be better, but this one is just awful in every way. Avoid it for your own good,” said one fan. published on X/Twitter.
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Another commented“Either Uglies isn’t for me or it’s a really horrible movie. It does a good job of making Divergent look good, which is amazing.”
A third viewer wrote: “Uglies would have been an absolute smash hit in the early 2000s, but as much as I love the actors, the movie feels dated. The script is clunky and the social commentary is outdated. I wish they would take more risks and update the source material.”
One of the biggest problems audiences have with the film is the fact that the main actors (Joey King, Brianne Tju, Keith Powers and Chase Stokes) are supposed to be seen as ugly when they are all conventionally attractive.
But, a fan underlines that the realistic beauty of the actors actually reinforced the message of the film in writing“A quick reminder to anyone watching the #Uglies movie on Netflix today: none of them are supposed to be ugly. The fact is, they’ve been told they have to look a certain way to be beautiful, that’s not the reality. That’s it – watch it too, it’s so good.”
For more, check out our list of the best sci-fi movies of all time, and stay up to date on all the new movies streaming this month.
