Ugly? Pretty? Uglies is Pretty Dull

By Marissa Lafferty

In September 2024, Netflix released a movie adaptation of the 2006 novel Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, directed by McG. Uglies is the first book in a multi-part series and it is set in a dystopian future where everyone undergoes mandatory surgery at 16 to become a New Pretty. The goal of the transformation is to eliminate physical differences and ensure social harmony. Before the transformation, Uglies, who are kids ages 12 to 15, live in Uglyville, anticipating the day they can move to New Pretty Town and enjoy the carefree and glamorous life that comes with being pretty.

The story follows Tally Youngblood, a 15-year-old who eagerly awaits her turn to become Pretty and to join her best friend Peris in New Pretty Town. Her world shifts when she meets Shay, a rebellious 15-year-old girl who questions the system and introduces Tally to rumors of a hidden society (which is later revealed to be called the Smoke) where people refuse the surgery. When Shay runs away to the Smoke with the leader, David, guiding her, Tally is forced to make a difficult choice: stay loyal to the promise that she made with her friend about not telling anyone about where she was going or betray her and finally become a Pretty.

Like all movies that are based on books, there are some things that weren’t done to the standard of the book. Let’s just say that this movie was far from what the book was. With a 16% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 4.7/10 on IMDb, the movie is a cookie cutter teen dystopian movie with cliché troupes that have outworn their welcome. The plot has (much like the pretties) been striped back and rebuilt leaving much to be desired. There are many things in the story that were changed or taken out for no reason. The plot points are all over the place and even out of order in the circumstance of Tally’s betrayal reveal. Not even mentioning the plethora of loopholes in the movie. The pacing is quite fast and it feels as though every interaction and scene needed at least 10-15 more minutes. And let’s not forget the utter lack of world building in the movie compared to the book. Maybe the producers thought that because the story was in a visual format now, they could slack on adding in more of the fine details or maybe because the book was written in first-person point-of-view and had a lot of introspective parts. But the truth of the matter is that it lacks all the fine work the book does to expand the universe. The movie truly is not memorable in the slightest.

Now on to some of the finer points to what has been changed, added, and removed in the movie. The Specials in Special Circumstances building are a lot less unnerving than in the books. In the books there is a clear picture of what Specials are supposed to look like. They are described as having sharp pointy teeth, pointy facial features and a more powerful build than normal Pretties. The movie lacks this detail by making the Specials look basically the same as the Pretties; they don’t have sharp features and they lack any cruel sharp look to them. Another factor in the movie, Dr. Cable (who is head-honcho in Special Circumstances) gives Tally a choice between becoming pretty or saving Shay from a supposed weapon that the Smokies (people who live at the Smoke) have. On the other hand, in the book, Dr. Cable basically tells Tally that either she can infiltrate the Smoke and send them the location or that Tally can be ugly forever. At this point in the story staying ugly forever is Tally’s worst nightmare so she goes to the Smoke due to selfish reasons instead of selfless reasons like in the movie.

Pretty soon after Tally arrives at the smoke Shay takes her to the library to meet an old man called the Boss (note that he is not actually the boss) but due to him being busy berating someone over the phone, Shay takes Tally and shows her magazines from the rusty era. The magazines show models who in that universe would have been considered Uglies. It helps to acclimate Tally with the idea that people don’t have to look ‘perfect’ to be pretty. The Boss finally shows up and Tally is horrified by his aging, as she had never seen a Middle Pretty or a Crumbly with wrinkles and other factors to dictate old age. The Boss plays a larger role when the Specials invade the Smoke by giving her a way to escape (it doesn’t work but it’s the thought that counts). While a sort of small character, he has a huge role in the story so it was really disappointing when he wasn’t a part of the movie.

Something that was a large surprise was the amount of screen time that Peris got in this movie. Peris, Tally’s best friend turned Pretty, basically forgets her and isn’t a major part in the first book except for some chapters at the beginning. He is mostly a background character in the book (until the second book where he has more scenes). But the movie completely changes that. He is turned into a Special and virtually a mindless machine. There are also hints of Tally and him having a romantic relationship which is not at all a thing in the books. Near the end of the movie there’s a scene where Tally is trying to get his humanity back by using the power of friendship, and it almost works until David shoves him of the roof and Peris falls to his presumed death (but let’s be honest, there was no body which means that he may not be dead. Living until proven dead and all that).

There are multiple times in the movie where there is a lack of relationship building or not enough relationship building to make the relationships feel stronger. The first big issue that was brought forth in the movie was Tally and Shay’s friendship. While the movie gives a 10-minute overview of Tally and Shay bonding, it is truly lacking any real substance. In the book it is made clear that both of the girls are lonely due to their friends turning 16 and moving on from Uglyville. This bond of loneliness helps to strengthen the connection between them by relying on each other and it just isn’t shown well in the movie. Not only because of Shay’s friends leaving the literal night that she and Tally meet, but also because of Tally’s comment on Shay having lots of friends.   

Another change that deeply affects the relationship development and general character depth is the one-sided crush that Shay has on David that is a decently large plot point and conflict that happens in the book. It is shown the moment that Tally arrives at the camp it is instantly clear that Shay is enamored with David, but that isn’t shown at all in the movie. Shay gets jealous of David’s liking of Tally and later yells at Tally about betraying the Smoke and stealing her boyfriend, which shows Shay’s anger and jealousy along with her likely coming to some realizations.  This is one of the many driving factors of Tally’s guilt, knowing that she won’t have the ability to apologize to Shay if she doesn’t help rescue her. The guilt also is important after Shay’s operation is done because Shay completely forgives her, but not being in her right mind Tally only feels worse. None of this is presented in the movie which makes the characters seem a tad flatter.

After the aforementioned invasion of the Smoke David and Tally (who escaped after being caught the first time) go on a journey, that lasts about two weeks, to the city by hoverboard because the supplies are too heavy to carry without the help of the boards, which only work when there is metal that the magnets in the boards can connect to. They do this to save the Smokies that have been taken. This is a crucial period to help build the relationship and trust between David and Tally. This makes Tally’s impact reveal that she was the traitor near the end of the book just that much more meaningful, but this entire plot arc was removed from the movie and instead Tally tells everyone in the camp that she is the traitor during the invasion.

Now don’t get me wrong despite the movie having many pitfalls compared to the book it did have a few decent bits. The introduction to the movie, although not like the introduction of the book, wasn’t the worst. It covered a lot of the history that was covered throughout the book. The imagery was decently done and it all looked pretty well done.

Overall, the movie felt more like fanfiction than the actual book. It’s understandable taking a few things out of a movie to lessen the length of it but when the movie completely reworks the source material that it’s based off of than that’s another question. In the end when does a movie stop being a recreation of something and start to become its own separate thing. That is the true question that needs to be asked because if this movie can get away with changing so much whose to say your favorite book won’t be next.