Netflix's YA adaptation immediately feels outdated

Even in a world where unrealistic photo filters make our heads turn, Joey King (“A Family Affair”), with her lagoon-blue eyes and youthful complexion, would be considered nothing less than beautiful. But in the realm of “Uglies,” director McG's (“Charlie's Angels”) half-hearted adaptation of Scott Westerfeld's 2005 young adult novel, the objective attractiveness of her character Tally Youngblood is irrelevant. Because in her reality, which exists several hundred years after the demise of our own reality, beauty means something entirely different.

In this unnamed future, everyone must undergo a surgical procedure at age 16 to become their best-looking self – a coming-of-age day that's as spiritual as getting your period or participating in a religious observance focused on teenagers. Until then, you're stuck in an educational institution with the rest of the “uglies.”

Thanks to similar examples of the dystopian formula — think Michael Bay's The Island or the Divergent series — viewers can see the writing on the wall long before Uglies reveals its twist. Of course, this beauty transformation is driven by something Orwellian, not the betterment of society. But teens like Tally have been fed lies for generations. They believe that every deeply ingrained system of discrimination was caused by resentment between those born with good looks and those cursed with a less-than-ideal facade. This injustice, coupled with an over-reliance on fossil fuels, caused the planet's demise. But in the dystopian future of Uglies, that's all a thing of the past. Now everyone is equally beautiful, and science has prevailed, inventing a plant-based resource that meets all of our survival needs.

At the beginning, King sums up all these details in a matter-of-fact voiceover with little emotion, as if she were reading bullet points from a textbook. This dutiful, emotionless manner unfortunately defines much of “Uglies,” which unfolds in a paint-by-numbers monotony despite the highly dramatic nature of the story. Still, writers Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor, and Whit Anderson manage to establish Tally's world and personality with a certain intrigue, giving us a glimpse into her sweet friendship with Peris (Chase Stokes). He nicknames Tally by the nickname Squint, a friendly wink to her unique appearance. She calls him Nose because he is blessed with, well, a rather pronounced nose.

But their bond is soon put to the test, as Nose's operation is scheduled to take place two months before Squint's. Unable to bear the thought of being apart for so long, the two agree to meet at the bridge that connects the ugly ones to the colorful city where the pretty ones live. When the now pretty Peris doesn't show up, Tally decides to leave the grounds one night to find out what happened. Tally is resourceful, as can be seen from the worn-out Chosen One Trope. She escapes undetected and mingle with the pretty girls in search of Peris.

The fabled city, which we don't see until then, is visually realized like the rest of the production, and has an all-too-familiar video game-like look. We've seen all these generic-looking, CGI-heavy psychedelic environments in other (better) sci-fi movies and picture books before. As for the beauties themselves, freaky beings with smooth skin, high cheekbones and golden eyes, the visual effects don't really give us anything more imaginative than people who look like a retouched Instagram feed all together.

The twist itself isn't that surprising either. When Tally finally finds Peris, as expected, something is wrong, as if someone had altered his brain and personality. Our suspicions are confirmed by the introduction of another key character, Brianne Tju's feisty Shay, who has no intention of undergoing the surgery. Instead, Shay reveals that she would join the mysterious David (Keith Powers) and his colony in “The Smoke,” a remote place reminiscent of communal life in the days of the “Russies” (that would be us, modern-day viewers). Dr. Cable (a stern and implausible Laverne Cox), responsible for the Uglies' transformation, convinces Tally to join Shay and play double agent to destroy The Smoke for good.

The whole spiel about the importance of “inner beauty” is already so predictable that it becomes downright laughable when Tally learns her lesson and unnecessarily declares to the clan she regrettably betrays, “I didn't know the price of beauty is your mind.” And their eventual teaming up against Dr. Cable amounts to nothing more than a boring final act in which a battle between good and evil erupts without much tension. (It also doesn't help that the film never really explains Dr. Cable's endgame, aside from her general need for control.) The ending hints at a sequel (there are more books in the Westerfeld series), but it's hard to leave “Uglies” wanting a franchise when the film doesn't really say anything meaningful.

While the genre of young adult fiction is certainly capable of inspiring exaggerated desires and rebellions in all of us, the problem here lies in the source material itself. Or rather, the timing of the film adaptation. Perhaps in 2005, when popular social media sites were still in their infancy, using young people's false projections of beauty as the basis for a dystopian story was a more novel idea. Today, however, it immediately feels dated the moment Tally looks in the mirror early on and imagines what her own enhanced beauty would feel like. Uglies never recovers from that.