Netflix’s adaptation of YA novel dominates charts despite disastrous Rotten Tomatoes score

Despite receiving a less than stellar score on Rotten Tomatoes, Netflix’s adaptation of the novel Uglies has shot to the top of its movie chart.

Netflix has continued their streak of delivering movies that capture the public’s attention with their latest teen book-to-movie adaptation Uglies.

However, unlike their original films like The Deliverance and Rebel Ridge, Uglies has not received universal praise as many audience members are unhappy with how the film turned out.

Although the streaming service‘s new movie is currently sitting at a staggering 21% on Rotten Tomatoes, Uglies has cemented itself as the second most popular movie 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 goes through a surgical procedure to make them into “Pretties.”

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 book’s overall message was to promote inner beauty and not changing who you are to fit someone else’s ideals and, while the new movie adaptation tried to harness this from its source material, many viewers felt it missed the mark, leading it to receive such a low critics’ score.

“UGLIES is dreadful and almost unwatchable. It makes movies like Divergent and The Maze Runner look like masterpieces. Maybe the books are better, but this was just awful on all fronts. Stay away from it for your own good,” one fan posted on X/Twitter.

Netflix

Another commented, “Either Uglies is just not for me, or this is a truly horrendous film. It makes Divergent look good, which is astounding.”

And a third viewer wrote, “Uglies would’ve been an absolute hit in the early 2000s, but, as much as I love these actors, it feels outdated.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.”

One of the biggest issues audiences had with the film is the fact that the main cast (Joey King, Brianne Tju, Keith Powers, and Chase Stokes) are supposed to be seen as ugly when they’re all conventionally attractive.

But, one fan pointed out that the actors’ realistic good looks actually enhanced what the movie’s message is supposed to be writing, “Friendly reminder to anyone watching the Netflix #Uglies movie today; none of them are supposed to be ugly. The whole point is that they were told that they needed to look a certain way to be beautiful, it’s not reality. That is all – also please watch it, it’s so good.”

For more,  check out our list of the best sci-fi movies of all time and keep up with all of the new movies streaming this month.