Review of Jem and the Holograms (2015) by Jose Gabriel S — 24 Oct 2015

It is completely true that this Jem is not a straight-up adaptation of the original cartoon but that doesn't mean this movie is without merit. I believe you could have went two ways with this film: a campy fun movie (probably based in the 80s) or what the filmmakers did and made a drama updated for a modern-day setting.

The movie does, suprisingly based on the original trailer, include some fantasy and slight adventure elements (Synergy the robot and a treasure-hunt of sorts to complete the fiesty little bot) that give it a bit of a different feel than a by-the-books rags to riches/coming-of-age story and keeps the spirit of the original show.

The actresses all do a great job inhabiting their characters and some of the best moments are when the girls are just being sisters and either bickering or having fun. Their vocals are great as well. I highly recommend the soundtrack.

Juliette Lewis fantastically chews up scenery as Erica Raymond and Molly Ringwald gives the movie a nice dose of heart as its core. Overall I loved this take on the story and am dissappointed that we probably will not see a sequel that I feel like would have skewed closer to the show.

The director compared this film to Batman Begins and I think that is an apt comparison. That movie reintroduced audience to a character in a much more grounded universe than we had seen cinematically and focused much more on his identity (you could have called the film Bruce Wayne) leading to a sequel where all bets were off.

I want to applaud those Jem fans who actually went to see the film first before deciding that it did not appeal to them and wish more fans would go see it before they cast stones as the trailer doesn't really do this film justice.

While a campy/fun film would have been great I doubt it would have resonated with me as much as this film happily and unexpectedly did.