My Review of the Jem and the Holograms Movie

The Jem and the Holograms movie is coming out this week and if you remember it was DRAGGGED across the floor when the trailer came out. Old fans including myself, were not feeling it at all. From the trailer, it seemed that they were butchering a very popular and amazing 80s staple.

However, I had a little bit of hope for what the film could be, but after seeing it I realized my hope was diminished. They took a lot of liberties with movie... a lot of liberties. There were some good parts and not so good parts to the movie.

Let's start with the good.

The Good

• There's a strong family feel to the girls, I did enjoy seeing the dynamic between actresses, that was nice to see.

• I enjoyed Molly Ringwald in the movie. She played Jerrica's aunt and also foster mother to Aja and Shana. I just wished there was more flashback scenes of them as kids.

• It was nice to see Christy Marx in the role of Lindsay Pierce, that was a nice twist.

• I appreciated that Jerrica, Aja, Kimber and Shana considered themselves as sisters.

• I did enjoy some of the songs I think about two were really good the other one were 'meh'.

• Aubrey Peeples has a very good voice and her acting was also pretty good.

• They did use some of the videos that real fans made. Way back in the beginning of this project, there was a call for fans to make their videos. Seeing real fans express their love for Jem was very heartfelt and I thought that was a great addition to the film.

OK, so, here are the pieces that did not work for me at all.

• Still not happy that Shana was not a chocolate sista.
  
  It would've been nice to Shana played by someone that looks like her.

• Jerrica is very 'woe is me' in this film. She's self-doubting, pouty, insecure, basically a goth queen. In the cartoon we got a very strong Jerrica. She was in charge and she had a strong head on her shoulders. I know this is the beginning of the beginning, but I wish Jerrica was more confident in the movie.

• Jem... The persona of Jem was very weak.
  
  There were no clear distinctions of who Jem was and why anyone would believe in her. The Jem identity was very secondary and almost unnoticeable.

• The fashion was also a disappointment. There was nothing exciting about their look or their style. In the movie there fashion basically came straight out of Target and Hot Topic.

• Not only did they gender swapped Eric to Erica Raymond (which is fine), they also added another interesting twist. Rio is her son! Yes, Rio is Erica Raymond's son! 

• Erica's role in the film was kinda empty and predictable. 

• By watching this film, you would've thought that Emmett loved Jerrica more than Kimber. He talked as if Jerrica was his only child. At least in the cartoon, Emmett recognized BOTH of his daughters.

• The 'scavenger hunt' was an awkward addition to the film. It was useless and at times, misplaced. 

• Rio's role has always been Jerrica's boyfriend and hero at times. However, in this film he basically is the White Knight. I discuss this more little bit later, but I didn't care for his 'Now Watch Me Save The Day, Ladies' character.

• The big emotional part/conflict scene felt very rushed. In fact, most of the film felt rushed. Their rise and their fall was basically done within 30 minutes. It was hard to believe their disappointment, fears and excitement when everything happened in a flash. This film needed more time to flesh out their successes and failures.

• One of the biggest disappointments of this movie was the overall male influence. Jem is the ultimate female driven event. It was created by a woman and the main characters are women. The essence of Jem was created from her mother, Jacqui.
  
  Synergy was made in Jacqui's image and the very reason Jerrica and Kimer were into music was because of Jacqui. But sadly, there was no mention of Jacqui at all. They only focused on Emmett, which is fine, but to ignore Jacqui was not cool.

• Rio's role was pumped up big time. Not only was he Erica's son, he's the true owner of Starlight Music or Enterprises. I felt that this was a slap in the face to the fans. We all know that Jerrica is the owner of the record company. It was one of the major reasons she became Jem. However, the filmmakers thought Rio should be the one in charge. It was also interesting to see Rio come up with Jem and the Holograms. Yes, Jem fans, Rio suggested the band to be called the Holograms! How clever of him, right? Beefing up his role, snatched away some of the female empowerment we've loved about Jem. And one more thing, he knows Jem and Jerrica are the same girl.

For the true Jem fan, this movie will be a disappointment. It strips away the very thing we loved about her and replaced it with a character we don't know. This film is basically created for  10-16 year-old girls, but I hope they find out about the original series and watch that instead.