Just to be as upfront as possible, I was never a fan of the
classic Jem cartoon. It was before my time and not really my
style. Yet I don’t find it at all
surprising the Universal and Hasbro have teamed up to try and revitalize the
franchise in cinematic form, essentially aiming to become the Pitch Perfect for the under-14
crowd. So, how does Jem and the Holograms measure up?
Well… I didn’t hate it…
Jerrica Benton is a teenager who lives with her aunt, her
sister Kimber, and her foster sisters Aja and Shana. She is camera shy and generally doesn’t enjoy
the spotlight. In a spontaneous need for
an outlet, Jerrica records a video of herself singing in low-light and makeup
under the pseudonym Jem, which Kimber then uploads to the internet without her
knowledge. This causes the world to take
notice, giving her internet celebrity status overnight. Record executive Erica Raymond swoops in and
vies to make Jem into a star. With her
sisters by her side, Jerrica must overcome her reluctance to be in the
spotlight and share her talents, all while balancing pressures to go solo and a
quest from her late father to complete a robot.
That last sentence should raise an eyebrow, because it is
precisely demonstrative of exactly how much of a mess this film’s screenplay
is. One minute it is a decided
coming-of-age story, yet another it is a story of mega-stardom leading to
betrayal, and yet another it is a mild sci-fi mystery adventure. I understand that the original cartoon could
at times be all these things, but the movie is never all of these things at
once, but rather trades its hat whenever it runs out of narrative drive. This not only leads to strange tonal transitions,
but it also makes for some of the most contrived narrative pacing I have ever
seen. Events happen purely because the
script says so, not because of any logical consequence of character actions or
plot revelations. It’s lazy and
unnecessarily forced.
And yet, despite all that, I didn’t hate this movie. I think this is mostly due to the fact that
the production clearly seems heartfelt, even if its execution is laughably
faulty at times. Director Jon Chu
reportedly received a smaller budget in consideration for his ability to retain
greater creative control, which despite making the film look pretty darn cheap,
adds a lot of personality that I don’t think otherwise would have been
there. A good example is the use of
YouTube artists as the background score for various scenes, which, while
slightly overused, is an interesting idea and acts as a pretty neat callback to
Jerrica’s in-narrative roots. And Aubrey
Peeples as Jerrica/Jem is actually worthy of emotional investment; despite how
asinine the material she has to work with is, Peeples clearly has the potential
to be a leading lady in bigger and better films.
Kids will probably like Jem
and the Holograms. It’s emotionally
relatable and slightly silly, and the generic pop that peppers the film’s
musical scenes isn’t terrible, just mildly forgettable. But for the adults watching along, it’s
probably going to be a bit of a snore-fest.
Unless you are willing to make your own fun and mock just how ridiculous
the film can be in its attempts at drama, this is a movie that does little to
amuse a more sophisticated audience. But
despite all that, I can’t bring myself to hate this movie. The few things it does right make it at least
bearable.
No comments:
Post a Comment