Jem and the Holograms

I'm quite a bit conflicted on "Jem and the Holograms."

Full disclosure: I'm a little closer to Jem than many other people who will be reviewing this movie. They will likely call it a formulaic girl-power fantasy flick, and they're really not wrong in doing so.

But it's also something else that is pretty solid.

As a kid, I watched the '80s cartoon on which the movie was based. I also introduced it to my own daughter, Jenna, who took to it so much that she was Jem for Halloween two years ago.

When I heard last year that "Jem" was being made into a movie, I was ecstatic. Jem is a terrific hero for young girls. A confident career woman who both owns a glamorous record label AND is an awesome secret rock star, she is an independent, strong woman.

So upon seeing the first trailer for "Jem and the Holograms" earlier this year, I was as disappointed as most of the other fans to see this apparently turned into a generic modest-girl-finds-fame kind of movie, with all of the cliches mixed in.

In the '80s cartoon, Jem is the alter ego of Jerrica Benton, the daughter of a record label executive who passes away, leaving Jem with two things: part ownership in the record label, and Synergy, her magical holographic AI that transforms her into Jem, a super glamorous rock star, sort of a pre-Miley Cyrus Hannah Montana type.

After the first trailer completely ignored Synergy, an integral part of the source material, some feared it was excised. It was not, but it is rendered toothless in a sense, which is to say that, while Synergy figures into the plot, she is essentially worthless after her initial purpose has been realized (which is not to transform Jerrica into Jem).

In this "Jem," Jerrica is a normal girl (Aubrey Peeples), whose father passed away. She lives with her aunt (Molly Ringwald), who took in Jerrica and her sister Kimber (Stefanie Scott), and their foster sisters, Aja (Hayley Kioka) and Shana (Aurora Perrineau).

When the camera-shy Jerrica records herself singing a song, she does so as Jem. Then Kimber secretly uploads the video to YouTube, Jem becomes a sensation and attracts the attention of Starlight Records, ran by the rather rude Erica Raymond (Juliette Lewis).

Erica recruits Jem, and reluctantly brings her sisters along for the ride as well. But when circumstances dictate Jerrica needs a favor, Erica quickly forces her hand, and forces Jem to go solo. And of course she wants her as Jem, and wants her just as she is, after of course she changes everything about herself.

Meanwhile, Jerrica keeps in her possession the last things her father gave her: a pair of pink star earrings, and Synergy, a robot evocative of the droid in the horrific flick "Earth to Echo."

Synergy is broken, though, at least until certain things happen that kickstart the plot into motion.

"Jem" is packed with cliches like that, from fame causing family dissent to a "we're-about-to-lose-our-home" subplot to the evil record executive to the mysterious scavenger hunt her dead father takes her on.

But Jem is also often magical, and I'm happy to say the skittery, Nickelodeon-lite pop that is featured in the trailers isn't the rule for the band; they often rock out as Jem truly does.

Synergy is fun and interesting but, beyond fulfilling a certain part of the film's plot, isn't really important to her or the band. Without getting too specific, let's just say that dad's "gift" oddly focuses on only one of his two daughters.

But the girls do indeed have the look and feel of Jem and the Holograms, and them running around together, then jamming, represent the best parts of the movie. Jerrica's banter with would-be beau Rio (Ryan Guzman) is appropriately fun and airy. He is a willing sidekick ... although one key point of the movie makes a change involving Rio that I dislike for purely feminist reasons.

There is also a series of YouTube-type videos hailing Jem as a hero that seems as much a celebration of the power of social media as the character. This is done in a bit more of a pandering, cloying manner than the same sort of thing in last year's "Chef." Just when it threatens to become unbearable, a couple of well-timed celebrity cameos bail it out.

In all, "Jem and the Holograms" is a fun, breezy movie that gets most of the beats right, and plays like the first movie in a potential franchise. A mid-credits sequence hints at such by introducing characters that were omitted from the movie otherwise (despite three or four natural spots where they could have been included), and I, for one, am rooting for it to do well.

Why? Because Jem is a worthy hero and role model for my daughter, and all little girls her age who don't get enough in the way of strong female role models. "Jem and the Holograms" may be an imperfect film, but for Jenna and many others, she is the hero little girls deserve AND the hero they need.