Jon M. Chu's Jem and the Holograms is, ostensibly, based on the 1985 cartoon of the same name. Names, themes, and concepts are shared between the two, but the film is not an adaptation in any but the loosest sense of the word. Functionally similar to Rupert Wyatt's excellent Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), the film uses its more famous source as a launch pad for its own socio-political intent, which is, in this case, to show the dichotomy between real life and internet personas while on the surface talking about family, loyalty, and the scumminess of the recording industry.
