And so it is, the first trailer for Jem and the Holograms has been released. It has been a little over a year ago since we learned of its development and yesterday new images cropped up to give us a taste of what’s to come. But could the animated musical series of the ’80s live up to modern day expectations? Now that we’ve seen the first footage of the film, this may not be the Jem that diehard fans quite remember. See for yourself after the break.

I’ve kept a cautious optimism in the back of my mind, preparing for this exact moment. Before seeing this trailer, I pegged that Jem would either target an ageless group like Pitch Perfect or be geared more toward a younger audience. The fact that she earns stardom through YouTube definitely signifies the later, which is fine, but the whole Beyond the Lights meets Dreamgirls kind of vibe gives it an awkward tone in the middle of a teen-focused musical.

With an astounding, “meh,” the Jem and the Holograms live-action adaptation isn’t quite as outrageous as the original series’ theme song would leave you to believe – see below. The music is hardly even a highlight of the trailer, which focuses more on the relationship drama between the band mates. This all makes the film feel very generic and watered-down, not so much the wacky ’80s shenanigans some may have been hoping for.

In the original cartoon, Jerrica masked her identity as Jem through the help of a super computer named Synergy. We only get a brief mention of it by name only. Throughout the series Jem would have to protect Synergy from those looking to obtain it. It doesn’t seem that any of that will play out into this movie, but only time will tell.

Watch the original theme song here:

Here is the official plot synopsis for Jem and the Holograms, courtesy of Universal:

Directed by Jon M. Chu, Jem and the Hogorams stars Aubrey Peeples, Stefanie Scott, Hayley Kiyoko, Aurora Perrineau, Ryan Guzman, Molly Ringwald, and Juliette Lewis. This film is set to release on October 23, 2015.

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Source: BuzzFeed