Bratz: The Movie

Bratz: The Movie
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sean McNamara
Produced by	Isaac Larian Avi Arad Steven Paul
Screenplay by	Susan Estelle Jansen
Story by	Adam De La Peña David Eilenberg
Starring	Nathalia Ramos Skyler Shaye Logan Browning Janel Parrish Chelsea Kane
Music by	John Coda
Cinematography	Christian Sebaldt
Editing by	Jeff Canavan
Studio	Crystal Sky Pictures MGA Entertainment Avi Arad Productions
Distributed by	Lionsgate
Release date(s)	August 3, 2007 (2007-08-03)
Running time	110 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$26,013,153[1]

Bratz: The Movie (or simply Bratz) is a live-action feature film based on the Bratz line of cartoon characters and dolls. It was released to American theaters on August 3, 2007. It was co-produced by MGA Entertainment, Avi Arad Productions, and Crystal Sky Pictures teamed up. Crystal Sky Pictures financed the film, while Avi Arad and MGA executive produced. The screenplay was written by John Doolittle and Susie Singer Carter.^[2][3]

Paula Abdul was dropped from the production before the completion of the film. She was originally enlisted to provide wardrobe designs, choreograph the film, executive produce, as well as hold a role in the film. This was revealed on Hey Paula, her own reality show on her personal life. It has been speculated her erratic behavior may have been a reason behind her involvement in the film being cut.^[4]

The film was shot at Santee Educational Complex in South Los Angeles, California, while in session.^[5] The film was universally panned by critics. This film is for kids and young adults.

Plot

The four friends: Cloe (Skyler Shaye), Yasmin (Nathalia Ramos), Sasha (Logan Browning) and Jade (Janel Parrish), are about to start high school. Head girl Meredith Baxter Dimly (Chelsea Staub) wants everyone to belong to a clique, and goes about organizing people. She does not like the independent spirit of the four girls and plots to destroy their friendship and make them conform to her pre-fabricated cliques. Cloe is an ace soccer player. She meets Cameron (Stephen Lunsford) and is instantly smitten. Sasha is recruited as a cheerleader. Jade meets Dexter (Chet Hanks) and designs great outfits. Yasmin's talent is singing. She meets Dylan (Ian Nelson), who is deaf but can lip read. The friends begin to drift apart, as they are compelled to stay within their cliques.

Two years later, the girls no longer speak to each other. Meredith is organizing a talent show and she engineers it every year so that she can win. Yasmin begins to know Dylan better. Cloe and Cameron like each other, but Meredith likes Cameron as well, and goes out of her way to sabotage their relationship. She sends her dog to mess with Cloe and Cameron. The dog trips Cloe and sends her food flying at Jade. Soon, Sasha and Yasmin get involved, resulting in a food fight, and the four girls end up in detention. Much to Meredith's distaste however, the girls repair their damaged relationship and vow to stay together.

Meredith prepares for a second "Sweet Sixteen Party", though no one can come unless they are willing to sit with the clique assigned to them by Meredith. Yasmin, Cloe, Jade, and Sasha, unwilling to break their friendship again, refuse to go. But when Cloe's mother becomes sick and can't make the food for the party, Cloe and her friends take over the job. They are humiliated when their server costumes turn out to be clown suits, but Jade and Sasha turn the outfits into amazing clothes that make everyone at the party take notice.

A huge stage has been set up at the party, where Meredith sings. She embarrasses Yasmin but her downfall begins when Yasmin and her friends refuse to serve her. She falls off the back of an elephant she rented for the party, crashes into her birthday cake, and finally plunges into the pool. Humiliated, Meredith calls the girls "brats". They decide to take the name as their heading, and are known thereafter as BRATZ. The girls deal with their own problems: Sasha copes with her separated parents and wants them to try again; Cloe and her mother are struggling to make ends meet. Jade is keeping a part of her identity hidden from her parents. This applies in particular to her overprotective mother.

The film ends on a happy note when the girls perform together at the talent show, overpowering Meredith. Meredith wins the trophy, and the girls win the scholarship, which they give to Cloe. The girls are also invited to a red carpet premiere, where they sing while Meredith watches them with binoculars in the distance.

Cast

• Nathalia Ramos as Yasmin - Known as Pretty Princess, though it is not mentioned in the film. She is very good at singing but suffers from stage fright, and is also known to be good at journalism. Yasmin misses her friends a lot, but all of them are too busy with their cliques (which shows that they don't always take her much seriously). Throughout the film, she is shown to have no clique, though when she pops her balloon for Meredith's party it says "journalism". She rides a car with a license plate that says "Shoe ♥ R". She lives with her grandmother, Bubbie, and her younger brother, Manny. Her color in the movie is purple.

• Janel Parrish as Jade - Known as Kool Kat, like it says on her license plate. She is very smart, excelling at science and math, as well as home economics. She loves her parents, but often hides her passion for fashion from them. Her clique is between the science and home-ec geeks. She lives with her parents and owns a car with a license that says "Kool Kat". Her color in the movie is blue.

• Logan Browning as Sasha - Known as Bunny Boo, though it is not mentioned in the movie. She is a very talented dancer, which is especially shown in her clique with the cheerleaders. She has joint custody with her parents since they are divorced. Although annoyed by this, she is somehow the communication between them. Like her friends, she owns a motorcycle. Her color in the movie is yellow.

• Skyler Shaye as Cloe - Known as Angel, though it is not mentioned. She is very good at soccer, but is known to be a klutz. Her clique is the football jocks. She lives with her single mother who works for Meredith. According to her, she is her hero. It is unknown what happened to her father. She owns a blue motorcycle. Her color in the movie is pink.

• Chelsea Staub as Meredith Baxter Dimly - the main antagonist of the movie. A spoiled brat who prides herself on becoming the most popular girl in school, Meredith's two goals are making sure that everybody has their own clique and breaking up the Bratz. She has won the talent show three times because she picks the worst acts so she can have a big chance of winning. She has a crush on Cameron, but he doesn't return it thanks to her true colors towards the Bratz.

• Lainie Kazan as Bubbie - Yasmin's Grandmother, who is a chocoholic, because she has a big way with chocolate; for instance, she always give Yasmin pairs of shoes by using chocolate as payment. Nevertheless, she is loving and caring.
• Jon Voight as Principal Dimly - The school's principal and Meredith's father.
• Malese Jow as Quinn - the secondary antagonist of the movie. She is Meredith's friend who is bossy and hot-tempered.
• Anneliese van der Pol as Avery - the third antagonist. Another friend of Meredith's, she is tough and aggressive.
• Emily Rose Everhard as Cherish Baxter Dimly - Meredith's younger sister
• Jack Vargas as Tonny
• William May as Manny - Yasmin's younger brother.
• Chester Hanks as Dexter (credited as Chet Hanks)
• Stephen Lunsford as Cameron
• Daniel Booko as Brad
• Jerad Anderson as Jonas Johnson
• Ian Nelson as Dylan
• Tami-Adrian George as Allison - Sasha's mother
• Kadeem Hardison as Sasha's father
• Kim Morgan Greene as Katie - Cloe's mother
• Constance Hsu as Julie - Jade's mother
• Kelly Crean as Mrs. Funk
• Andrea Edwards as Goalie
• Sasha Cohen as Bethany
• Carl Hancock Rux as Mr. Whitman/DJ Wax
• Erika-Shaye Gair as Daisy
• Lee Reherman as Vice Principle Sludge

Reception

The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics. The film currently holds a 7% critics approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It received five Razzie nominations, including Worst Actress (all four stars were nominated as a group^[6]) and Worst Picture, but it did not win any of the awards for which it was nominated.

Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune called the film "the most horrifying of 2007", remarking that, while the film seems to promote "releasing what's inside" and "letting your spirit soar high" it is all about clothes and outer beauty. He also said that Jon Voight's talent is wasted: "the actor—a good actor; remember?—looks as dazed as he did after being horked up by the snake in Anaconda." Ty Burr of The Boston Globe advised parents to rent Midnight Cowboy, saying it would be "less damaging on their [the kids'] psyches than this soulless mall rat of a movie." Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club concluded his C- review with "This is why the terrorists hate us."^[7] In his year-in-review column, however, he cited the film as a "guilty pleasure."^[8] A notable review in the Chicago Tribune said that "by the time the movie is over, one hopes the Decepticons will come in and take care of business." Because of that, Richard Roeper and Michael Phillips added Bratz on their top ten worst movies of 2007.

At the Razzies, bad reviews comparing the film to the Disney Channel film High School Musical were read. The first review read, "Makes High School Musical look like Chicago." The second read, "Makes High School Musical look like Puccini." The last read, "Makes High School Musical look like Gone With the Wind."

There were, however, some positive reviews, such as Teresa Wiltz of the Washington Post who describes the film as "earnest, silly and sweet",^[9] along with Adam Schubak of TV Guide who says "Although the film at times seems more a showcase for the trendy clothes specifically tailored for each character's unique personality, it does convey a positive message about loyalty and friendship."^[10] Paige Wiser of the Chicago Sun-Times also states that while it is a "Frivolous, and...forgettable" film, that it is ultimately about high school tolerance.^[11]

The film was also popular with fans of the Bratz dolls.

Bratz: The Movie opened at #9 at the box office, making it a flop. In its entire theatrical run, it earned a worldwide gross of $26,013,153.^[1]

Musical numbers

Main article: Bratz: Motion Picture Soundtrack

Song	Chiefly Sung By	Other Singers	Scene
"Fabulous"	Meredith	None	My Super Sweet 16 Party
"It's All About Me"	Meredith	Meredettes	School Talent Show
"Bratitude"	Bratz	None	School Talent Show
"Open Eyes"	Bratz	None	MTV Video Music Awards Pre-show

See also

• Bratz 4 Real
• List of American films of 2007

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Boxofficemojo.com
2. ^ "New Motion Picture Based on the Billion Dollar Toy Franchise". MGA Entertainment. May 19, 2006. http://mgae.com/downloads/pressreleases/Bratz%20Theatrical%20Release.pdf. 
3. ^ "'Bratz' all dolled up". Crystal Sky. May 19, 2006. http://www.crystal-sky.com/images/press/Bratz_Variety.pdf. 
4. ^ Paula Abdul: No "scandal" behind crazy 'Hey Paula' and 'Idol' behavior - Reality TV World - News, information, episode summaries, message boards, chat and games for unscripted television programs
5. ^ (French) Afriqueenligne.fr
6. ^ Razzies© 2007 Nominees for Worst Actress
7. ^ Bratz: The Movie | The A.V. Club
8. ^ The Year In Film 2007 | The A.V. Club
9. ^ "Movies". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?node=cityguide/profile&id=1135659&categories=Movies&nm=1#editorialReview. 
10. ^ Bratz Review | TVGuide.com
11. ^ Chicago Sun-Times

External links

• Official Website
• Bratz: The Movie at Rotten Tomatoes
• Bratz: The Movie at the Internet Movie Database
• Bratz: The Movie at AllRovi