Bratz: The Movie

Bratz: The Movie Information

Bratz: The Movie, or simply Bratz, is a 2007 American live-action film based on the Bratz line of cartoon characters and dolls. The screenplay was written by John Doolittle and Susie Singer Carter.

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 Kane) 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 joins the nerdy kids and meets Dexter (Chet Hanks) and designs great outfits. Yasmin joins the journalist kids. Yasmin 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. The upcoming talent show and its prizes of a scholarship give them the idea to bring all the cliques together with an act, but the chances are slim with Meredith's constant attempts at stealing the spotlight... and she intends to get away with it.

Cast

Logan Browning as Sasha
Janel Parrish as Jade
Nathalia Ramos as Yasmin
Skyler Shaye as Cloe
Chelsea Kane as Meredith
Anneliese van der Pol as Avery
Malese Jow as Quinn
Ian Nelson as Dylan
Stephen Lunsford as Cameron
Jon Voight as Principal Dimly
Lainie Kazan as Bubbie
Emily Rose Everhard as Cherish
Chet Hanks as Dexter

Production

Paula Abdul was dropped from the production before completion. 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.

The film was shot at Santee Educational Complex in South Los Angeles, California, while in session.

Reception

Bratz: The Movie received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics; the film currently holds a 7% critics approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes; the consensus reads: "Full of mixed messages and dubious role-models, Bratz is too shallow even for its intended audience." The movie currently has a 21% rating on Metacritic, and a 2.7/10 rating on IMDB. On Common Sense Media, it received a rating of two out of five stars with a consensus saying, "Material girls in immaterial comedy for tweens." It received five Razzie nominations, including Worst Actress (all four stars were nominated as a group) 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." In his year-in-review column, however, he cited the film as a "guilty pleasure." 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 28th Golden Raspberry Awards, bad reviews comparing the film to the Disney Channel's High School Musical were read; the first read, "Makes High School Musical look like Chicago." The second, "Makes High School Musical look like Puccini." The last, "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", 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." 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.

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

Box office

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

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	some students of the school	School Talent Show
"Open Eyes"	Bratz	None	MTV Video Music Awards Pre-show
"Express Yourself"	(Background Music) Black Eyed Peas	None	When Jade is showing off the outfit she changed into on the first day
"Rockstar"	(Background Music)Prima J	None	My Super Sweet 16 Party