Bratz (film)

Bratz: The Movie
File:Bratz2 large.jpg
Directed by	Sean McNamara
Written by	Susan Estelle Jansen Adam De La Peña David Eilenberg
Produced by	Isaac Larian Avi Arad Steven Paul
Starring	Nathalia Ramos Skyler Shaye Logan Browning Janel Parrish Chelsea Staub
Release dates	August 3, 2007
Running time	110 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Bratz: The Movie (or simply Bratz) is a live action feature film based on cartoon characters and dolls of the same name that was released to American theaters on August 3, 2007. The film is rated PG by the MPAA for thematic elements. It opened at #9 at the box office and earned $4.3 million in U.S. ticket sales in its opening weekend.

Production

The film was announced on May 15 2006, when MGA Entertainment, Avi Arad Productions, and Crystal Sky Pictures teamed up. Under the deal, Crystal Sky Pictures financed the film, while Avi Arad and MGA executive produced. John Doolittle and Susie Singer Carter penned the screenplay.

The shooting of the film was completed on March 24 2007.

Paula Abdul was dropped from the production before the completion of the film due to unknown reasons. 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.

Plot

The four best friends: Jade, Cloe, Sasha and Yasmin, are about to start High School. Although nervous, they feel excited and confident that they will excel. Head girl Meredith Baxter Dimly wants everyone to belong to a group (i.e. a clique), and goes about organizing people. She doesn't like the independent spirit of the four girls. She plots to destroy their friendship and make them conform to her pre-fabricated cliques. Jade does well in science club and designs great outfits. Cloe is an ace soccer player. Sasha is soon recruited as a cheerleader for her cheering ability. Yasmin's special talent is to sing; however she has terrible stage fright. She meets Dylan, who is deaf. She makes a crass remark of the group of four, she makes the worst start to her High School career. The friends begin to drift apart, as they are compelled to stay within their interest groups.

The film then moves forward two years, when the girls no longer see or speak to each other. It's just as Meredith wanted as she acquires a temporary victory. Meredith is organizing a talent show and she engineers it every year so that she can win. By enlisting the least talented acts and throwing out any real competition, this becomes a real possibilty that she win every year of her high school career. The fact that her adoring father is the principal enables Meredith to behave in such an appalling manner.

Yasmin begins to get to know Dylan, who is learning to "feel" the music he can no longer hear. Cloe and Camron really like each other, but Meredith likes Camron, and she always sabotages their meeting. One such occasion ends in the four girls managing to destroy a bust of the head teacher. A spell in detention, however, has the opposite effect that Meredith desires; the girls become fast friends again and vow to stay together.

Meredith prepares for a second "Sweet Sixteen Party" in a bid to secure her waning popularity, even having MTV film it, but it turns out badly for her. It is she, who, in this movie, coins the phrase "Bratz!" when she falls into her swimming pool. Now all that is left is for Meredith to win the talent show. But the Bratz have other ideas.

Throughout the film, Sasha is coping with her separated parents, she gets confused about who she is meant to be staying with on occasion, and wants them to try again. Cloe and her mother are struggling to make ends meet, this forming a crucial part of the talent contest thread. Jade, beautiful as she is clever, is nonetheless keeping a part of her identity hidden from her parents. This hiding of the identity applies in particular to her overprotective mother. This makes her uncomfortable as Jade's mother oppresses her. There are moments of comic relief, which are provided by the younger siblings of Yasmin and Meredith. Comic relief moments also appear when we see the Vice Principal and Principal Dimly. Cherish appears to hate her elder sister, Meredith, and the two have a series of poisonous exhanges. Yasmin's younger brother inadvertently provides Meredith with a great deal of ammunition against the Bratz girls.

Inevitably the film ends happily, with Meredith vanquished.And the Bratz win the talent show.

DVD release

The DVD was released on November 27, 2007.

Cast

• Nathalia Ramos as Yasmin
• Janel Parrish as Jade
• Skyler Shaye as Cloe
• Logan Browning as Sasha
• Chelsea Staub as Meredith Baxter Dimly
• Lainie Kazan as Bubbie
• Jon Voight as Principal Dimly
• Anneliese van der Pol as Avery
• Emily Rose Everhard as Cherish Dimly
• William May as Manny
• Malese Jow as Quinn
• Stephen Lunsford as Cameron
• Daniel Booko as Brad
• Jerad Anderson as Jonas
• Ian Nelson as Dylan
• Tami-Adrian George as Allison, Sasha's Mom
• Kadeem Hardison as Sasha's Dad
• Kim Morgan Greene as Katie, Cloe's Mom
• Constance Hsu as Julie, Jade's Mom
• Kelly Crean as Mrs. Funk
• Andrea Edwards as Goalie
• Chet Hanks as Dexter
• Sasha Cohen as Bethany
• Carl Hancock Rux as Mr. Whitman/DJ Wax

Reception

The cast at the Toronto premiere of Bratz.

The vast majority of reviews for the film have been extremely negative. 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's 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 mallrat 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."

There have, however, been 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 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) and Worst Picture, but it did not win any of the awards for which it was nominated.

Bratz: The Movie opened at #9 at the box office. As of August 5, 2007 (the end of its opening weekend), the film has earned a U.S. gross of $4,310,000.

The stars of Bratz have said that there will be a second live-action Bratz movie in some interviews.

Differences

This is a list of differences between the film verses the TV series, direct-to-DVD movies & doll line.

• The Bratz girls do not go to Paris, France or London, England in the movie. They stay in the U.S the whole time.
• Kirstee Tweevil, Kaycee Tweevil, and Burdine Maxwell are absent in the film along with the magazines Bratz and Your Thing.
• Byron Powell, and the other irregular characters on the TV series and/or direct to DVD movies do not appear in the film.
• Stiles High School, which is the name of the high school in the TV series & direct to DVD movies is not mentioned even as a "cross-town rival" in the film.
• The parents of the Bratz girls are only mentioned in the TV series & sometimes in the direct-to-DVD movies, while they are seen in the film.
• The idea of cliques is absent in the TV series & direct to DVD movies, while it forms a main part of the story in the film.
• Cloe's eyes are brown instead of her signature blue.
• In the film Cameron has brown hair while in the TV series, direct to DVD movies and dolls have him with blonde hair. Also Cameron's love of skateboarding which is shown in Bratz: Rock Angelz, Bratz Babyz: The Movie and some episodes of the TV series is absent from the film.
• In the film Dylan is deaf & has a pale skin tone, without a suntan. In the TV series, direct to DVD movies and dolls his skin tone is tan & he doesn't have a hearing problem.
• In the film, it's implied that Dylan and Yasmin are a possible couple while in the TV series and direct to DVD movies it's implied that Eitan is Yasmin's possible romance interest.
• In the film Sasha's interest is cheerleading while in the TV series and direct to DVD movies its music and dancing. Also in the TV series and direct to DVD movies Sasha is a control freak while the film doesn't show that.
• In the film Cloe's interest is soccer while in the direct to DVD movies it's skateboarding. The TV series & direct to DVD movies don't show that Cloe's family has money problems. Also Cloe being a drama queen is downplayed a bit in the film.
• In the film Yasmin's interest is singing & journalism. In the TV series and direct to DVD movies it's yoga. There is also no mention of Yasmin having a younger brother in the TV series and direct to DVD movies.
• In the film Jade's interest is math, science and making clothes while in the TV series & direct to DVD movies its knowing the best fashions and hang outs. It is also not suggested that Jade is an immigrant from China; rather, she has a Chinese mother and a Caucasian father. * Also, in the beginning of the film when the four girls say goodbye to each other online, Jade says "sayonara", which is Japanese rather than Chinese.

Musical numbers

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

Mistakes

• It fucking sucks.
• At the end of the Bratz song at the talentshow (Bratitude) Jade and Yasmin switch places sveral times, rather rapidly (within a second) and the other two girls remain in the same position.
• During the song Bratitude all the lights change from blue to red. The lights that go around the metal light gantry, fitted at the front of the stage, are PAR cans and aren't able to change color that quickly since normally only one gel in a PAR can of one colour can be used.
• Meredith's dancers in the song 'Fabulous' change from shot to shot.
• The necklace that Yasmin wears to school (the day of the food fight) is left on her all morning. It is taken off, however after the food fight and in detention. Her earings, however, remain on.
• During the food fight, director Sean McNamara's voice can be heard, telling the cast to 'throw their food.'
• During the shopping scene, Yasmin (along with all the other girls) alternates necklaces several times in random shots.
• The day at school after Meredith's party also involves a clothes change. All the girls change outfits, and Dylan is seen wearing the outfit that he was wearing when he heard Yasmin singing in the Music Room.
• An iPhone is seen in the DVD menu, with the girls having a text messaging conversation. However, no iPhone is ever used by anyone in the film.
• The co-ordinating outfits used in Bratitude are not made by Jade, even though this was agreed in the scene were they decide to enter. Jade is actually making a pink outfit with Bratz in black letters on the side.
• In the talent show, Meredith says that she is about to introduce the judges, although this never happens
• In two sequences where Meredith watches over school, the room she is in changes. In the first scene there are four mid-height leather back chairs around the glass rectangular table (on the long sides). In another scene, there are two leather full size chairs (Meredith's is bigger than the others in the first scene), and the two are placed at opposite heads of the table.
• During the Bratz second encounter with Meredith (at the lunch courtyard), Paris is missing from Merediths pink bag.
• During the scenes where the girls are rehearsing their Bratitude routine (in the school dance studio) camera crew is visible.
• The choreography rehearsed is not the same as the final presentation.
• When Jade creates a fireworks formulla,her boyfriend calls it the Bernoulli effect, which is actually an aerodynamics phenomenon.
• Dylan is able to understand what the music teacher is saying when he isn't looking at him, while being deaf.
• When Meredith tells Avery and Quinn that there are 48 different cliques, there are actually only 19 on the map.

Soundtrack

Main article: Bratz: Motion Picture Soundtrack

External links

• Official Website
• Bratz: The Movie at Rotten Tomatoes
• Bratz: The Movie, CountingDown.com
• Preview at Cinema Blend.com
• Trailer at Apple
• Interview with the cast
• The girls of Bratz on JewReview!