Bratz

Bratz, based off the wildly popular line of dolls, is actually a much more tolerable film than the one I was expecting to be greeted with. Rather than a shallow, frothy, candy-colored stroll through ditzy women, inappropriate fashion, and immature circumstances, I received a mildly-entertaining, high-energy romp filled with attractive leads, all of whom at least carry their part with some semblance of conviction, acceptable, if scatter-plotted themes and ideas, and a pleasantly fun diversion through the world that sort of mimics our reality but still finds itself wholly trapped in cinema's, family-friendly kind of reality.

Make no mistake, Bratz isn't really a good film and it wouldn't be the first thing I recommend your daughters see. However, for a film that concerns three teen girls who are obsessed with fashion and self-expression, we could've been handed a much more harmful piece of cinema. Even as a male child, I always wondered why so much outrage and hate was directed at Barbie, who predicated herself off of being a good-natured sweetheart, was always the subject of vehement feminist controversy while the Bratz doll-line went under the radar, with their skimpy attire, makeup-heavy faces, and distracting artificiality. You want to talk about giving young girls the false sense of beauty and exercising the gender roles? The Bratz essentially were telling them not to leave the house without a tube-top, eyeliner, and eyeshadow.

Bratz follows four lifelong best-friends - Cloe (Skyler Shaye), Yasmin (Nathalia Ramos), Sasha (Logan Browning), and Jade (Janel Parrish) - as they enter high school with an attitude to keep each other as close as possible. However, they are heavily burdened by the idea that the self-indulgent, wildly narcissistic class president Meredith Baxter Dimly (Chelsea Kane) wants to identify every student by what clique they should belong to, forcing nothing but social segregation in the already ominous halls of high school. Of course, Meredith finds the free-spirited girls disgusting and offsetting to her plan, but finds little to worry after two years of high school.

Yes, by junior year, the lifelong friends have become nothing but faces in crowded hallways to each other, drifting towards their own sort of cliques, falling victim to Meredith's plan to keep all students part of their own little class of people. Cloe becomes invested in soccer, Sasha becomes a gifted and determined cheerleader, Jade embraces her inner-scientist with the chemistry club, and Yasmin sort of watches it all happen, while quietly participating in journalism. Yet the girls are brought together by four colossal, incredulous misunderstands at lunchtime, which reminds them that they have fallen prey to Meredith's system. Upon reuniting the group to prove that they can still be inseparable and devoted to each other, Meredith sets out to destroy the girls by recreating the party she threw for her sweet sixteen, making it even bigger and better, which she hopes will propel herself to the known voice of the school while the four girls wallow in their shame.

I laud Bratz for at least doing what I never thought would be done in one of the most ostensibly shallow teen films of the last decade, which is etch some solid, vital commentary about high school into its material. While many films have addressed the abundance of cliques and groups in high school, Bratz recognizes the problem with it, which is that kids get the idea that they shouldn't be seen with kids of different cliques, which stunts their emotional and mental growth all the more. Yes, Bratz would be better if it didn't make the cliques so overblown and farcical that they tread the line of being part of a high school satire, but its acknowledgment of a real problem in a pleasantly real way is actually heartwarming to say the least.

Then there's the abundance of singing, dancing, and just hanging out these girls do, which is surprisingly fun and enjoyable, given how shallow it sounds. These are teen girls being teen girls, minus the sarcastic and childish lingo utilized on contemporary kids shows like iCarly and Victorious, but also without the biting wit and commentary of something like Mean Girls, one of this particular's decades smartest teen films.

Bratz essentially wants to be a flashier, more stylistically-potent Mean Girls, but its reliance on scenes that are too goofy and ridiculous to be taken seriously and its repetitive nature are what hinder it from living up to what it could be. The visuals are eye-popping, the music is catchy, if existing from the often forgettable subgenre of bubblegum pop that expires quickly, and the four leads are all charming with their smiley charisma and micro-mini fashionista sense, but the film simply has too much going on to really settle on a focus and it bogged down by scenes that are either not funny or heavy-handed in their moralizing. But the fact that there's moralizing in a film called Bratz, taken from the line of dolls that look the way they do, is surprising enough, giving the film much more leverage and likability than I could've ever imagined.

Starring: Skyler Shaye, Nathalia Ramos, Logan Browning, Janel Parrish, and Chelsea Kane. Directed by: Sean McNamara.

I was just reading some comment before i decided to make my own, this guy honestly believes this film deserves a 10/10 rating. Yes that's right, according to this guy the film Bratz is a perfect masterpiece with impeccable acting, dialogue and story, backed up by Oscar worthy directing and screenplay. At least that's what a film with a 10/10 rating should be. Bratz is not. This is possibly the *worst* film i have ever seen. This film does not even deserve a 1/10 it is that bad. Im not trying to spite this film, i am honestly speaking my feelings for this film here, i have never felt more insulted, never have i cringed so much in a film and i actually felt embarrassed by some of the scenes i have had the misfortune of watching.

Stay away from this film at all costs. It will scar your brain forever.

Aaaaaaauuuugh!!!! This movie was so awful it makes me wish I had been struck blind and deaf as a child! I watched it with 2 friends, to try for an MST3K style viewing but.... it doesn't work!!! One of my friends became very still, and started attracting flies halfway through the film, and another one became temporarily quadriplegic from watching this! I'm 20... I haven't cried for any reason since I was 12, and this movie brought me to tears. Not from laughter, not sadness... it was SO bad, I had no emotions that could be connected to this film, and I just started crying because nothing else quite fit. If these people tried to perform like this two thousand years ago, they would have been stoned to death. The acting was so terrible, I think I lost my faith in mankind. The materialism in this movie was so... I can't even think of an adequate adjective to describe it... No wonder there are countries that want to see our way of life crumble... after seeing this movie, I almost agree with them. The MST3K guys would be speechless, watching this. It's so awful, no one could possibly lampoon this movie. It's too terrible to properly mock and satirize. I feel really terrible for the companies that sponsored this. They really lost out on this investment. The attempts at throwing in messages about individualism and inner strength would have worked, if there hadn't been the "be yourself, but dress fashionably to be accepted" message splayed across this film like roadkill. It's a good thing I didn't have any forks, or acetylene torches nearby... or I would have tried to stab/burn my brain out. I seriously considered gnawing my own leg off several times, to escape watching this film. I actually lost the ability to breathe after about 40 minutes of this film... I eventually remembered how, but it took a while. Not good... My roommate has completely lost his mind... he asks questions like, if Darth Vader showed up at our door, should we hang out with him, and some remarks about hollowed out breasts and orange juice... he's completely lost his mind.

Don't watch this movie if you value your sanity!!!

If you missed the ridiculously shallow ego-trip of Hilary Duff "Material Girls" last year, don't worry, here's another shallow teen movie for you that steals so much from Mean Girls that it hurts. The movie is based on the ugly dolls with the same name with perfect bodies and lots of money - only in the movie, the blond girl doesn't have any money at all. But don't worry, when she really needs it (for a dress), her friends have gift certificates.

Sure enough, no one would like to see a movie with a bunch of fat teens running around acting silly but did the movie have to star four slender girls with attitude problems? Because let's face it, these girls think that appearance is the most important thing in the world. They're seriously not much better than their enemy - Meredith. And by the way - how did the word 'brat' become a positive word? For me it's still a very negative word meaning that your parents have spoiled you.

Bratz doesn't want to give its core audience (small girls) a good message. It wants them to realize how important fashion and appearance is - and if you have an ugly outfit on - always make sure to keep a fashion emergency kit with you. Ugh.

Worst movie ever. Luckily, I didn't go to it with high hopes. The acting was horrific, the entire way through I had a strong urge to strangle every actor/actress who participated in it, as they could simply NOT act. The four main characters were so plastered in makeup, I couldn't make out what they actually looked like. The plot, lines and scenes were so cringeworthy, I had to look down and pretend I was somewhere else.

This is coming from a twelve year old girl, so don't think it's biased. I have never, ever willed a movie to end before, but I found myself considering walking out of the theatre. I sincerely hope someone realizes what a mistake this movie was, and destroys all proof of its existence. No one, not even children, should ever have to set eyes on this abomination.

The person who let this crap be released does not deserve to be involved with the movie industry.