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Extras:
Deleted Scenes, Music Videos, Discovering Bratz, A Passion for Fashion, The Music Of Bratz, Behind the Scenes, Trailers
Director:
Sean McNamara
(Bratz: The Movie, TV: That's So Raven)
Producers:
Avi Arad, Isaac Larian and Steven Paul
Screenplay:
Susan Estelle Jansen
Music:
John Coda
Cast:
Jade: Janel Parrish
Sasha: Logan Browning
Yasmin: Nathalia Ramos
Cloe: Skyler Shaye
Meredith Dimly: Chelsea Staub
Avery: Anneliese van del Pol
Quinn: Malese Jow
Dylan: Ian Nelson
Cameron: Stephen Lunsford
Principal Dimly: Jon Voight
Bubbie: Lainie Kazan
Manny: William May
Cherish Dimly: Emily Everhard
Dexter: Chet Hanks
Mr Whitman: Carl Rux
Katie (Cloe's Mom): Kim Morgan Greene
Julie (Jade's Mom): Constance Hsu
Alison (Sasha's Mom): Tami-Adrian George
Sasha's Dad: Kadeem Hardison
Vice Principal Sludge: Lee Reherman
Barbara Baxter Dimly: Susie Singer Carter
Note that there are a few plot spoilers in this review... although the plot isn't something that can't easily be
guessed.
Firstly, as the four Bratz girls (right) wake up at the start of the film, no-one is ever that perky in the morning.
Especially on the first day of a new school term at Carry Nation High School, but these girls' idea of fun is to
dress trendy and show everyone that they're cool, and who out of their friends can't fail to be impressed by
wardrobes the size of Narnia, which even then have hidden compartments...
Their nemesis is the evil Meredith (Chelsea Staub, below-right, relishing in this role) who is in a clique of her own as the school's student
body president but has the lunchtime area broken down into 48 separate seating plans for each clique of goths,
skaters, disco dorks, gangstas, wannabe gangstas, etc. She is the daughter of Principal Dimly (Jon Voight,
who's rather sleepwalking through his performance), has a big-haired boyfriend called Cameron who looks like
Any Joseph Will Do's Lee Mead, and her two best friends are Avery (Anneliese van der Pol) and
Quinn (Malese Jow) to whom she talks down at every chance. She's so full of herself from dawn until dusk
and has a small dog that fits in her handbag called Paris.
Of the four girls playing the main characters, the actresses have similarly odd names. There's Jade (Janel
Parrish) who's into science and fashion, Sasha (Logan Browning) is the cheerleader, Cloe (Skyler
Shaye) is a bit of a clutz and plays women's football and, finally, Yasmin (Nathalia Ramos) is the
main singer of the four, and whose character seems a bit too much of a sickly sweet all-American girl. Yasmin
fancies Dylan, a school jock who is deaf but who doesn't sound deaf because he can speak perfect English.
He also has hidden musical talents as he can play the piano and spins discs, but thinks he hasn't got a chance
of being into music due to his disability. Hmm... hasn't he heard of Beethoven?
The girls want to take over and rule the talent contest, but what may harm their friendship is that their new
curriculum activities take them away from being together and split them off into their own groups.
Two years later... we meet up with them and their differences are made more apparent with a food fight in the
school dining area, but you know things will be back to normal before long, and as Yasmin becomes the singer
out of the quartet, the others form her backing group and, thus, are born - Bratz, and they're going in for the
talent show, the prize for which is a college scholarship, which they'll give to Cloe who is seemingly the
only one of the four who seemingly comes from a poorhouse.
There's a nice quote when it comes to shopping, the origins of which will go over the heads of this film's
intended audience, as Sasha comes out with, "I love the smell of retail in the morning."
Overall, in Bratz: The Movie, there's nothing new here. It's mostly the kind of thing that's
drummed out for every generation, but it's done well for the generation who can't live without their iPhones
and MySpace, so they'll greatly enjoy it, and it will also pass a reasonable 90 minutes or so for the adults
that end up sitting through it as well.
Oh, and something amusing taken from the BBFC website to explain the certificate:
"The film was passed 'PG' for one scene of mild comic violence. The violence occurs during a comic scene
where a seemingly meek teenage boy defeats a bullying and unsympathetic male schoolmate by using a fighting
technique that is brief and lacks detail. The scene lacks the reassuring counterbalances that such scenes should
offer at 'U' as the boy is victorious by being presented as more adept at violent combat than his seemingly
stronger foe, so the scene sits more comfortably at 'PG' where the humorous context and lack of detail prevents
the scene from placing the work at '12'.
The film also contains very mild language ("God, "hell") and slapstick comic violence."
Working for the BBFC sounds like an amusing job to come out with all of that!
The 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen print is a clean and clear one, with bright colours and locations really
standing out. Given the intended audience, the print needs to be one that delivers a striking image to grab
viewers' attention, and it certainly does just that. There's great use of the 2.35:1 widescreen frame is made,
especially in the numerous split-screen sequences, often with the four girls in varying numbers, which would normally
be lost when cropped to 16:9 or 4:3 for Tv, but as the film was made with Super-35 if a decent open-matte print
can be struck from that then it should still be perfectly viewable, even though the tightness of the framing
will be lost.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundmix has little in the way of special effects, but fulfils the criteria of belting
out the songs without any problems.
The extras are plentiful and begin as follows:
Deleted Scenes (10:00):
7 here, and a mixture of deleted and extended ones. They're presented in 2.35:1 letterbox but timecodes and no
subtitles.
Zoo Keeper is a good one at first, but goes on far too long.
Dimly and Familia features Meredith and family talking to their Mum on a webcam, but as this isn't
a finished scene and the mother's image would presumably have been put in afterwards, it seems odd to make
them look like they're just talking to a static picture of their mother which is what we can see in this
clip.
I'd be inclined to put the penultimate clip back into the film, but I won't mention the title of it as it
could be a spoiler.
Music Videos: Two here: Fearless (3:48) by Daechelle and Rainy Day (3:27) from
Janel Parrish (right), and the latter video also appears during the closing credits.
Discovering Bratz (12:48):
Three short featurettes, about the casting for the film in the light of the popularity of the brand,
folloiwing the on-set filming as 'a day in the life' and telling us how 'Bratz are different' because they
don't conform to the rigmaroles of peer pressure. All of these and the following featurettes are shot in 16:9
with anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen film clips.
A Passion for Fashion (14:30):
Three more featurettes, about their style, fashion sense, hair and make-up.
The Music of Bratz (9:17):
And three more (why do they always come in threes?). This time about their music and dancing styles,
making the music something the film's target audience can relate to, and also the making of Janel Parrish's
music video.
Behind the Scenes (7:15):
on... yes, three scenes.
Trailers:
These consist of a Trailer (1:14) and a Bratz Doll advert (oh:dear).
In addition to almost 50 minutes of short but sweet featurettes which will concisely provide information of value
for its audience, there's also a pre-DVD trailer for Penelope, but this should be in the main menu, not
before the film, even if it is coming out in the cinema shortly rather than being out on DVD. This is not the
age of the rental video!
The disc comes with English subtitles, there are 24 chapters to the film and the menus contain various tunes
from the film although the backgrounds are static.
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Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
Note that there are a few plot spoilers in this review... although the plot isn't something that can't easily be
guessed.
Of the four girls playing the main characters, the actresses have similarly odd names. There's Jade (Janel
Parrish) who's into science and fashion, Sasha (Logan Browning) is the cheerleader, Cloe (Skyler
Shaye) is a bit of a clutz and plays women's football and, finally, Yasmin (Nathalia Ramos) is the
main singer of the four, and whose character seems a bit too much of a sickly sweet all-American girl. Yasmin
fancies Dylan, a school jock who is deaf but who doesn't sound deaf because he can speak perfect English.
He also has hidden musical talents as he can play the piano and spins discs, but thinks he hasn't got a chance
of being into music due to his disability. Hmm... hasn't he heard of Beethoven?
The extras are plentiful and begin as follows:
