By: debbie lynn elias
To many, the word “bratz” (or, brats as the case may be) brings to mind pesky little brothers and sisters (or in my case, adult ones) or spoiled unruly children. But to little girls and tweens around the world, say the word “bratz” and instantly, you will get a dissertation on the world of Jade, Cloe, Yasmin and Sasha as Bratz are actually the brainchild of toy designer Carter Bryant who in 2001, together MGA Entertainment, released a new brand of urban fashion dolls called Bratz. With over-sized heads and eyes, pouty lips and body proportions that are more real than we’ve ever seen on Mattel’s Barbie, Bratz have taken over the toy world, repeatedly being named Toy of the Year in countless countries, grabbing the title of #1 fashion doll in not only Great Britain but by 2006, in the US as well. Celebrating diversity, individuality and friendship, fashion and fun, Bratz went from being “just a doll” to an empire with 8 animated movies, tv series and 4 record albums. It seemed only natural then that “Marvel-ous” producer Avi Arad, the man that brought Spidey, Silver Surfer, the Hulk, X-Men and the Fantastic Four to the big screen, dip his magic wand into the well to bring Bratz to life with their first live action feature film.
Sasha, Cloe, Jade and Yasmin have been BFF (for those of you that have forgotten, that’s Best Friends Forever). So long, in fact, they can’t even remember their lives without each other. Each distinctive in her own right, they are as different as night as day, except when it comes to their hearts and love and loyalty for each other. Sasha, who is African-American, is strong-willed, trendy, perky-perky-perky, a cheerleader and the go-between between her non-speaking divorced parents. Jade is the brains of the group, even being classified as a “nerd” but with fashionista styling. As much of a wiz with a needle and thread as she is with a slide rule, Jade is devoted to her friends and her family, honoring her parents’ Asian customs and parental rules, but at the same time managing to bend those rules just enough to sparkle and shine at school. Cloe is a diamond in the rough. A gal who bends it like Beckham on the soccer field but who is clumsy to a fault everywhere else, her life has not been as comfortable as that of her friends. Living with her single mom, who struggles to make ends meet with her own catering business, Cloe can’t always afford the “best” or “trendiest” and worries about what others will think of her. But, thanks to her friends, she always fits in no matter where she goes or what she does. Then there’s Yasmin. Yasmin is the glue that holds the girls together. She is the calming voice, the conscience, the one that truly believes “everything will be all right” as long as they stick together. Living with her Jewish-Spanish grandmother, Yasmin has her own unique style. Almost a throwback to the 60’s, she has a stylish hippiesque look and simply radiates love. She loves to write and loves to sing but suffers from stage fright and fear of rejection. Determined to be together forever and oblivious to the horrors of the world around them, the girls now embark on the greatest, most difficult journey of their lives (gasp!) – high school.
Carry Nation is your typical American high school. You’ve got your goths, your jocks, brains and brawn, nerds, geeks, losers, cheerleaders, chess club, math club, choir and band …and in this case, Meredith Dimly and her father Principal Dimly. Everyone has a place and everyone must stay in their place according to student body president, type-A personality, and super-conceited, Meredith. And she decides who belongs where. She rules over the campus with the iron fist her dim-witted father lacks as principal and needless to say, when the Bratz show up, Meredith sees the potential for an uprising in her kingdom if she doesn’t act quickly. Without missing a beat, she uses that well known tactic of divide and conquer, splitting up the girls and assigning them to “more appropriate” groups for social and educational contact. And with that, BFF turns into “who are you.” Meredith is ebullient. The school is running like clockwork. Her competition is squashed like bugs. (Or is it?) Cloe, Jade and Sasha have made new friends and are ensconced in their new cliques. Yasmin, however, is left out in the cold not quite fitting in anywhere and longing for the way things used to be. Will they ever speak again? Be friends, let alone BFF, again? Can Brattitude overcome Meredith’s catty attitude?
Nathalia Ramos, Janel Parrish, Logan Browning and Skyler Shaye are Yasmin, Jade, Sasha and Cloe. Relative novices to film, never have I met a perkier, happier, more joyous group of girls. They truly are BFF. Their excitement over their characters and the film is infectious. According to Ramos, who was 14 during shooting, “Once I started to research the Bratz and stuff, I saw that we’re going to be role models and that was really exciting for me.” Browning echoes her sentiments. “I like the idea that we’re going to be role models for such young girls at an innocent age. The movie has so many really good messages that are going to impact these girls when they watch the movie, especially if they are entering school or switching schools.” For Browning, the theme speaks to her heart as she changed schools 4 times and encountered firsthand many of the cliques and situations presented in BRATZ.
Each girl brought much of herself to her character. For Browning, as luck would have it, Sasha is a cheerleader as was Browning. Parish is an accomplished singer/songwriter and fashion diva like Jade. Ramos, like her character is Latina and Jewish and called on that background to aid in dialogue and little inflections not just in Yasmin but in the character of her grandmother played by the incomparable Lainie Kazan. As for Kazan, “I just love working with young people. I think they are so alive and fresh and so malleable. And I love the story. I have a granddaughter who heard that I had the script and saw the script for BRATZ and saw the script and said, ‘Grammy, you have to play this part.’ So, I read the script and I was very surprised. The movie is quite wonderful and these girls are terrific. This is a delicious movie. A wonderful group of children that are so talented. I just love that little girl Nathalia. They are very authentic.”
The greatest comic relief comes from Jon Voight who is having a banner year opening up his audience to kids, teens and tweens with “Transformers” and now BRATZ. With a mutated Pinocchio nose and pompous buffoonery, as Principal Dimly there’s not a moment when he’s not evoking guffaws of laughter. Nice casting touches also come in the form of 80’s icon Dwayne Wayne from “A Different World”, Kadeem Hardison as Sasha’s father, and director Sean McNamara favorite, Anneliese Van Der Pol from “That’s So Raven”, here cast as Meredith’s lackey.
When I asked the girls about working with veterans like Voight and Kazan, their responses were identical. “It was amazing. Jon Voight would come to set in character and you would see him as Principal Dimly all day.” Ramos got really close with Kazan who she sees as a “combination of her grandmothers.”
Interestingly, although Susan Jansen bears the title of screenwriter, BRATZ is truly a collaborative effort with an immense input from producer Avi Arad. “Bratz is all about diversity. Okay, these are dolls and there is just so much story you can tell. Now how do you take this diversity and turn it into a full heartfelt story that is very influenced by what I have seen with my daughters and her friends and the vicious life of school and high school. And kids have aspirations and parents have aspirations and somewhere in between hopefully we agree. A lot of experiences within this movie, I call them life experience and most important I was hoping that if we do it right, kids would see the movie and parents too and realize that they’re not alone. Problems exist. We all go through the same sense of isolation and thinking ‘why me’ and it’s not ‘why you.’ It happens to everybody. I wanted the parents to be right, not to be wrong.”
Talking with Avi always reminds of my grandfather and it is always poignant and joyous. With his sensibilities and calm demeanor, I could almost hear my grandfather’s voice as he talked about not wanting to include “drunk and drugs” in the film and wanting to highlight social interaction, forging friendships, diversity, individuality and decency.
Director Sean McNamara is no stranger to the tween-teen scene and is responsible for casting Shiah LeBeauf and Hilary Duff in their first starring roles. With BRATZ, McNamara may have a few more stars on his hand. The guru of teen-tween movies and tv he is “full or love, full of heart.” First and foremost in McNamara’s mind was that his BRATZ would be stylish but they are going to look stylish in layers. “Which means they don’t spend $1,000.00 a month in clothes. They can go anywhere and find things and look cool without spending money they didn’t have. Great and decent.”
A lover of musicals and himself having starred in high school musicals, he wanted to have fun with the musical numbers and incorporated intensity with a little bit of spoof, like the song, “It’s All About Me.” He met with the dollmakers to get a sense of each character. In the toy world, clothing creates the character, but in film, you need a bit more. Again calling on his own life, McNamara incorporated some of his passions into each girl. “When I was 12 I got my first camera so I gave Cloe a camera. I was a cheerleader in high school so I gave Sasha that quality. Yasmin is a songwriter. I was in band from high school until I was 28. And with Jade, it was all about the clothing. I have given them qualities that I knew enough about that I could talk to them about.” Determined to have something for everyone, he pulled in Kazan and Voight for parents and grandparents, a bratty younger sister for Meredith and although not in the original script, added a younger brother for Yasmin “so the little kids would have something to laugh at.”
One of the most important elements of BRATZ is the fashion and who better than to stock the closet but 30 year costuming veteran Bernadene Morgan. With Herculean results, Morgan created a look for not only each girl, but each clique and some 2000 extras. And of course, for each of the principal stars, fashion was foremost in their minds and particularly shopping day when they were let loose in the economically fashionable Forever 21. According to Ramos, “We would work together and put outfits together” and each girl was allowed to add certain traits and trends, including personal pieces from their own wardrobe like Ramos’ Philadelphia Eagles bracelet. And for Janelle Parish, “Anything that has to do with fashion is right up my alley.” “Bernardene works with you and gets who you are and what the character is. She had a good sense of all of our characters.” For Skyler Shaye this was “getting up and playing dress up every day.”
BRATZ. It’s all about friendship, fashion and fun. And a whole lot of Brattitude. This is one time being a brat is a good thing.
Nathalia Ramos – Yasmin Janel Parrish – Jade Logan Browning – Sasha Skyler Skaye – Cloe Principal Dimly – Jon Voight Grandmother – Lainie Kazan
Directed by Sean McNamara. Written by Susan Estelle Jensen. Rated PG
