bratz . . . 4 real!

 Thanks to Robyn for bringing to my attention the trailer for Bratz the Movie, the first live-action film of the Bratz dolls enterprise.  Er, actually, maybe I shouldn’t be thanking you for this?  But either way, here’s the trailer:

Considering that this movie ‘brings to life’ the Bratz dolls that many young girls buy and play with, it’s definitely marketed at least in part (a huge part) to the tween demographic.  Aside from all the pink glittery-ness, it contains so many of the same elements that I mentioned in my post about the Cheetah Girls: diversity, not only of race, but also of image (though the blonde girl does seem to take precedence, based on the trailer); a ‘we will overcome’ attitude; and a message of strength found through unity.  It’s interesting to see that these sentiments expressed in a movie set in the stereotypical popularity contest endemic to Hollywood movies about high school.  It looks like the girls will first be broken up by high school politics, but will come together to not only save their friendships, but also save their school from the ‘mean girl,’ with many materialistic antics involved (I’m guessing by the reference to a ’super sweet 16′ and the elephant, presumably a sign of gaudiness).  So the archnemesis is a girl, as is almost always the case in these tween ‘girl power’ movies, which is kind of disturbing.  Does it reflect the cattiness of that age, or does it lead to cattiness at that age, or is it both?

Ah well, we’ll see how Bratz the Movie does at the box office this summer.