The Bratz franchise is famous not only for its stellar collection of dolls, but for the iconic 2007 film Bratz: The Movie. It details the lives of Cloe, Sasha, Yasmin, and Jade-- more specifically, their arduous transition into high school. What was supposed to be an inspiring account of everlasting friendship turned into sparkling commentary on individuality, stereotypes, and diversity, all in the essence of coming of age.

 

The movie opens with the first day of high school; the girls are eager to see both what the new school has to offer, and of course each other’s outfits. We get a glimpse into their personal lives and what the archetypes of their characters pertain to in just a few scenes. Yasmin is big on family-- she comes from a bustling hispanic household and ultimately is the one trying to hold onto their threadbare connections as the ball gets rolling. Jade is spunky, yet is stricken with parents who only push her toward academics. Sasha is independent, but stuck in the middle of divorced parents, and Cloe lives with her single mom in a home that is modest, but warm.

 

Arms linked and eyes locked, they step onto the campus with hope and determination to make the next four years the best yet. After a quick outfit change from Jade, they stride into Carry Nation High, and unknowingly meet the demise of their dynamic. Torn apart by cliques, the girls have no time for each other in the midst of their own activities. Just weeks into the school year, they don’t even share an amicable nod in the hallways.

 

An accident of fate brings them back together two years later, and after both a food fight and expelling of emotions, the gang is back together. Defying the odds of Meredith, the student body president who rules with an iron fist, the Bratz bring the school together in the junction of their extracurriculars. Cloe’s soccer team learns how to strut in style from Jade’s fashion club, Sasha’s cheer friends meet Yasmin’s choir buddies, and all seems right. Until, of course, Meredith gets to meddling.

 

The party of the year rapidly approaching, students across every single clique anxiously await for an invitation to "Mer’s Super Sweet 16." Cloe’s mom is hired to cater it, but when she falls sick, Yasmin, Sasha, and Jade step in to save their friend at the expense of their invitations. But, the Bratz make the most of it, and when the party ends in pandemonium, they are closer than ever before.

 

As their senior season approaches, Cloe worries that she may not be able to afford to go to college. Determined to help their friend, the friends enter the talent show: the prize for which is a scholarship that Cloe could desperately use. Through their own creativity, and with the help of a few love interests, the Bratz pull off the performance of the year, and close the film out with their song “Bratitude.”

 

Directed by Sean McNamara, Bratz: The Movie has become definitive of the early-2000s preteen film scene. It’s full of love, pop, resilience, and girl power, and has become one of my personal favorites. The important thing to take away from it, despite the somewhat stereotypical casting and scripting the movie has itself, is the theme of celebrating our differences and uplifting each other. Whether it’s a deaf character like Dylan or a nontraditional family like Sasha’s, the Bratz are always there in support, and prove that growing up isn’t so bad when you have friends like them.