Movie Review: Bratz: Rock Angelz
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What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this movie may look fresh and fun
to young girls who buy the dolls, but the themes presented are
questionable for their age group. For example: A fashion editor
thinks eating carbs makes her "look fat," the girls sneak into
clubs, and one character has had three nose jobs. The plot
centers around the Bratz's goal of publishing their own fashion
magazine, which will have such supposedly "helpful" articles as
how to tell if your boyfriend is a dud and ways to be a
"fashion do." There's also plenty of back-stabbing and rude
behavior throughout. The Bratz kids love to go shopping and
spend money on clothes, and your kids can do a little
pre-shopping for more Bratz stuff (CDs, etc.) in the Special
Features section of the DVD.
Families can talk about what makes the Bratz appealing at first glance, and what's not so appealing about them. Are they individualistic, or do they look and talk alike? Do they look and act like most teens? Why are there hardly any references to parents? Is the way they live realistic? Do you think they can afford to stay in a loft by themselves, or jet off to London at a moment's notice? What can be learned from their friendships?
Common Sense Media Review
What to say about a cartoon series that targets tweens (and
younger) yet has its impossibly thin, fashion-crazy main
characters -- Jade, Yasmin, Chloe, and Sasha -- parading around
in skimpy outfits and platform heels with makeup caked on their
faces? Not much that's wonderful, as it turns out, and ROCK
ANGELZ won't help the show's cause.
In Rock Angelz, Jade (voiced by Soleil Moon Frye), the group's writerly member, realizes her "total biggest dream" when she's picked to become a student intern at a fashion magazine. But the editor-in-chief, Burdine Maxwell, is straight out of The Devil Wears Prada : rude, domineering, and self-obsessed. Instead of nurturing Jade's talent, she bosses her around, and favors the Bratz's arch-nemeses, the Tweevils.
When Burdine threatens to ruin Jade's future fashion magazine career, Jade and the rest of the gang decide to start their own self-titled publication, which sends them on a side trip to London to capture the latest cool craze. A secondary theme about how to tell good boyfriend material from bad emerges when Chloe ( Olivia Hack) takes up with a cute British boy she meets on the plane, who turns out to be more frog than prince.
Bratz, whose first incarnation were toy dolls, is so popular with young girls it has spawned a cottage industry (clothing, fashion accessories, CDs, and DVDs). Which makes the storyline problematic. Dealing with "lame-o" boys and "fashion freaks" and "royal jerks," it's not quite appropriate for the 7- to 11-year-olds that seem to love them. The emphasis on the externals -- making sure one isn't a "fashion don't" is a major mandate for the Bratz girls -- is worrisome, as is the Bratz look itself: They hardly look like the empowering girls they say they are. (Girl power is a major theme in Bratz.)
Two positive notes: The music is hummable and, through thick and thin, the girls find their way to each other. When they neglect their friendships, they are eventually apologetic. Soleil Moon Frye, who played the scrappy, cheery, wholesome Punky Brewster in a TV series decades ago, voices one of the Bratz. Too bad this series isn't as positive a role model as her 1980s alter-ego was.
For a stronger, more truly empowered role-model alternatives, try The Princess Diaries or The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants .
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
