Living Bratz’ Dolls and Bracelets

Forget Barbie and Ken and their sordid on-again, off-again romance.

Bratz dolls, the 10-inch tarts with large heads atop small frames, have been giving those two mainstays a run for their money since they launched in 2001. Nine home videos, five albums, four video games and a clothing line later, they’re prepared to take on a whole new platform on Friday - live action on the big screen.

For Nathalia Ramos, Janel Parrish, Logan Browning and Skyler Shaye, the snappy-named collectibles might be the sweetest dolls ever. Onscreen, they’re the four original dolls - Yasmin, Jade, Sasha and Cloe, respectively - in “Bratz: The Movie.” Offscreen, the up-and-comers are beginning to be recognized.

“It’s unreal and overwhelming,” Ramos, 15, says of her newfound demi-celebrity.

At lunchtime at Manhattan’s Serendipity 3, the girls, along with director Sean McNamara, share the evolution from plaything to person and beyond.

So what was it like playing an inanimate object?

Browning, 18: My friends back home called me a Bratz doll ever since they were in existence, but this is creating four completely new real teenage girls. You can hold a doll, but she’s not going to cry. She’s not going to talk to her friends, but we do. We’re real, we talk and smile, we have feelings and issues.

McNamara: The movie is based on the dolls from the point of view of self-expression. When the dolls were made, the best way they could do that was through the clothing. But when we breathed life into the dolls, we had to give each girl an attribute. We made one into journalism and writing songs [Yasmin], and science and fashion [Jade], and cheerleading and dance [Sasha]. We were inspired by the dolls, but we took it to a new level and made them like real people.

“Bratz” certainly isn’t “Mean Girls,” despite the name. Why do the girls call themselves that?

Shaye, 20: In the movie, my mother gets sick, so we help her cater our nemesis Meredith’s Sweet 16 party. Long story short, she falls into the pool and she’s freaking out and she says, “You, you, you brats!”

Parrish, 18: It started off as negative and we turned it into positive, because the girls needed a name to perform in an upcoming talent show.

McNamara: It’s a new term, as far as it’s not like “you’re a bratty kid, you’re a mean kid.” This is self-empowerment, girl-empowerment. It’s hopefully going to change a cultural name. If a girls is one of the Bratz, she’s someone who’s really cool and who’s very much into bringing coolness to the world in a self-empowering way.

There’s been a bit of controversy surrounding the dolls, their dress and some of their activities. As the living, breathing versions of the girls, how do you feel about what’s out there for tweens to look up to?

Ramos: I know - and we all know - the pressures that you feel growing up. I love high school, but, at the same time, there are a lot of negative images that we see in the media and there’s not that many things to look up to. So I’m hoping that we can be good role models to girls and they’ll have something good to look up to.

The fact that we’re four best friends from totally different families and backgrounds, I think it’s a really good message that everyone can be friends. It doesn’t matter where you’re from and you can learn from each other.

Browning: When I was younger, I always would look at my friends, look at TV and wonder what I needed to change to help make myself better, make more people like me. I did that up until a point, but now I’ve realized that I am who I am because of the people around me and because who my family makes me. Being cool is all within yourself.

You all talk a rather adult game, but during the big food fight scene, which brings the ex-BFFs back to each other, it looked like all child’s play.

Browning: It was so fun. It was so hot the day we filmed it. They cooked the spaghetti the night before, so it was cold when we filmed. It was such a relief when you got hit by the cold spaghetti - it was really refreshing. Plus, how many times can you throw a pie in someone’s face and not get in trouble?

So, is a “Bratz 2″ in the works?

McNamara: Absolutely! The script is already being written.

Ramos: [To the others] You guys better like me, ’cause we’re stuck together! It’s exciting. It’s like the never-ending gig!

What are some of your other goals?

Browning: I’m going to Vanderbilt University in the fall. They’re going to do what they can to work with me to do some school away from campus.

Parrish: I’m working on my music. I have a song I wrote that’s going to be on the soundtrack.

Do you ever imagine seeing your faces on boxes for the dolls?

Browning: They should do that!

Shaye: The dolls are also going to be the face of Sketchers. We don’t know yet if we’ll have anything to do with that.

Ramos: [Giggling] My goal is to see this (blue-and-white rubber) bracelet my friend gave me on the doll! I wore it in every single scene and, if this bracelet gets on the doll, then I’m happy.

Original article by Breanne Heldman can be found here.