By Jill Serjeant

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - They've got magazines, CDs, computer games, DVDs and closets full of boots, miniskirts and glittery tops.

Now, Hollywood has brought the popular Bratz dolls to life.

"Bratz" is the latest film targeting the burgeoning 'tween market, but the question is whether girls between 6 and 10 want to see their beloved toys transformed into real, grown-up peers.

The movie, which opens in the United States on Friday, turns four of the dress-up dolls -- Yasmin, Jade, Sasha and Cloe -- into wide-eyed teens negotiating the social perils of high school.

"I felt that there is a story to be told to young girls that has to do with empowerment, with believing in yourself. Being a 'tween is a very tough age and the schoolyard is like a jungle," producer Avi Arad said.

Arad is also tapping into a lucrative market. Adored by young girls in 65 nations, the hip, urban counterparts to clean-cut Barbie have taken the toy market by storm in the last six years. More than 150 million dolls have been sold and the global Bratz franchise is worth about $2 billion, according to MGA Entertainment, which created the dolls in 2001.

The challenge for the "Bratz" makers was to translate the dolls into real people without alienating the girls who play with them.

"The girls who buy the dolls have their own imagination on how these dolls look. So are they going to be OK or disappointed when they see the live action action, real people playing those characters?" said Isaac Larian, CEO of MGA Entertainment.

UNKNOWN ACTRESSES, FAMILIAR THEMES

Instead of hiring well-known actresses, the movie's makers auditioned about 5,000 girls to portray the culturally diverse dolls. They eventually hired four virtual unknowns -- Nathalia Ramos, Janel Parrish, Logan Browning and Skyler Shaye.

The movie's themes are friendship, beating peer pressure and other familiar teen mantras such as living your dreams and being true to yourself.

As a result, "Bratz" plays like a cross between Disney's wholesome, made-for-TV hit "High School Musical" and the more true-to-life 2004 Lindsay Lohan comedy "Mean Girls."

Director Sean McNamara said it was struggle to maintain the "passion for fashion" of the Bratz dolls -- whose navel-baring tops and micro-minis have been criticized for being overtly sexual -- in a movie for young girls.

"The doll makers said that the clothing was the form of self-expression for the dolls. But you can't translate those clothes the dolls wear onto real girls," McNamara said.

"We had to make the girls living and breathing in parent-approved clothing -- forward thinking, but they could not dress like sluts."

With a pop music soundtrack and commercial tie-ins with Skechers shoes and MTV, "Bratz" taps into the growing market for clothes, music, toys and movies aimed at children who aren't yet teenagers.

According to Alloy Media + Marketing, tweens spend about $51 billion a year in the United States, while family members spend another $170 billion on them.

MGA's Larian said the privately held company expects the movie to boost yearly sales by between 50 and 100 percent.
© Copyright 2007 Reuters.

Photo:
Actresses Nathalia Ramos (L), Logan Browning, Skyler Shaye and Janel Parrish (R) make a pinky promise in this publicity photo released to Reuters July 31, 2007 in a scene from the film in "Bratz." The film is based on the popular Bratz dolls, created in 2001 as a hip urban alternative to Barbie, which have taken the global toy market by storm, forming a global franchise worth about $2 billion for makers MGA Entertainment. REUTERS/Michael Desmond/Lionsgate Films/Handout