Vídeo Brinquedo
Industry | CGI animation |
---|---|
Founded | 1994 |
Headquarters | São Paulo, Brazil |
Parent | Widea |
Website | videobrinquedo.com.br |
Vídeo Brinquedo (Toyland Video) is a Brazilian animation studio, located in São Paulo,[1] that produces low-budget knock-off direct-to-video animations. The company was founded in 1994 to distribute children's animation with the intention of distribution in its home market of Brazil, as well as to other global markets.[2]
The company produces and distributes animated mockbuster films with concepts similar to films by Pixar, Disney, DreamWorks and other major studios.
Background
For the first seven years, Vídeo Brinquedo distributed home video releases of shows such as Sonic X and Little Lulu in the Brazilian market.[1]
One of the studio's early distributions was an obscure religious-themed cartoon called United Submarine; this title sold only a few copies until the release of the 2003 Pixar film Finding Nemo. United Submarine and Finding Nemo had several similarities, such as the presence of a clownfish and a story centered on parent-child relationship. From the huge number of sales the company had on the cartoon, Brinquedo wanted to start not only distributing cartoons but also create their own.[1]
Brinquedo's first animations were traditional, 2D-styled, based on fairy tales and classics such as Pinocchio and the Three Little Pigs, but with scripts that modernized the characters.[1] They later expanded to 3D animation, their first title being Little Cars (Portuguese: Os Carrinhos),[3][4][5] loosely based on the Pixar animated film Cars. Originally aimed at children between two and three years old, over 3,000 copies were sold in more than 12 countries.[1]
The original idea of the company was jump on trends raised by the major studios and start production of animation with two to three years in advance. With the company borrowing ideas established in Hollywood, company director Mauricio Milani stated: "We tried to imagine what it will be in evidence".[1]
Originally released with a Brazilian Portuguese soundtrack, many of Vídeo Brinquedo's titles are co-produced with Rexmore Company do BraSil,[3] and distributed in North America by Branscome International,[6] with English and Spanish soundtracks.
Films
The Little Cars
The Little Cars (Portuguese: Os Carrinhos) is a series of ten films that bears a close resemblance to the 2006 Pixar film Cars.
Five films have been translated into English while five more remain available exclusively in Portuguese.
- The Little Cars in the Great Race (Portuguese: Os Carrinhos em: A Grande Corrida), 33 minutes, released on June 20, 2006.[7]
- The Little Cars 2: Raceopolis Adventures (Portuguese: Os Carrinhos 2: Aventuras em Rodópolis), 44 minutes, released on May 29, 2007.[8]
- The Little Cars 3: Fast and Curious (Portuguese: Os Carrinhos 3 - Velozes e Curiosos), released on December 18, 2007[9]
- The Little Cars 4: New Genie Adventures (Portuguese: Os Carrinhos 4: Novas Histórias Geniais)
- The Little Cars 5: Big Adventures (Portuguese: Os Carrinhos da Páscoa)
- A compilation disc called "Super Highway" includes two of the films, released on January 14, 2008.[10]
Characters
- Cruise (Tonny Tunado in Portuguese): A taxi that became a racer. He is similar to Lightning McQueen.
- Coupe (Cris Crash in Portuguese): Cruise's girlfriend and Mr. V8's niece. She is similar to Sally Carrera.
- Simone: A journalist for the Raceopolis News.
- Lugnut (Kombo in Portuguese): A tow truck. He is similar to Mater.
- Wrangler (Victor Grande in Portuguese): Wrangler has never won a race, but he believes that he is the best racer. He is similar to Chick Hicks.
- Ed Willis: The editor for the city's newspaper.
- Mister V8 (Senhor V8 in Portuguese): The owner of the courier company and Coupe's uncle. He is similar to Doc Hudson.
- Champion (Campeão in Portuguese): The champion of the Raceopolis team. He is similar to Strip Weathers AKA The King.
Ratatoing
Ratatoing (/rætæˈtɔɪŋ/) is a film which bears a close resemblance to the 2007 Pixar film Ratatouille. The 44 minute-long film,[11] tells the story of Marcell Toing, a mouse who is the most gifted chef in Rio de Janeiro. He owns the famed restaurant "Ratatoing" along with his crew, consisting of fellow mice Carol and Greg. They plan out weekly raids on human kitchens to acquire fresh ingredients for use in their dishes. However, rival restaurant owners are desperate to discover Marcell's secrets and are willing to risk putting their own restaurants out of business to unearth them.
Cast
- Douglas Guedes (Wayne Grayson in the English version) as Marcell Toing
- Elisa Vilon (Lisa Ortiz in the English version) as Carol
- Sidney Ross (Mike Pollock in the English version) as Greg
- Cleber Martins (Marc Diraison in the English version) as Octávio
- Cláudio Satiro as the Manager
- Francisco Freitas as Male Rat #1, the Rat Child and the Skinny Rat
- Raul Schlosser as Male Rat #2, the Narrator (voiced by Mike Pollock in the English version) and the Glasses-Wearing Rat
- Fernanda Padilha as Female Rat #1
- Cláudia Victória as Female Rat #2
Little Bee
Known as Abelhinhas in Brazil and bears a close resemblance to the 2007 DreamWorks film Bee Movie.
Cast
- Alex Minei (Veronica Taylor in the English version) as Beenard
- Thainá Almeida as Belinha
- Elisa Vilon (Veronica Taylor in the English version) as the Princess
- Maddie Blaustein as Dona Abelhusca, additional voices
- Adna Cruz as the Queen
- Raul Schlosser as the Chef and the Soldier
- Sidney César (Dan Green in the English version) as the Commander
- Wallace Costa as Human #1 and Vozerio
- Francisco Freitas as Human #2 and the Drone
- Cláudia Victória as some bees and Vozerio
- Mariana Canuto as the Bee Operator
The Little Panda Fighter
Known as Ursinho da Pesada in Brazil, previously known as Heavy's Little Bear and bears a close resemblance to the 2008 DreamWorks film Kung Fu Panda.
Cast
- Raul Schlosser (Dan Green in the English version) as Pancada
- Sidney Ross as Polaris and Catotinha
- Cláudia Victória as Beth and the Waitress
- Charlie Mambert as Master Xin and Judge #2
- Eli Moreno as the Narrator
- Cláudio Satiro as Freaky Teddy and Judge #3
- Wallace Costa as the bear on the cell phone, Judge #1 and Carinhurso
Tiny Robots
Known as Robozinhos in Brazil and bears a resemblance to Robots and WALL-E.
Cast
- Douglas Guedes as Trank
- Francisco Freitas as Tron2B
- Raul Schlosser as Nev1 and the Constructor
- Márcio Scharrenbroic as the Leader and the Narrator
- José Soares as the Grandfather
- Wallace Costa as Colega Trank
- Sidney César as Soldiers #1 and #2
- Cláudio Satiro as the Loud Speaker
Little Princess School
Known as Escola de Princesinhas in Brazil and bears a close resemblance to the Disney Princess franchise.
Cast
- Elisa Vilon as Cindy
- Cláudia Victória as Bianca
- Thainá Almeida as Zade
- Luciana Minei as Hime
- Lene Bastos as Iriá and Mam Drastic
- Sidney César as Dango
Other films
- Gladiformers and Gladiformers 2 (Close resemblance to the franchise Transformers)
- Little & Big Monsters (Monstros e Monstrinhos) (Close resemblance to the 2009 DreamWorks film Monsters vs. Aliens)
- What's Up?: Balloon to the rescue (Voando Em Busca de Aventuras!) (Close resemblance to the 2009 Pixar film Up)
- The Frog Prince (A Princesa e o Sapo) (Close resemblance to the 2009 Disney film The Princess and the Frog)
- Alice in Wonderland
Film distribution
Even though Vídeo Brinquedo is a company that produces its own animated movies, in the Brazilian market they have also distributed DVDs of foreign cartoons like Sonic X, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, Little Lulu and Batfink, and some little-known films about fairytales.[12] However, one of its most controversial distributions is Mega Powers!, which bears a close resemblance to the series Power Rangers and Super Sentai, but was not produced by Vídeo Brinquedo themselves. The series is a production of Intervalo Produções.[13]
Criticism, plagiarism, and copyright infringement
Vídeo Brinquedo's films have been globally panned from critics and audiences. Erik Henriksen, a reporter from The Portland Mercury, criticized Vídeo Brinquedo of being "the laziest/cheapest movie studio of all time" due to similarities between its releases and the films of other studios, such as Pixar.[14]
One reviewer on Toon Zone, in his review of Ratatoing, said: "If you ate a copy of the worst cartoon you could think of, you'd still probably crap something better than Ratatoing", and went on to bemoan the incredibly poor animation, calling the movie as a whole "a senseless waste of raw materials" and "a waste of time, energy and effort for all parties concerned".[15]
Marco Aurélio Canônico of Folha de S. Paulo, who described the Little Cars series as a copy of the Pixar film Cars, and likewise Ratatoing and Ratatouille, discussed whether lawsuits from Pixar would appear. The Brazilian Ministry of Culture posted Marco Aurélio Canônico's article on its website.[16] Virgin Media had also thought of the same thing, stating: "Even by the ocean-floor-scraping standards of Vídeo Brinquedo, it's a shameless knock-off".[17] Milani defended himself from charges of plagiarism, stating "The story is that we create. Themes are just the same".
Disney's legal department was contacted by a reporter through a spokesperson about this, but Milani did not comment.[1]
In China, a 2008 study in Beijing found that the Chinese DVD copy of Ratatoing had a high amount of Piracy.[18]
Two of Vídeo Brinquedo's productions were parodied in an episode of The Amazing World of Gumball named The Treasure, in which Gumball picks up a mockbuster DVD called "How to Ratatwang Your Panda".
In his "Search for the Worst" series, YouTuber I Hate Everything made a video reviewing The Little Panda Fighter, one of Video Brinquedo's movies and later destroying his five copies of the movie. This for a time led to the suspension of his channel, the exact reasoning of which is still unknown.
See also
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Estúdio brasileiro, 2007". Retrieved September 22, 2012.
- ↑ "Empresa". Vídeo Brinquedo. Retrieved 2008-12-27.
- 1 2 "Vídeo Brinquedo". Vídeo Brinquedo. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
- ↑ "The Little Cars in the Great Race". All Movie. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
- ↑ "Os Carrinhos". Vídeo Brinquedo. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
- ↑ "Branscome International". Branscome International. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
- ↑ "The Little Cars in the Great Race (2006)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
- ↑ "The Little Cars 2: Rodopolis Adventures (2007)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
- ↑ "The Little Cars 3: Fast and Curious (2007)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
- ↑ "Little Cars: Super Highway", Amazon.com
- ↑ "Ratatoing (2007)", The New York Times
- ↑ http://www.publicacaodigital.com.br/videobrinquedo2/#
- ↑ http://www.mm.animator.com.br/quem-somos.html
- ↑ "RIP, Pixar.", The Portland Mercury
- ↑ Review on Toonzone.net
- ↑ "Vídeo Brinquedo faz sucesso com desenhos como “Os Carrinhos” e “Ratatoing”." Folha de S. Paulo at Ministry of Culture (Brazil). September 2, 2007. Retrieved on April 16, 2011.
- ↑ Most blatant movie rip-offs: The Little Cars (2006). Virgin Media Accessed from September 23, 2012.
- ↑ "Smelling a Rat". Far Eastern Economic Review. September 30, 2008. Retrieved September 22, 2012.
External links
- Official website (Portuguese)
- Vídeo Brinquedo at the Internet Movie Database