Vídeo Brinquedo

Vídeo Brinquedo
Industry CGI animation
Founded 1994
Headquarters São Paulo, Brazil
Parent Widea
Website videobrinquedo.com.br

Vídeo Brinquedo (also known as 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.

DVD Cover of The Little Cars in the Great Race

Five films have been translated into English while five more remain available exclusively in Portuguese.

Characters

Ratatoing

Cover of 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

Little Bee

Known as Abelhinhas in Brazil and bears a close resemblance to the 2007 DreamWorks film Bee Movie.

Cast

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

Tiny Robots

Known as Robozinhos in Brazil and bears a resemblance to Robots and WALL-E.

Cast

Little Princess School

Known as Escola de Princesinhas in Brazil and bears a close resemblance to the Disney Princess franchise.

Cast

Other films

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 and copyright infringement allegations

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.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Estúdio brasileiro, 2007". Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  2. ↑ "Empresa". Vídeo Brinquedo. Retrieved 27 December 2008.
  3. 1 2 "Vídeo Brinquedo". Vídeo Brinquedo. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
  4. ↑ "The Little Cars in the Great Race". All Movie. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
  5. ↑ "Os Carrinhos". Vídeo Brinquedo. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
  6. ↑ "Branscome International". Branscome International. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
  7. ↑ "The Little Cars in the Great Race (2006)". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
  8. ↑ "The Little Cars 2: Rodopolis Adventures (2007)". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
  9. ↑ "The Little Cars 3: Fast and Curious (2007)". The New York Times. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
  10. ↑ "Little Cars: Super Highway", Amazon.com
  11. ↑ "Ratatoing (2007)", The New York Times
  12. ↑ http://www.publicacaodigital.com.br/videobrinquedo2/#
  13. ↑ http://www.mm.animator.com.br/quem-somos.html
  14. ↑ "RIP, Pixar.", The Portland Mercury
  15. ↑ Review on Toonzone.net
  16. ↑ "Vídeo Brinquedo faz sucesso com desenhos como “Os Carrinhos” e “Ratatoing”." Folha de S. Paulo at Ministry of Culture (Brazil). 2 September 2007. Retrieved on 16 April 2011.
  17. ↑ Most blatant movie rip-offs: The Little Cars (2006). Virgin Media Accessed from 23 September 2012.
  18. ↑ "Smelling a Rat". Far Eastern Economic Review. 30 September 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2012.

External links

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