Vídeo Brinquedo
 | |
| Formerly |
|
|---|---|
| Industry | Mockbusters |
| Founded | 1986 |
| Founder | Fernando Francielli Ale McHaddo |
| Defunct | 2012 |
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Maurício Milani Michele Gabriel |
| Parent | Rexmore Widea |
| Website | videobrinquedo.com.br |
Vídeo Brinquedo (also known as Toyland Video and translated as Toy Video, and formerly known as VBF Produções and Spot Films) was a Brazilian animation studio, located in São Paulo,[1] widely notorious for producing animated films widely viewed as mockbusters of comparable films from Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios, DreamWorks Animation, 20th Century Fox, Blue Sky Studios, Hasbro Entertainment, Paramount Pictures and Lucasfilm. The company was founded in 1986 to distribute animation with the intention of distribution in its home market of Brazil, then expanded to North America with the falling costs of DVD duplication and packaging, and easier access to language translation services.[2] The studio went bankrupt in 2012, winding down operations thereafter. Most of Brinquedo's films are still available on DVD and streaming services, though it is unclear who the ultimate owners of the studio's output currently are.
Background
For the first nine years, Vídeo Brinquedo distributed Portuguese-dubbed home video releases of shows such as Sonic X and The Little Lulu Show in the Brazilian market.[1]
One of the studio's early distributions was an obscure religious-themed cartoon called Kingdom Under the Sea (Portuguese: Reino submarino) title sold only a few copies until the release of the 2003 Pixar film Finding Nemo. Kingdom Under the Sea 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 The Little Cars (Portuguese: Os carrinhos),[3][4][5] loosely based on the 2006 Pixar animated film Cars. Originally aimed at children between two and three years old, the film sold over a million copies in its first month in Brazil, as well as selling over 5,000 copies per week in the United States at stores like Walmart.[6]
The original idea of the company was to 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 advance".[1]
Originally released with a Brazilian Portuguese soundtrack, many of Vídeo Brinquedo's titles were co-produced with Rexmore Company do Brasil,[3] and distributed in North America by Branscome International,[7] MorningStar Entertainment with English and Spanish soundtracks, Brightspark Productions in the United Kingdom, and Janson Media on Amazon Prime Video.
In the United States, the company exploited its low costs to distribute its discs through video rental outlets, along with rental kiosks such as Redbox. Usually, it timed its releases to a major movie release either in theaters or their home video debut, often acting as a "last resort" choice for harried parents or children who saw Brinquedo's look-alike covers and confused them with Hollywood film releases, or the latter were sold out, leaving a parent to rent it to avoid disappointment from their children.
The films are often only just over 40 minutes in length, the minimum required to qualify as a feature film and awards qualification.
Filmography
 | This article is missing information about additional films. (September 2020) |
| Year | Title | Original |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | The Little Cars In: The Great Race | Cars |
| 2007 | Ratatoing | Ratatouille |
| Gladiformers | Transformers | |
| The Little Cars 2: Rodopolis Adventure | Cars | |
| 2008 | The Little Panda Fighter | Kung Fu Panda |
| Tiny Robots | WALL-E and Robots | |
| Little Princess School | Disney Princess | |
| The Little Cars 3: Fast & Curious | Cars | |
| 2009 | The Little Bee | Bee Movie |
| Gladiformers 2 | Transformers 2 | |
| Little & Big Monsters | Monsters vs. Aliens and The Incredibles | |
| What’s Up: Balloon To The Rescue | Up | |
| The Frog Prince | The Princess and the Frog |
Film distribution
Besides producing its own animated movies, Vídeo Brinquedo has also distributed DVDs of foreign cartoons like Sonic X, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, Little Lulu, Batfink, and a number of lesser-known fairy tale films made by Video Treasures (now Anchor Bay Entertainment).[citation needed] 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.[8]
Criticism
Vídeo Brinquedo's animated films have been heavily criticized for how they copy other mainstream animated films, as well as for their very poor animation, voice acting, and questionable writing alongside scenes which merely exist to fill the running time so the film in question can qualify as 'feature length'.[9] Erik Henriksen, a reporter from The Portland Mercury, criticized Vídeo Brinquedo as being "the laziest/cheapest movie studio of all time," due to similarities between its releases and the films of other animation studios, such as Pixar.[10]
Marco Aurélio Canônico of Folha de S. Paulo, who criticized 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.[11] Virgin Media also stated, "Even by the ocean-floor-scraping standards of Vídeo Brinquedo, it's a shameless knock-off". The company also seems to depict racism in their movies, such as in "What's Up: Balloon to the Rescue", where stereotypes of Chinese and French culture are seen.[12]
Disney's legal department was contacted by a reporter through a spokesperson about a potential lawsuit, but Milani did not comment.[1]
In other media
Two of Vídeo Brinquedo's productions were parodied in an episode of The Amazing World of Gumball called "The Treasure", in which Gumball picks up a mockbuster DVD called How to Ratatwang Your Panda. The film is a cross between The Little Panda Fighter and Ratatoing, which themselves reference Kung Fu Panda and Ratatouille.
See also
References
- ^ a b c d e f "Estúdio brasileiro, 2007" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 22 September 2012.
- ^ "Empresa". Vídeo Brinquedo. Retrieved 27 December 2008.
- ^ a b "Vídeo Brinquedo". Vídeo Brinquedo. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
- ^ "The Little Cars in the Great Race". All Movie. Retrieved 22 December 2008.
- ^ "Os Carrinhos". Vídeo Brinquedo. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
- ^ "Forget Ratatouille, here's Ratatoing! The rise and rise of the 'mockbuster'". the Guardian. 28 January 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2022.
- ^ "Branscome International". Branscome International. Retrieved 23 December 2008.
- ^ "Quem Somos - Mão na Massinha".
- ^ The Brazilian Ratatouille Knock Off Ratatoing Lives Up To Its Reputation for Surreal Ineptitude - Nathan Rabin's Happy Place
- ^ "RIP, Pixar. Archived 2 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine", The Portland Mercury
- ^ "Vídeo Brinquedo faz sucesso com desenhos como “Os Carrinhos” e “Ratatoing” Archived 29 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine." Folha de S. Paulo at Ministry of Culture (Brazil). 2 September 2007. Retrieved on 16 April 2011.
- ^ Most blatant movie rip-offs: The Little Cars (2006). Virgin Media Accessed from 23 September 2012.
External links
- Official website (in Portuguese)
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