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Vídeo Brinquedo

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Vídeo Brinquedo
IndustryCGI animation
Founded1994
Defunct2010
Headquarters
São Paulo
,
Brazil
ParentWidea
Websitevideobrinquedo.com.br

Vídeo Brinquedo (Toyland Video) is a Brazilian animation studio, located in São Paulo,[1] that produces low-budget 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 amount 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 Brinquendo's titles are co-produced with Rexmore Company do Brazil,[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 five films that bears a close resemblance to the 2006 Pixar film Cars.

File:Littlecars-dvd.jpg
DVD Cover of The Little Cars in the Great Race
  • 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.
  • Coupe (Cris Crash in Portuguese): Cruise's girlfriend.
  • Simone: A journalist for the Raceopolis News.
  • Lugnut (Kombo in Portuguese): A tow truck.
  • Wrangler (Victor Grande in Portuguese): Wrangler has never won a race, but he believes that he is the best racer.
  • Ed Willis: The editor for the city's newspaper.
  • Mister V8 (Senhor V8 in Portuguese): The owner of the courier company.
  • Champion (Campeão in Portuguese): The champion of the Raceopolis team.

Ratatoing

File:Ratatoing-dvd.jpg
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 close resemblance to the 2005 Blue Sky film Robots and the 2008 Pixar film WALL-E & an uncanny style resemblance to the 1994 TV series ReBoot.

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] another Brazilian animation studio that was also responsible for creating the cartoon Dogmons!, bearing a close resemblance to Pokémon and Digimon.[14]

Reception

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 Ratatoing and Ratatouille, The Little Cars and Cars, The Little Panda Fighter and Kung Fu Panda, and Gladiformers and Transformers.[15]

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".[16]

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.[17] Virgin Media had also thought of the same thing, stating "Even by the ocean-floor-scraping standards of Video Brinquedo, it's a shameless knock-off."[18] 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.[19]

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. ^ a b c d e f g "Estúdio brasileiro, 2007". Retrieved September 22, 2012.
  2. ^ "Empresa". Vídeo Brinquedo. Retrieved 2008-12-27.
  3. ^ a b "Vídeo Brinquedo". Vídeo Brinquedo. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
  4. ^ "The Little Cars in the Great Race". All Movie. Retrieved 2008-12-22.
  5. ^ "Os Carrinhos". Vídeo Brinquedo. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  6. ^ "Branscome International". Branscome International. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  7. ^ "The Little Cars in the Great Race (2006)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  8. ^ "The Little Cars 2: Rodopolis Adventures (2007)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  9. ^ "The Little Cars 3: Fast and Curious (2007)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-12-23.
  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. ^ "Dogmons no Anime Family e Anime Friends!" (in Portuguese). Dogmons. Retrieved 16 April 2013.
  15. ^ "RIP, Pixar.", The Portland Mercury
  16. ^ Review on Toonzone.net
  17. ^ "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.
  18. ^ Most blatant movie rip-offs: The Little Cars (2006). Virgin Media Accessed from September 23, 2012.
  19. ^ "Smelling a Rat". Far Eastern Economic Review. September 30, 2008. Retrieved September 22, 2012.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vídeo_Brinquedo&oldid=658947493"