Vídeo Brinquedo
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Vídeo Brinquedo (also known as Toyland Video or Toy Video in English, formerly known as Spot Films) is a Brazilian animation studio, located in
São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
, known for producing animated films widely viewed as cheap
mockbuster A mockbuster (also known as knockbuster or a drafting opportunity) is a film created to exploit the publicity of another major motion picture with a similar title or subject. Mockbusters are often made with a low budget and quick production to max ...
s of comparable, more successful films from studios such as
Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disney Animation Studios (WDAS), sometimes shortened to Disney Animation, is an American animation studio that creates animated features and short films for The Walt Disney Company. The studio's current production logo features a scene fro ...
,
Pixar Animation Studios Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
,
DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...
,
20th Century Animation 20th Century Animation, Inc. (originally known as Fox Family Films, Fox Animation Studios, and 20th Century Fox Animation and sometimes referred to as Fox Animation) is an American animation studio located in Century City, Los Angeles. Formed i ...
and
Blue Sky Studios Blue Sky Studios, Inc. was an American computer animation studio based in Greenwich, Connecticut. It was founded on February 22, 1987 by Chris Wedge, Michael Ferraro, Carl Ludwig, Alison Brown, David Brown, and Eugene Troubetzkoy after their e ...
. The company was founded in 1995 as a Brazilian subsidiary of American distributor Spot Films, to distribute animation with the intention of distribution in its home market of
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, then seemingly split up and became Vídeo Brinquedo in 2004; later on, in 2006, they expanded to
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with the falling costs of
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duplication and packaging, and easier access to
language translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...
services. Most of Vídeo Brinquedo's films are still available on DVD and streaming services, though it is unclear who the current owners of the studio's output are.


Background

For the first nine years, Vídeo Brinquedo distributed
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-dubbed home video releases of shows such as ''
Sonic X is a Japanese anime television series based on Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' video game series. Produced by TMS Entertainment under partnership with Sega and Sonic Team, and directed by Hajime Kamegaki, ''Sonic X'' initially ran for 52 epis ...
'' and ''
The Little Lulu Show ''The Little Lulu Show'' is an animated series based on Marjorie Henderson Buell's comic book character ''Little Lulu''. The series first aired in 1995 after the cartoonist's death in 1993. The series was produced by the CINAR Corporation, in as ...
'' in the Brazilian market. One of the studio's early distributions was an obscure religious-themed cartoon called ''Kingdom Under the Sea'' ( pt, Reino submarino), which only sold a few copies until the release of the 2003
Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
film ''
Finding Nemo ''Finding Nemo'' is a 2003 American computer-animated comedy-drama adventure film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Directed by Andrew Stanton with co-direction by Lee Unkrich, the screenplay was writ ...
''. ''Kingdom Under the Sea'' and ''Finding Nemo'' had several similarities, such as the presence of a
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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. Brinquedo's first animations were traditional and in 2D, based on public domain fairy tales and classics such as
Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...
and the
Three Little Pigs "The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build three houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house t ...
, but with scripts that modernized the characters. They later expanded to
3D animation Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...
, their first title being ''The Little Cars'' ( pt, Os Carrinhos), loosely based on the 2006
Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...
animated film ''
Cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...
''. 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
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at stores like
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. 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 Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...
, company director Mauricio Milani stated "we tried to imagine what it will be in advance". The films are often only just over 40 minutes in length, the minimum required to qualify as a
feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
and awards qualification. Their films' English-dubbed casts (such as ''The Little Panda Fighter'') also featured notable voice actors from
4Kids Entertainment 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (formerly known as Leisure Concepts, Inc. and later known as 4Licensing Corporation) was an American licensing company. The company was previously also a film and television production company that produced English- dub ...
and several ''
Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and media franchise created by Sega. The franchise follows Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battles the evil Doctor Eggman, a mad scientist. The main ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' games are platformers mo ...
'' video games (in the 2000's). Originally released with a
Brazilian Portuguese Brazilian Portuguese (' ), also Portuguese of Brazil (', ) or South American Portuguese (') is the set of varieties of the Portuguese language native to Brazil and the most influential form of Portuguese worldwide. It is spoken by almost all of ...
soundtrack, many of Vídeo Brinquedo's titles were co-produced with Rexmore Company in Brazil, and distributed in
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by Branscome International, MorningStar Entertainment with
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and
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soundtracks, Brightspark Productions in the
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, and Janson Media on
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. In the United States, the company exploited its low costs to distribute its discs through
video rental A video rental shop/store is a physical retail business that rents home videos such as movies, prerecorded TV shows, video game discs and other media content. Typically, a rental shop conducts business with customers under conditions and terms a ...
outlets, along with rental kiosks such as
Redbox Redbox Automated Retail LLC (stylized as redbox.) is an American video rental company specializing in DVD, Blu-ray, 4K UHD rentals, and formerly video games via automated retail kiosks. Redbox kiosks feature the company's signature red color an ...
. 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.


Filmography


Film distribution

Besides producing its own animated movies, Vídeo Brinquedo has also distributed DVDs of foreign cartoons like ''
Sonic X is a Japanese anime television series based on Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' video game series. Produced by TMS Entertainment under partnership with Sega and Sonic Team, and directed by Hajime Kamegaki, ''Sonic X'' initially ran for 52 epis ...
'', ''
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 ''The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3'' is an animated television series. It premiered on September 8, 1990, on NBC. It is the second animated series to be based on Nintendo's ''Mario'' video game series and is loosely based on the video game ' ...
'', ''
Little Lulu ''Little Lulu'' is a comic strip created in 1935 by American author Marge (cartoonist), Marjorie Henderson Buell. The character, Lulu Moppet, debuted in ''The Saturday Evening Post'' on February 23, 1935, in a single panel, appearing as a flower ...
'', ''
Batfink ''Batfink'' is an American animated television series, consisting of five-minute shorts, that first aired in April 1966.David Mackay published a filmography of Batfink in the Sept. 1993 issues oFarmes per Second magazine, and also provided a comp ...
'', and a number of lesser-known
fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...
films made by Video Treasures (now
Anchor Bay Entertainment Anchor Bay Entertainment (formerly Video Treasures and Starmaker Entertainment) was an American home entertainment and production company. It was a subsidiary of Starz Inc. Anchor Bay Entertainment marketed and sold feature films, television ser ...
). However, one of its most controversial distributions is ''Mega Powers!'', which bears a close resemblance to the series ''
Power Rangers ''Power Rangers'' is an entertainment and merchandising franchise built around a live-action superhero television series, based on the Japanese tokusatsu franchise ''Super Sentai''. Produced first by Saban Entertainment, second by BVS Entert ...
'' and ''
Super Sentai is a Japanese superhero team metaseries and media franchise consisting of television series and films produced by Toei Company, and Bandai, and aired by TV Asahi ("Sentai" is the Japanese word for "task force" or "fighting squadron"). The sho ...
'', but was not produced by Vídeo Brinquedo themselves. The series is a production of Intervalo Produções.


Reception

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 as "filler" so the films' runtime can qualify as "
feature length A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
". Erik Henriksen, a reporter from ''
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'', 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. Marco Aurélio Canônico of ''
Folha de S. Paulo ''Folha de S.Paulo'' (sometimes spelled ''Folha de São Paulo''), also known as simply ''Folha'' (, ''Sheet''), is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded in 1921 under the name ''Folha da Noite'' and published in São Paulo by the Folha da Manhã co ...
'', 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
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posted Marco Aurélio Canônico's article on its website.Vídeo Brinquedo faz sucesso com desenhos como “A Vida De Um Carro” e “Ratatoing”
." ''
Folha de S. Paulo ''Folha de S.Paulo'' (sometimes spelled ''Folha de São Paulo''), also known as simply ''Folha'' (, ''Sheet''), is a Brazilian daily newspaper founded in 1921 under the name ''Folha da Noite'' and published in São Paulo by the Folha da Manhã co ...
'' at
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(Brazil). 2 September 2007. Retrieved on 16 April 2011.
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also stated, "even by the ocean-floor-scraping standards of Vídeo Brinquedo, it's a shameless knock-off". The company also seems to depict racist tropes in their movies, such as in their infamous 2009 film ''What's Up: Balloon to the Rescue'', where
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s of
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and
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culture are seen. Disney's legal department was contacted by a reporter through a spokesperson about a potential lawsuit, but did not comment.


In other media

Two of Vídeo Brinquedo's productions were parodied in an episode of ''
The Amazing World of Gumball ''The Amazing World of Gumball'' is an animated sitcom created by Ben Bocquelet for Cartoon Network. The series concerns the lives of 12-year-old Gumball Watterson, an anthropomorphic blue cat, and adoptive goldfish brother Darwin, who attend ...
'' called " The Treasure", in which Gumball picks up a
mockbuster A mockbuster (also known as knockbuster or a drafting opportunity) is a film created to exploit the publicity of another major motion picture with a similar title or subject. Mockbusters are often made with a low budget and quick production to max ...
DVD called ''How to Ratatwang Your Panda'', a poorly rendered CGI film where a panda farts in front of several rats. The film parodies both ''The Little Panda Fighter'' and ''Ratatoing'', which themselves are cheap imitations of ''
Kung Fu Panda ''Kung Fu Panda'' is an American media franchise that originally started in 2008 with the release of the animated feature film of the same name, produced by DreamWorks Animation. Following the adventures of the titular Po Ping (primarily voic ...
'' and ''
Ratatouille Ratatouille ( , ), oc, ratatolha , is a French Provençal dish of stewed vegetables which originated in Nice, and is sometimes referred to as ''ratatouille niçoise'' (). Recipes and cooking times differ widely, but common ingredients include ...
''.


See also

*
Mockbuster A mockbuster (also known as knockbuster or a drafting opportunity) is a film created to exploit the publicity of another major motion picture with a similar title or subject. Mockbusters are often made with a low budget and quick production to max ...
*
The Asylum The Asylum is an American independent film company and distributor that focuses on producing low-budget, direct-to-video films. It is notorious for producing titles that capitalize on productions by major studios, often using film titles and sc ...
, another studio notable for mockbusters *
Jetlag Productions Jetlag Productions was an American animation studio that, like the similar studio Golden Films, has created a number of animated films based on different, popular children's stories, while creating a few original productions. Produced mainly for t ...


References


External links

*
Blogspot page
(in Portuguese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Video Brinquedo Film production companies of Brazil Brazilian animation studios Companies based in São Paulo 1995 establishments in Brazil Mass media companies established in 1995