Mockbusters (Ripoffs of big-name animation)

The Common Room Other Animation
#1

It might be interesting to maintain a list of known mockbusters that rip off the major-studio movies we enjoy. Also, the perpetrators of these “crimes” can be illuminated.

Most of the ones I’ve seen are quite horrible, as expected. But a few have enough of a glimmer of creativity that one wonders why they didn’t just try to make their own original low-budget movie. Of course, that would be beside the point, which is to lure unsuspecting consumers into buying “similar” movies compared to what’s out in theaters.

This article sheds some light on the phenomenon:

articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/24 … s-20120624

The following list is representative but not exhaustive. If anyone spots any corrections or additions, I’ll update this post and maintain a “master list” of not-so-masterful mockbusters and their producers. Caveat emptor!

Video Brinquedo (Brazil)

Little Bee
The Little Cars
The Little Cars 2: Rodopolis Adventures
The Little Cars 3: Fast and Curious
Ratatoing
Tiny Robots
Little and Big Monsters
The Little Panda Fighter
What’s Up? Balloon to the Rescue
The Little Princess School
The Little Princess School 2
The Frog Prince
Gladiformers
Gladiformers 2

Spark Plug Entertainment (USA)

Bug Bites: An Ant’s Life
Plan Bee
A Car’s Life
A Car’s Life 2
Spider’s Web: A Pig’s Tale
Piper Penguin and His Fantastic Flying Machines
Frankie Stein [in production, possibly timed for Hotel Transylvania’s release]

Renegade Animation (USA)

Tappy Toes
Chop Kick Panda
Puss In Boots: A Furry Tail

Prevalent Entertainment (USA)

The Prodigy
Life’s A Jungle: Africa’s Most Wanted

Herold and Family (France)

The True Story of Puss 'N Boots

Shemaroo Entertainment (India)

Kiara the Brave

[unknown producer]

Braver

#2

Mockbusters just make me laugh. Especially Video Brinquedo. I mean, some of these are just so painfully similar that it’s a wonder they haven’t been sued yet!

I appreciate any kind of animation because I know how hard it is to animate anything, but most of these are still painful to watch.

#3

I love watching these (well, some of them). 8D It’s just so funny to watch the bad animation and just how plain awful they can be. I’ve seen 10 of the films in that list.
I will say, though, Spark Plug films are actually painful to watch. 8D

#4

Gags How is it these companies get away with this stuff?! I mean, the ones that are based on fairy tales are OK, considering they’re just another’s version of a classic story, just as Dreamworks and Disney do, but some of these are just painfully obvious. Chop-Kick Panda was the first one I heard about, and I actually feel bad for Dreamworks (Considering I like the KFP movies and a fair number of DW movies). And hey, I admit I actually… bought and watched one of these… Ratatoing… I’m not proud :blush: . But like you said, JustSteve, it piqued my interest because of my Ratatouille obsession back in '07 when I bought the DVD. And the story actually is kind of original, but it still wasn’t that great; and thus, I no longer own it. I find these movies to be aggrevating to read about… yet, strangely interesting! :confused: These companies can call it whatever they want, but I still call them rip-offs :angry:
Oh, and aren’t there maybe 6 Little Cars movies?