Character Ripoffs

[yoda_four]

I was just researching some stuff for Little Red Ridinghood (sp?), and obviously googled Hoodwinked. I looked at the poster with all the characters, and saw something strangely familiar about the frog:



But of course, it's the genetically modified singing frogs from Meet The Robinsons!



Doesn't anyone else think that the designs are just a *bit* too similar. I mean, not only the eyes and shape of the head, but look and the block shaped body with toothpick arms.

Although you could argue, both designs were a quick reshuffling of Michigan J. Frog:



And remember, this ain't the first time something like this happened:




Your thoughts?

[castleinthesky]

The frog could also be taken from Don Bluth's Thumbelina.

[slave2moonlight]

Frogs usually look similar. The Chicken Little bit is more interesting...

[Escapay]

Frogs usually look similar.

Tell that to Kermit.

Escapay

[slave2moonlight]

Ha, Kermit is precisely the reason I decided to say "usually."

[Maleficient]

Chicken Little is similar to the other chicken cartoon. However, my biggest issue with copying ideas or following the same train of thought lies with Dreamworks and Disney. The many examples are:

Antz (1998) and A Bug's Life (1998)
Shark Tale (2004) and Finding Nemo (2003)
Madagascar (2005) and The Wild (2006)

These movies use similar environments and also comparisons in story lines. For instance, in The Wild, all the animals live in the New York Zoo, end up leaving the zoo and head to Africa, for different purposes of course, but are influenced by a lion, which also occurs in Madagascar.

In A Bug's Life, Flik a singled out ant, just like Zee from Antz make a difference in the colony. In addition, they marry a princess.

Finding Nemo interacts with some sharks, like that in Shark Tale but under different circumstances.

In general, the plots are slightly different, but there are relations within each. Furthermore, these films were close in release dates . . . coincidence?

[Mr. Toad]

Is that Henery the Chicken Hawk?

[blackcauldron85]

Chicken Little, at one point, was going to be a girl (I mean, CL looked the same as a girl, just with a bow and dress, but that would differentiate the two birds a little more...)

And, what I've read throughout the years about the similarities between plots for Disney movies and DreamWorks movies are that some people working at Disney then moved to DreamWorks, and may have had an idea they heard about (or even worked on) at Disney in their head and told people at DreamWorks. "The Wild", for example, was in production before "Madagascar", but "The Wild" took longer to make, and that's why "Madagascar" came out first and made people think that "The Wild" copied it, when, in fact, DreamWorks copied Disney (as always).

Boy, do I dislike DreamWorks.

[2099net]

Is that Henery the Chicken Hawk?

No It's Egghead. Usually he's Ms. Prissy's son.

Look, a chick is a chick. Tell 10 people to draw a cartoon chick and I guess about 7 would draw something similar. Small body, big head (to emphasise the cuteness/baby nature) and colour it yellow. The only questionable aspect about Egghead and Chicken Little is the glasses.

Over 80 years of filmmaking, you're bound to get similar designs, because generally what worked in the past, worked because it was a good, logical design.

I'm not even going to go into the Dreamworks issue again, but I 100% do not think Antz or SharksTale are Pixar "rip-offs". So there.

I'm not so convinced about Madagascar though, especially after hearing how The Wild was shipped round to numerous studios before landing at Disney.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Neither frog-ness not chicken-ness should or could be copyrighted, I hope...

[PixarFan2006]

I found the picture of egghead next to chicken little comparison interesting.

[Big Disney Fan]

One of the earliest sets of Warner Bros characters were a pair of foxes named Foxy and Roxy and minus the slightly pointed ears and big bushy tails, they are obvious ripoffs of Mickey and Minnie. I first seen the cartoons with these guys when they were excerpted on Pee-wee's Playhouse.

[UrsushH.Bear]

Does anyone remember seeing the Fantasia rip-off from Warner Bros. ? Elmer Fudd made a memorable Deems Taylor.

The whole of Merry Melodies (WB)was parodied with Silly Symphonies. A formula that worked well for both companies for quite a while. MM was a bit more irreverent though.

[Big Disney Fan]

Does anyone remember seeing the Fantasia rip-off from Warner Bros. ? Elmer Fudd made a memorable Deems Taylor.

The whole of Merry Melodies (WB)was parodied with Silly Symphonies. A formula that worked well for both companies for quite a while. MM was a bit more irreverent though.

I remember that rip-off. It's called "A Corny Concerto", directed by Bob Clampett.

As for Merrie Melodies, it was originally toons with songs in them. But then it just became another Looney Tunes, just with different title music and of course, a different title. Sometimes, though, Looney Tunes music was used on Merrie Melodies, usually on title cards with the Blue Ribbon on it.

[Caballero Girl]

One of the earliest sets of Warner Bros characters were a pair of foxes named Foxy and Roxy and minus the slightly pointed ears and big bushy tails, they are obvious ripoffs of Mickey and Minnie. I first seen the cartoons with these guys when they were excerpted on Pee-wee's Playhouse.

I know Foxy and Roxy, but from their much later appearence in the "Two-Tone Town" episode of Tiny Toon Adventures. By this stage, they'd been given a significant makeover, so as to look more like the characters Yakko and Dot from Animaniacs. But yeah, I nearly choked when I discovered an image of Foxy's original design. Other than the tail, he was pretty much indistinguishable from Disney's main mouse.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

One of the earliest sets of Warner Bros characters were a pair of foxes named Foxy and Roxy and minus the slightly pointed ears and big bushy tails, they are obvious ripoffs of Mickey and Minnie.

Yes, that may be so. But I also think it turns out that a lot of cartoon characters looked more or less like that in those days...

[Fidget1234]

Does anyone remember seeing the Fantasia rip-off from Warner Bros. ? Elmer Fudd made a memorable Deems Taylor.

The whole of Merry Melodies (WB)was parodied with Silly Symphonies. A formula that worked well for both companies for quite a while. MM was a bit more irreverent though.

was this the "Kill the Wabbit" toon?

[Big Disney Fan]

was this the "Kill the Wabbit" toon?

No, that was "What's Opera, Doc?" and that was released in 1957.

[jeremy88]

I heard Princess Clara from that show Drawn Together was a knockoff of Ariel...

<img src="http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/7596/claracd7.jpg" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" />

[numba1lostboy]

I heard Princess Clara from that show Drawn Together was a knockoff of Ariel...

<img src="http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/7596/claracd7.jpg" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" />

Well, thats understandable. The whole point of the show is that its characters are parodies of popular animated icons.
Other toons copied on that show include:
-Superman
-Pikachu
-Betty Boop
-Link

On a side note, this is my 666th post...creepy.