Lobo Latina 2: A Canção do Lobo

Lobo Latina 2: A Canção do Lobo is a 2002 Brazilian animated action musical dramedy feature film directed by Rodrigo Barbosa. It is based on the Loba Latina comic created by Armandinho (who also helped write the film) and is a sequel to the comic's 1999 film adaptation, also being released just a few months before the comic ended publication.

It is the second feature film produced by Picapau Filmes as well as its first and only collaboration with Estúdios Pintura (also its penultimate film before Gatarina no Mar Encantado in 2004 and the studio was incorporated into Picapau the following year).

Summary
Bonita has been riding high with her werewolf act for the past while but still finds her way of life unsatisfying, seeking something different for once until she is informed she's not the only human-turned-beast in Brazil and sets off to find out for herself. Upon arrival in Vila Matalinda, a wooded area far from the city, she is awestruck by the animal-folk community and immediately begins to feel at home.

However, things aren't all peachy as she is tasked to make a heavy personal choice for herself that she cannot reverse and the werewolf mafia who harassed her before seems to be plotting something with malevolent hoary fox witch Bruxinha Dukampa.

Voice cast

 * Júlia Cardoso as Bonita
 * Caio Espindola as Marcelo
 * Heitor Bergmann as Dono Rosnaldo
 * Beatriz "Beatrix" Siqueira as Bestazinha
 * Marisa Barcellos as Bruxinha Dukampa
 * Catarina as Cangussa
 * Ronny as Rudi
 * Zéco (José Maier Collina) as Zéca
 * Fernanda "Nanda" Pistario as Lola
 * Karabo as Taruga
 * Lucas Oliveira as Aurelino
 * Ami Kobayashi as Coco

Production
While Loba Latina performed modestly in theaters, rentals/sales of its video release and similarly sales of the soundtrack album did well enough to motivate Kirschner and Picapau Filmes to consider devising a potential sequel but Armandinho was uncertain about which direction a continuation would take.

At some point, Júlia Cardoso (in the throes of a successful performing career) confided in Catarina she sought to do something different with her talents and did not want to confine herself purely to pop music and youth entertainment (but was required to continue for another few years by contract). Armandinho realized a plot idea could manifest from this and (with her approval/input) decided to have the story of this next film reflect Cardoso's desire to undergo personal change moving forward.

As the potential scope of the film got more and more ambitious, Picapau Filmes and Tobias Kirschner realized this was tricky as the studio had never worked in anything truly dramatic before (the predecessor Loba Latina being primarily comedic), so Rodrigo Barbosa was asked to contribute with Estúdios Pintura. Barbosa reluctantly agreed because he didn't exactly like working on anything overly commercialized but figured they couldn't manage the project without his expertise.

Catarina asked Barbosa to let her invite her son Zéco and others involved with Kirschner (e.g. her eventual second husband Ronny, Nanda, Karabo and others) to contribute with the voices of other Vila Matalinda residents, to which he agreed on the basis they needed to be relevant to the plot somehow.

Production lasted from July 2000 until May 2002 (slightly less than its predecessor) with main animation duties split between both Picapau and Pintura, also subcontracting jobs to Start Desenhos Animados also in Brazil, Cine Animadores in Chile, Milimetros Feature Animation in Spain, Wang Film Productions in Taiwan and Hahn Shin Corporation in South Korea.

The film was funded by Banco Santander, BCP and Petrobras along with the Ministry of Culture's Lei do Audiovisual and sponsored by Adidas, Gradiente, Kuat, Jovem Pan FM, Kapo, Natura, Pernambucanas and Riachuelo.

Reception
The film was much better-received by critics and audiences than its predecessor with praise towards the characterization, drama, overall storyline and development plus the improved quality of the animation (especially towards the detailed backgrounds, musical number choreography and action sequences) and the soundtrack. Despite his initial apprehensions towards the project, Barbosa eventually admitted it turned out one of the best animated films he and his studio had ever made.

Despite this, it faced competition during the winter vacation period from Lilo & Stitch, Columbia's own Men in Black II, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Star Wars: Episode II and The Powerpuff Girls Movie, barely returning a profit as a result.

Merchandise
A graphic novel adaptation based on an altered version of the original screenplay and illustrated by Rabisko was published by Editora Kirschner and released in stores on June 10, 2002 over two weeks before the film's premiere.

An action-adventure platformer game was released on the Game Boy Advance, subcontracted to Bit Managers in Barcelona, Spain due in part to the comic's popularity in that country. In Brazil, it was distributed by Gradiente (who owned the local license to Nintendo consoles at the time).

Home media
Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment released the film on VHS and DVD in Brazil on August 30, 2002 (just over two months after the film's theatrical release). LK-TEL released the film on both formats in Argentina in November 2002 after it was also shown there in theaters.

Uncharacteristically, the English dub (also included with the Latin American Spanish dub as a language option on the Brazilian DVD release) was released in North America not long after on November 5, 2002 by Columbia TriStar with a bonus soundtrack CD included free with both the VHS and DVD.

Music
Much like its predecessor, Loba Latina 2 's score was composed by João Teixeira, whose score for the film relied mainly on traditional instruments instead of a partial-synth fusion.

² - The potpourri consists of short reprises of "Corpo Errado", "Não Esconda Nada", "Força da Loba" and "Transformar" from the previous movie
 * 1) Abertura (Instrumental) - João Teixeira
 * 2) Vida Como Bicho - Cangussa (Catarina), Boni (Júlia Cardoso) & Others
 * 3) Ra-Ra-Bruxa-Zorra! - Bruxinha Dukampa (Marisa Barcellos)
 * 4) Canção do Lobo - Boni (Júlia Cardoso)
 * 5) Ouça a Água - Boni (Júlia Cardoso) e Lola (Nanda)
 * 6) Vida na Viva Matalinda (Instrumental) - João Teixeira
 * 7) O Ataque de Dukampa (Instrumental) - João Teixeira
 * 8) A Grande Mudança (Instrumental) - João Teixeira
 * 9) Tudo Muda - Ronny
 * 10) Potpourri da Loba (Fim do Filme)² - Boni (Júlia Cardoso) e Marcelo (Caio Espindola)