You might call Chappie a robotic Pinocchio. The first trailer for director Neill Blomkamp's latest piece of science fiction stars a childlike robot who seems innocent enough. All Chappie wants to do is become his own man, but that doesn't stop people from fearing what he could mean for the future of mankind.
Check out the trailer below. Blomkamp once again returned to his hometown of Johannesburg, South Africa to shoot the film, and even has his longtime acting partner Sharlto Copley doing the motion capture work for the film's CGI central character.
Here is the film's official plot summary:
"Every child comes into the world full of promise, and none more so than Chappie: he is gifted, special, a prodigy. Like any child, Chappie will come under the influence of his surroundings - some good, some bad - and he will rely on his heart and soul to find his way in the world and become his own man. But there's one thing that makes Chappie different from anyone else: he is a robot. The first robot with the ability to think and feel for himself. His life, his story, will change the way the world looks at robots and humans forever."
The emotional tale of a child robot struggling to learn how to be a man is just what you would expect from Blomkamp, whose previous work includes the gritty depictions of the near future seen in past films like District 9 and Elysium. That same tone can be seen in the trailer, a more down to Earth and in the trenches approach to science fiction that is rarely seen.
Exclusive: The epic first trailer for Neill Blomkamp's robot adventure #Chappie is here: https://t.co/g5HbkBFcnt pic.twitter.com/KZaGc2DCEe
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) November 4, 2014
Unlike those films, Chappie will be a mixture of genres. It's part dark comedy, as Chappie learns how to be human from the example set by criminals. It will also be a sci-fi drama along the lines of District 9, as Hugh Jackman's character doesn't look happy about a robot gaining artificial intelligence and will likely use force to put an end to him. The poster for the film kind of says it all -- the children's letter blocks, the gun on the table, the large golden necklace, the sticker that reads reject. Chappie as a film and as a character is a combination of a number of influences that should prove interesting to finally see on screen on March 6 of next year.
Photo: Sony Pictures
