Sony Pictures has debuted the first trailer for District 9 and Elysium director Neill Blomkamp’s next film, a coming-of-age story about a sentient robot named Chappie.
Chappie chronicles the experiences of a robot given the ability to think for itself and feel emotions, and the rocky path that the child-like android follows on its way to discovering what sort of robot it wants to be. Blomkamp’s frequent collaborator Sharlto Copley provides the motion-capture performance for Chappie, which — according to the new trailer — appears to involve watching a lot of He-Man, getting attacked by teenage thugs, and petting dogs.
The film’s on-screen cast includes Dev Patel as the scientist responsible for giving Chappie his artificial intelligence, and Hugh Jackman as the scientist trying to take it away. South African rappers Ninja and Yo-Landi Vi$$er (from the band Die Antwoord) also play supporting roles.
The official synopsis for the film reads as follows:
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.
Chappie hits theaters March 6, 2015.
