Chappie rated R for violence, brief nudity, and language

I had heard great reviews of this film and kept getting recommendations to watch it.  While I had enjoyed District 9 I was a little worried that Chappie would end up being sad.  After seeing a clip involving Chappie getting a book from his maker I was sold on watching the picture.

In this film, Johannesburg South Africa has been experiencing a high volume of crime that is overwhelming the local police force.  A company named Tetravaal has released robots called Scouts that work alongside police officers to help the beleaguered police department.  Scouts can be deployed instead of people thus reducing injuries and deaths to the police while safely neutralizing dangerous situations.  The "hero of the hour" is the engineer of the Scouts named Deon (played by Dev Patel).

Deon has been secretly working on a project in his off time to develop an AI.  After he succeeds, he goes to his boss Michelle (played by Sigourney Weaver) to sell her on his ideas.  She rejects his proposal and forbids him from further testing..

Meanwhile another engineer named Vincent has been waiting in the wings of Tetravaal for his big moment to shine.  He has jealously watched as Deon has been showered with accolades for his Scouts.  Vincent has developed his own project involving a massive robot called Moose.  Moose has a huge amount of firepower as well as the nifty aspect of linking with the mind of the operator so that Moose can remotely neutralize threats.  The problem is that Moose has too much firepower to be safely utilized in urban areas.  Moose is subsequently rejected by the local police and Vince is left to stew in bitterness.

While all of this is going on, a trio of criminals Ninja (played by Ninja), his partner Yo-Landi (played by Yo-Landi Visser), and their friend Amerika (played by Jose Pablo Cantillo) have run afoul of a criminal overlord named Hippo (played by Brandon Auret).  They have three days to come up with a huge payoff of over a million for Hippo or else they will be killed.

While Ninja, Yo-Landi, and Amerika are talking over their options of a heist, they realize that they have a big problem in the form of the Scouts.  How can they accomplish their heist if the Scouts show up and stop them?  And it is guaranteed that the Scouts will show up at the first sign of trouble.  Yo-Landi suggests that they find a way to turn off the Scouts and that they get the guy who developed the Scouts to give them their solution.

Back at Tetravaal, Deon is determined to try out his AI program and decides to take a Scout that is scheduled for destruction after being too damaged for repair.  While enroute to his home with the broken Scout in the back of his van, Deon is kidnapped by Ninja and his gang.  After Ninja demands Deon's help in the form of turning off the Scouts, Deon tells them that there is no way to turn off the Scouts and pleads for his life.

While Ninja is threatening to kill Deon, Amerika discovers the broken Scout in the back of Deon's van.  In an effort to save himself, Deon reluctantly reveals the option of uploading the AI program into the broken Scout, making it so that the Scout would work for Ninja and his crew.  With a heavy heart Deon uploads the AI program into the Scout.

Happily the upload is a success with unexpected results.  Yo-Landi is the first of Ninja's crew to be won over by the Scout and names him Chappie (played by Sharlto Copley).  Chappie starts out as a child and rapidly learns from his new "family".  Yo-Landi even becomes "Mommy" to Chappie while Ninja eventually becomes "Daddy".  Thus begin Chappie's adventures.

At first Chappie is simply learning from his "family".  Much to Deon's dismay the majority of Chappie's "education" seems to be oriented around committing crimes.  Fortunately Deon and Yo-Landi are more positive influences to balance out Ninja's influence.  Some aspects of Chappie's adventures are sad.  Some are hilarious.  Some are sweet and simple.

The adventures culminate in a race against time to meet Hippo's demands, save Chappie, stop Vincent, all while everyone else is trying to stay alive.  There's a lot more that goes on that I've only vaguely touched on.  I would call this film a mash-up of Pinocchio,  with a dash of the original Robo Cop, and the feel of District 9 .

As always (in my opinion) Sharlto Copley gives an amazing performance this time as Chappie.  It was nice to see an AI not immediately or almost immediately decide to destroy humans.  Even nicer was that this particular AI seemed to view himself as living like his human family.  Sharlto did a great job adding more than enough humanity to Chappie to make him interesting as well as endearing.

Everyone else in the cast did an excellent job too.  It was interesting how the four main human characters Ninja, Yo-Landi, Deon, and Amerika all showed at least some growth and depth beyond their personas.

Even though Deon was the "educated one" versus Ninja and his crew the "criminal element" neither side was perfect.  Deon, not being a criminal, would technically be considered a "good" person but he still makes some very bad choices that lead to pain for Chappie.

Obviously one expects Ninja to be something of a "bad guy" and while he definitely isn't a "good guy" he finds some semblance of goodness as a result of his interactions with Chappie.
Hugh Jackman as Vincent is also an interesting villain.  It's easy to get where he is coming from and why he does the things that he does.  Half of his reactions seem to be due to fear of the unknown/different while the other half are just based off of his efforts to succeed at his goals.  He truly believes that his Moose is a great idea and completely discounts any contrary suggestions.

The story was well written and well executed.  It gave wonderful food for thought on the subject of AIs as well as just general commentary on people and how they can be moved in a positive direction beyond their current state of thinking and acting just by being around others who are different than them.

A very good movie.  Not necessarily recommended for children mostly because of the language but a very very excellent movie.