The thing about a one-trick pony is that it only has one trick.  This is especially true for Neill Blomkamp, director of the fantastic District 9 and the not so fantastic (although still enjoyable) Elysium, as his most recent endeavor into film, Chappie, mostly feels like it’s retreading old ground.

That being said, Chappie is not a bad movie, most people would likely consider it a good movie.  It could even be considered a great movie, if the mark of a great movie is sheer entertainment value, which Chappie is full of.  However, if the mark of a great movie is logical story progression, developed characters, and a clear overall message, then Chappie still has a ways to go.

The first and most apparent issue with the film is its attempt to tell more than one story, or rather, have more than one message.  Chappie tries to be a touching drama about the a doomed robot trying to find the meaning of life and a way to survive, an action adventure Heat-like story about a group of criminals trying to pull of a heist after the invention of police robots, and a look into the ethics of creating artificial intelligence akin to the intelligence of a human, all at the same time.  The resulting film explores all of these topics, but none of them feel very fleshed out or deep, making the whole movie feel shallow and underdeveloped.

The second issue with the film is its casting.  Neill Blomkamp’s choice to cast the members of the South African rap group Die Antwoord as the main characters might seem reasonable as the film is set in the South African city of Johannesburg, their home town, but the acting debut of Die Antwoord’s vocalists, Ninja and Yolandi Visser, could have been better.  Although their acting is not necessarily bad, it’s hard to shake the feeling that their rolls could have been better portrayed by professional actors, even though the groups members were playing themselves.

The film also suffers from a lack of originality.  Despite the fact that, from a distance, the film seems to have several original ideas,  when actually watching the movie it is apparent that its ideas are mostly derived from other (occasionally better) movies, and are sometimes reminiscent of Blomkamp’s previous films.

However, in spit of all of this I would actually recommend you see Chappie.  Despite its flaws, Chappie is not only an entertaining movie, but an admirable attempt to shed light on difficult to explore topics.  While it might not be a great movie, Chappie is definitely a good movie, and 100% worth watching.