Wheely (film)

Wheely, also released as Wheely: Fast and Hilarious, is a 2018 Malaysian English-language animated comedy film written and directed by Yusry Abd Halim as his first animated film. It was released in Malaysia on 16 August 2018. Critically, the film received negative reviews, with critics calling it a mockbuster of Pixar Animation Studios's film Cars.

Plot
After an fierce crash, Wheely is demoted from a 3-time rookie racer to a downtown Taxi with a mountain of debt and a bruised ego. The cause of the accident is no other than Putt Putt, his philosophical/Feng Shui practitioner fan who becomes his best friend. Nothing dire happens until Wheely discovers Bella, a wealthy supermodel. Stuff gets odd when she reveals she has a boyfriend. Luckily for Wheely, Bella approves his “Street smart, ghetto like and funny-guy” personality. However, the 2 are prevented from interacting and learning more about each other as Ben, her stuck-up boyfriend, gets in the way. Despite the events, Wheely's situation gets tedious when Bella gets "car-napped" by Kaiser, a monstrous 18-wheeler truck who started a gang interfering with the world.

Cast

 * Ogie Banks as Wheely, a shy and good-hearted yellow Mitsubishi Evo that suffers a racing accident, the main protagonist
 * Gavin Yap as Putt Putt, a green Piaggio Vespa, Wheely's best friend
 * Frances Lee as Bella, an attractive red Alfa Romeo GT
 * Thomas Pang as Ben, a dark green Buick XP2000, Bella's boyfriend
 * Jay Sheldon as Frank, a rusty Frankenstein-looking Ford Econoline, that is known as a cardiologist. Sheldon also voices Bryan the Commentator a blue helicopter who narrates Wheely's race
 * Brock Powell as Kaiser, an evil blue Volvo FH, who is the leader of a luxury "car-napping" syndicate
 * Raymond Orta as Parmo, a navy blue Mini Cooper, one of Kaiser's henchmen
 * Armando Valdes-Kennedy as Rumble, a teal Chevrolet Camaro, one of Kaiser's henchmen
 * Tamiyka White as Momma, a Jamaican-accented orange VW Beetle, Wheely's mother
 * Barbara Goodson as Sergeant Street, a black and white Ford Crown Victoria, that takes care of Gasket City
 * Chris Jai Alex as Crank, a ship that transports Kaiser
 * Khairil Mokhzani Bahar as Joe Flo, a red 1991 Nissan Silvia
 * Gavin Yap as Brad, an orange and white 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX STi. Yap also voices Ryan the Commentator a red helicopter who narrates Wheely's race
 * Joe Murray as Royston, a wealthy blue 1960 Jaguar Mark 2, who is Ben's father
 * Ghafir Akbar as the Director, an unnamed purple Willys model Jeep, who directs a commercial that Bella is acting in
 * Diong Chae Lian as Amy, a yellow Daewoo Matiz, who is Wheely's biggest fan

Production
Yusry Abdul Halim came up with the idea for the film in 2014 under the name of KL Taxi. But when we it get marketed the internationally buyers did not get the "KL" name. So Yusry immediately changed the title to Wheely.

His brother Norman added that the car photos went through various inspirations for the character designs, with the concept being expanded on the storyline. “We got two British writers who sneaked into the KRU Creative studios in Ipoh to work on the script but we eventually realized that the humour and sensibilities don't fit intro our movie. We wanted the movie to be have American charm rather than British, which explains why Wheely is not red and white like regular taxis in Malaysia “Yes but you know, back in the 80's our taxis were yellow and black, so it’s still Malaysian in that sense,” said Norman. With half of the animation handled at Invector Heads studio in India, KRU produced stereoscopic 3D version exclusive for Russia.

Release and reception
Wheely was released in Malaysia on 16 August 2018, and had a worldwide gross of $1,340,799, the highest grossing country being Poland with $348,806.

Wheely: Fast and Hilarious was also released in Australian theatres on November 9, 2018, distributed by Odin Eye's Entertainment alongside Universal Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Critically, the film received negative reviews, with critics calling it a mockbuster of Pixar Animation Studios's film Cars. But, according to Norman Abdul Halim, the movie is not a rip-off of Cars: "it has its own unique characters, designs, plot, storyline and flavour."