Wheely, also released as Wheely: Fast and Hilarious is a 2018 Malaysian 3D computer-animated comedy film written and directed by Yusry Abd Halim as his first animated film.[2][3] 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.
| Wheely | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Yusry Abdul Halim |
| Produced by | Norman Abdul Halim |
Production companies | Kartun Studios KRU Studios |
| Distributed by | Primeworks Studios |
Release date | 16 August 2018 |
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | Malaysia |
| Languages | Malay English |
| Budget | 10,000,000 Malaysian ringgit[1] |
| Box office | $1,340,799 |
After a really bad crash, Wheely was demoted from a 3-time rookie racer to a downtown cabbie 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 turned to-best friend. Everything was fine until Wheely fell "head-over-wheels" over Bella, a supermodel from the upper echelons of society. To make things worse...she's got a boyfriend! Luckily for Wheely, Bella finds his street smart, ghetto-like, funny-guy character appealing.... but just before he gets the chance to get to know her better, her stuck-up boyfriend Ben, gets in the way. And that's not all.... Wheely's faced with an even bigger problem when his dream girl gets "car-napped" by a global syndicate masterminded by an monstrous 18-wheeler truck, Kaiser.
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 didn’t 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.
Wheely was released in Malaysia on 16 August 2018,[3] and had a worldwide gross of $1,340,799, the highest grossing country being Poland with $348,806.[4]
Critically, the film received negative reviews, with critics calling it a mockbuster of Pixar Animation Studios's film Cars.[5][2][6][7] 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."