On May 8, the animated film 'Mars Express' by French director Jérémie Périn ('Last Man') hits wide screens, pondering whether androids and humans can coexist and whether Mars is cool.

In the film 'Mars Express', the question of whether androids can feel like humans is no longer relevant. Obviously, they can. In the future, humanity has already colonized distant Mars for life. It is there that the main events unfold.

The main characters — detective Aline Ruby and her android partner Carlos Rivera — are hunting a student hacker who hacked the android control system. The latter now possess free will and can do whatever they want, regardless of the laws of robotics formulated by Asimov.

Each character has a personal tragedy: Aline is on the wagon because she suffers from alcohol addiction, and Carlos is actually dead, but his consciousness now lives in an old-model robot that lacks enough memory for updates. Carlos wants to reconnect with his ex-wife and little daughter, while Aline fights her inner demons.

Notably, in 'Mars Express', viewers can spot references to classic films about artificial intelligence: 'RoboCop', 'The Terminator', 'Ghost in the Shell'. However, the film also has its own charming characters that stand out with unusual designs or storylines. For example, the golden woman-unicorn, who speaks only a couple of lines throughout the entire film but is forever etched in memory. One would wish such a character had her own separate storyline.

By the way, the woman-unicorn, though striking, is not the only representative of a sexually objectified heroine. Mars has its own red-light district, where sex workers are exclusively androids (hello 'Artificial Intelligence'). The film dedicates an entire episode to this, which would find room for a woman with three breasts ('Total Recall') or robots from 'Westworld'. For the sake of this scene, one can forgive the film's occasionally schematic animation, which at times irritates and prevents full enjoyment of the film.

Aline and Carlos are searching for the young hacker, but her motives are driven not only by personal history. 'Mars Express' shows the dawn of an era of living beings with robot consciousness, which, as we know, is now indistinguishable from human.

The characters lose and find what they are looking for, but the main climax becomes the question: can humans and androids coexist in the same space? The answer is obvious and very touching. After that, one can fantasize a bit more about what life on Mars will be like.

Trailer: