Movie Review – Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I’ll admit, I was skeptical of another ‘Planet of the Apes’ movie.  They’d had a bunch of them, and only the first was really any good.  The recent remake was pretty forgettable, so much so that I had forgotten the end, despite having seen it at least twice on TV.  So why go see this?  The trailers worked.  I remember sitting in the theater, watching the previews, and realizing that it was a Planet of the Apes prequel, and that it actually looked…decent.  More recently, finding out that Andy Serkis was ‘acting’ as Caesar sold me.  I had to see what happened.

Well, I saw it last night, and was impressed.  The filmmakers managed to tell an intelligent, emotional story without getting too heavy-handed.  You really feel for Caesar as he tries to figure out where he fits in with the world, not a chimp, not a human.  James Franco as the scientist Will Rodman, who creates the drug that enhances ape intelligence(while curing, at least temporarily, his father’s (John Lithgow) Alzheimer’s is solid, you’d hardly imagine this is the same guy that appeared stoned or simply nutty at the Oscar’s.  I feel kind of bad for Tom Felton, who was servicable but your mind just keeps saying ‘Draco Malfoy, Draco Malfoy’ when you see him.

The movie is definitely worth the price of admission, and is a good example as to why you shouldn’t dismiss the various remakes and reboots and adaptations out of hand.  Unless it’s Battleship.

Comments

4 responses to “Movie Review – Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

  1. Tom L Avatar

    The Tim Burton re-imagining was horrible except for Tim Roth and Helena Bonham Carter. The story, pace, acting, direction was atrocious. It was more than forgettable, it was regrettable.

    I’ll Netflix this in a few months. To this day the Chuck Heston movie is still one of my all-time favorites, even if it’s just an elaborate episode of the Twilight Zone (screenplay by Rod Serling, after all).

    Thanks for the quick review.

    Ta,

    1. TheTick Avatar

      To be honest, the main thing I remember from Burton’s Apes is Mark Wahlberg very seriously delivering a line like ‘I’m going to get my chimp’ or some such right at the beginning. You kind of knew what you were getting from there. Kind of sad, considering the rest of the talent.

  2. […] Movie Review -  Rise of the Planet of the Apes – Long title, good movie. […]

  3. […] took my son with me to see Real Steel last night.  Much like Rise of the Planet of the Apes, this was a movie that hit my radar late.  I mean, I knew about it, and probably made the jokes […]

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.