Rise of the Planet of the Apes Review

Seriously a near-jump the shark moment.

I'll start with this: I've never been a fan of the Planet of the Apes series, from the outdated and somewhat overrated original films as well as Tim Burton's crappy remake, mainly for one reason: I could not get over apes talking, wearing clothes, and carrying firearms. It was just too damn ludicrous, and was never organically explained. Surprisingly, this film fixes most of my complaints, with no fancy clothing, firearms, and just the right amount of talking (four simple words by only one ape). Rupert Wyatt, along with his screenwriters Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa, clearly had a vision going into this film, and they have actually managed a successful, well-made, and entertaining reboot. It's got some flaws with human characterization, and the plot drags a little in the middle, but overall, a pleasing effort. Forget James Franco, Andy Serkis is the real star of this film. Just like when he stole the show in the LOTR trilogy and the King Kong remake, his CGI mo-cap Caesar is simply incredible. The character (and yes, he's more than just an ape) feels alive, real, and sympathetic. His journey is an emotional and physically hardening one, and his evolution in the leader of the ape revolution feels very realistic. The effects as a whole are amazing, with some of the best CGI many have ever seen. One ape, though, bugged me a little bit:

Didn't quite buy the circus orangutan who was fluent in signs.

As for the rest of the non-simian characters, they're a real mixed bag. I've never been a fan of James Franco's collective body of work. His role in the Spider-Man trilogy was underwritten and overly dramatic, and he just came off as annoying and cocky, and he was sort of funny as a stoner drug dealer in Pineapple Express. Last year, I saw the first role of his that I really liked, in Danny Boyle's hard but wonderful 127 Hours. It proved that, given the right material, Franco can succeed quite well as an actor, earning his Oscar nod. However, in Rise, he once again feels underutilized, as scientist Will Rodman is basically a point for other characters to bounce off of and react. Frieda Pinto (coincidentally, also a Boyle alum, from Slumdog Millionaire) is even more criminally underwritten, not given much more to do than stand around and look hot. John Lithgow, who I've been a fan of since his dark turn on Dexter, gets a few bright spots as Rodman's Alzheimer's-afflicted dad, but doesn't get that much screen time. Brian Cox of X2 and Draco Malfoy himself, Tom Felton, appear as dickheads father and son Landon, and really all they do is act like dicks. Not exactly a smart career move by Felton, moving from being one prick in Harry Potter to another in this, kind of screwing himself into typecasting. That's pretty much all I have to say about the cast. The film also contains a number of nice little winks and in-jokes to Apes fans, such as an sighting of the late Charlton Heston on a TV screen in one of his old movies, as well as the immortal "damn dirty ape" line, spoken by none other than Felton's Dickhead Dodge. Overall, though, an entertaining film, and maybe I'll be able to reevaluate the original series now from a new perspective. To give you a gauge of how much I liked it, I'll say I might check out the inevitable sequel, but my expectations will be little more than modest.

Oh, and the title sucks, doesn't it? Simply Rise of the Apes was WAY better.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes - 3.5/5 stars