Rise of the Planet of the Apes MOVIE REVIEW

*Note: I’m a supporter of spoiler-free reviews and the following contains as few spoilers as possible.

I’m a huge fan of the original Planet of the Apes but have not [as of now] seen any of the other movies in the series.  Having heard that the most recent remake was called quite the stinker from both audiences and critics, however, I was leery of a prequel to the long-running franchise.  Not only is it a prequel, but it has possibly one of the worst movie titles of recent memory; why in holy hell did someone decide to put two “of the”s in there? Maybe they couldn’t think of anything else since “begins” was taken (by Batman Begins), and simply “The Planet of the Apes Rises” sounded too much like next year’s Batman finale, The Dark Knight Rises - who knows?  Besides the title though, I found myself beyond pleasantly surprised with this seventh film in the “apes” franchise (less pleasant, more like amazingly surprised).

The story follows James Franco, who is on the verge of developing a permanent cure for Alzheimer’s.  To experiment with the new drug, chimpanzees are used as test subjects, but one escapes and the entire project has to be scrapped.  Franco does manage to take one baby chimp home with him though, and he continues his work under the radar in order to one day perhaps cure his mentally deteriorating father (played by John Lithgow).  As it turns out, the miracle drug gives the ape a human level of intelligence, and Franco acts as a teacher/surrogate parent towards Caesar. As the title suggests, Caesar begins to have the desire to be outside and “free” with other apes – but in order to gain that freedom, a chimp’s gotta do a little dirty work.

While it definitely falls under the B-movie category, I found this to be completely engaging as a summer blockbuster.  In much the same way last year’s Splice did (a movie I suggest all sci-fi/horror fans check out), the relationship built between scientist and experiment is much deeper than normal.  Franco convincingly pulls off this emotional connection with Caesar and the bond is more like a father and son than a pet and owner.  I also loved much of the supporting cast, among whom lots of familiar faces spring up: Tom Felton (better known as Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter series), Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire co-star who is underused but still solid), and Brian Cox (you’ve seen him before – what isn’t he in? – and as always he’s great).  My biggest surprise though, is that my favorite performance in the film was from the ape himself, Caesar.  The emotion and level of character derived from simple facial gestures was unbelievable; it reminded me of the first time I saw Gollum in The Lord of the Rings films.  In fact, Andy Serkis, the motion-capture actor responsible for Gollum is the one responsible for Caesar! With a plot as crazy as “a computer-generated monkey leads an uprising against humans to return to the wilderness,” it’s brilliant how much the performance and special effects lead you to buying into it completely.

I hate how the current trend in action movies is to cut like a madman during action scenes in order to make it more “intense” (I would use the word unintelligible).  I can happily report that the eventual “rise” that occurs is exciting and very much intelligible. The camera work with the monkeys is fluid and easy on the eyes; when Caesar and friends are swinging and climbing swiftly through trees I thought of Disney’s animated Tarzan, with his fast acrobatics through the jungle.  The apes themselves were for the most part nearly photo-realistic.  Even though at times it was obvious the humans were interacting with a created character, often I forgot completely about it and I was sold.  Enough can’t be said about Andy Serkis; you will just believe in this monkey.

The movie doesn’t rely on a previous knowledge of the series, but for those fans out there, the groundwork for the original is laid out – along with a possible “Rise of the…” sequel on its own.  I never thought I’d be saying this, but I really think the two best movies of the summer are prequels (this and X-Men: First Class).  For a solid, entertaining blockbuster with great special effects, an interesting story, a never slow pace, and action scenes that don’t make you reach for an ibuprofen, Rise of the Planet of the Apes comes highly recommended.  You’ll go bananas for it.

Rating: A-