Rise of the Planet of the Apes

my rating: 4 out of 5

No movie deserves a prequel more than Planet of the Apes. I have never been a fan of the original POTA movies because I thought they were weird, and somehow incoherent. Then, we movie / sci-fi / lovers had to endure the horrendous Tim Burton disaster labeled Planet of the Apes in 2001. I saw it opening night in the crowds at the cineplex. I still can't shake the mental image of that awful Paul Giamatti ape face, where the actors were trying to speak the dialogue through those awful looking ape masks and fake teeth.

Anyway, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is such a well-made and interesting story, it makes me re-think the entire series. Based on the strength of this prequel, it pretty much gives credibility to an otherwise confusing and bizarre mythology of the Apes legacy. I heard that Rise was good before I saw it. But, I was not prepared for how good it is.

James Franco is Will Rodman, a high-tech scientist working for a company called GYNY-SIS, or something like that. He is studying drugs that could potentially cure alzheimer's disease, and other memory problems. These drugs are being tested on chimps, since they are closely related to humans. The experiments go very well,...until one fateful day. Things change, and Rodman is scrambling to maintain his reputation. He has to get defensive, and make some choices that could get him fired.

First, the story is very thorough. We get a nice clear set up and premise. Unlike so many cornball summer blockbusters, these characters are actually plausible. They all have believable motivations, and that gets us invested as audience members. As the story progresses, we see where this is taking us. And, it is suspenseful. And scary at times. There is a chimp that has a particularly high level of intelligence because of the experimental drug. This chimp is a central character, and gets our emotional investment, especially because it is just a helpless animal in the beginning.

Secondly, the special effects have advanced to a level that destroys the 2001 Planet of the Apes. Oh, how that movie could have benefited from CGI. Oh, well. The new movie's effects are seamless. I'm still not sure how much of it is computers, and how much is animatronic, or even real animals. It's amazing.

There are enough surprises and suspenseful moments to make Rise of the Planet of the Apes a good recommendation. But beyond that, it also explains the back story of the Planet of the Apes legacy in a way that makes it all come together. It's good, and I hope there are sequels to this prequel.