"Apes" surprisingly suceeds

(My plans to submit this to the "Review Preview" forum failed as I was denied permission. Thus, I had to post this somewhere.)

When I first saw the trailer for "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," I asked myself the same question. How can you go beyond a serious and completely political concept that is hidden in a sci-fi film? My reaction was mixed of the things that were shown in two minutes, but that changed when news of "Rise" being a hit broke out. It was in the top three box-office slots for three weeks and got plenty of positive reviews. Like a chimp, my curiosity grew and thus relented.

To my surprise, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" actually lives up to being quite entertaining and by far a great close to the summer. From the opening scene where poachers capture chimps to sell to science labs, I was slowly drawn into it. James Franco plays a scientist that is trying to make a cure for Alzheimer but two problems exist. First, a female chimp mistakes them for stealing her hidden child and goes beyond berserk to the point where they feel the experiment should be shut down. The other problem is his boss (David Oyelowo) is more of a business man who would rather see sells than saving humankind and thinks his project is not worth looking into.

However, the mother's chimp named Ceaser (performed through the magic of motion-capture actor Andy Serkis) who happens to have the drug's brain power passed onto him from his mother's genes. As things progress, Ceaser gets older and starts to learn of the world and its toils. These elements have a "Frankenstein" quality to them as we sympathize with the creature of different he is from society. As I was watching this, I felt I wasn't looking at a digital effect but a living breathing chimp that is trying to coupe with the world he lives in. Kudos to WETA for giving another remarkable character. While not as ground-breaking as Golumn, its close enough.

However, things change when Ceaser is placed in a Primate Sanctuary, after attacking an irate neighbor, and this is where things build as we go from Ceaser's rise as a mistreated animal to a respected leader that guides the other apes through a breathtaking climax of action-packed spectacle. Most of the time, we don't care much of the subplot James Franco deals with and get our wishes of seeing less of it. For if it was the main idea of the picture, it would spoil the enjoyment and make the film to be a preachy message about animal testing.

I find it unique how we spend a lot of time with the Ceaser character and how much sympathy is built into him. We want to see him succeed, we want to see him go against mankind and rebel, and above all take his place in being a true leader. They place so much care into this storyline, that we care less about the humans which is a good thing for most of the Apes films. The idea of Jame's character who uses his own father (John Lithgow) who not only has the disease, but is experiment on is a tragic element for one to think of. What right do we have to use our own loved ones as guinea pigs for the good of mankind? Its sad and at least dumbed down to avoid distracting the main elements of this feature.

While "Rise" is surprisingly worth checking out, this movie does have its flaws. Tom Felton (aka Malfoy) has a part and turns out to be the least likeable character because that is how he is written. His tasks include torturing the apes in the Sanctuary Ceaser is living at for his own amusement and ruining two good lines from "Planet of the Apes." And while "Rise" does well as being serious as its previous five brothers from the original franchise, its does have its campy moments like a sign-language conversation that has subtitles and acted like something serious from Full Metal Jacket. Some fans of the original series might be a tad biased for having a new franchise for the next generation, but I walked in with an open mind and found it to be enjoyable.

To compare, "Terminator Salvation" was beating a dead horse. There is no way you could resurrect a done to death concept and make it new without pointing out the clichés. "Apes" has unlimited possibilities with the idea of taking animals that take over the world and make a society of their own. You can do anything with it and it will never feel like leftovers from last year's Thanksgiving and that's what I felt was unique about this reboot that stood out from the others I've seen. While it's no masterpiece, it's a damn good movie that is worthy of seeing.

Yup, newbies can post their written reviews in whatever category their review belongs in, and we'll check it out there. Once you're a regular, we give your account access to the Contributor's Corner, and all the joys and wondrous things that are included therein.
We would send you an official CCS BIC pen, but access to the CCorner is cheaper and just as underwhelming. LOL.

I love written reviews over video reviews. I really do. They're shorter, direct to the point, and while you can still toss out a joke or a funny picture, they're usually incorporated better than video reviews because they often reinforce the point you're making, rather than detract from it.

One thing I (PERSONALLY) like in reviews is tossing out some anecdote or some past experience with a franchise like Planets of the Apes in order to not only build credibility as a reviewer, but also present the mindset you had going in to the movie, and coming out. A PotA (puta?) fan could better establish differences and similarities between the classic series and the reboot film because they're knowledgeable, and should thus explain WHY they're knowledgeable enough to tell you whether to watch the new film or to go rent the entire classic series and rewatch them. Whether or not you use them is up to you, but being that you're a PotA fan, it would have been a big aid.

Other than that, you stated your opinions well, and kept the plot overview fairly brief (can't give away spoilers like you can in 'nostalgic' old films, right?) so I honestly liked it.

Anybody else care to share their thoughts?