Movie Review: Rise of Planet of the Apes

When is a prequel not a prequel?

Seriously, is "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" really a prequel if there's no movie for it to come before. It's a remake of a prequel, but does that make it a prequel?

I saw this movie by myself. Yummy saw the trailers and said she couldn't go. She couldn't take the chimps being abused. She won't see animal documentaries for this very reason. She couldn't make it to the end of "Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill".

It wasn't too bad in that regard, but there was some "oh, the poor animal" moments. There were moments that would have made her cry, some that would make her sad, some that would make her laugh, some that would just fascinate, and some that are touching. It really was well done. Now that I've screened it I'd take her to see it. There really isn't nearly as much "pick on the animals" as you might think from the trailer. It's really a rather thoughtful movie.

A research lab is working on a treatment for Alzheimers patients. James Franco, who is looking remarkably like Billy from the Gremlins movies, leads the project and is pushing a bit harder than is prudent. See, his own father has Alzheimers. John Lithgow, for the most part, does a great job depicting someone whose mind is slipping away. But when they go to show their prize test subject to a group of investors it freaks out and trashes the place and is shot down in front of them. The treatment is blamed and the project is cancelled. The chimps are ordered to be put down. That's when they find out that the chimp that freaked out was protecting a baby. Franco takes the baby, and the serum, home. Lithgow gets successfully treated and Caesar (Andy Serkis [a.k.a. Gollum]) grows up.

I'm gonna stop right now. I've given enough spoilers away.

At some point in the film Caesar is tossed in what is essentially an ape prison. At this point the movie becomes a bit like Wall-E. Sections of the movie become like a silent film. You have to watch the interaction of the various primates to figure out what's going on in their heads and how their relationships are developing.

Most of the movie is development. The action scenes late in the movie are great, but if you're going for an action movie this isn't what you want to see. Caesar tries not to kill people, but lets some of his followers deliver whatever retribution they feel justified to a few certain people.

And be sure not to charge out when the credits start to roll. You don't have to watch the whole thing, but you'll get to see a sequence where the asshole neighbor destroys all life on the planet.

I'll probably get this one on DVD.