Apes taking over the planet? That premise is almost as ridiculous as this films extremely long name, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes". However, seeing six more films spawn from the original classic (one being a remake and the latest being a reboot/prequel) its obvious that the idea has not lost its momentum. Does this new prequel have what it takes to continue the story of super smart apes?
Scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) has been searching for a cure for Alzheimer's Disease. His motivation for his research is his father, Charles (John Lithgow), who is struggling with the disease himself. To find this cure, Will tests different vaccines on the chimpanzees he keeps in his lab. The tests turn out to be successful on the chimps as Will sees them become as smart as humans. One of these chimps is named Caesar (Andy Serkis) who inherits this intelligence from his mother. Will raises Caesar in his home, teaches him sign language, and treats him like a son. But fate cannot let Caesar live a human life forever. After a violent incident, Caesar is forced to live in primate facility operated by John Landon (Brian Cox) and his son Dodge (Harry Potter's Tom Felton). Seeing for the first time how his fellow species is treated, Caesar develops a plan to make the rest of the chimps like him and free them all from their prison.
Back when the original "Planet of the Apes" was released in 1968, it was ok that the actors wore costumes to play the apes. But in 2011, that would never work. Good thing modern day film making has the magic known as CGI to make apes look like more than a man in a mask. And when talking about this there is really only one critical question to ask: does the CGI impress the eyes of the viewer...yes it does, moving on.
Another great achievement of modern film is the art of motion capture in which an actor plays his part in a funny suit and then the CGI is added to the scene afterwards. Examples of this can be seen in characters such as Gollum from the "Lord of the Rings" series, King Kong, and the apes in this film (such as Caesar). Another thing in common with these characters is the actor that plays them, Andy Serkis, who has proved that he is one of the best is the motion capture acting business. The wonderful thing about Serkis's performance is that none of it includes dialogue. Instead he portrays a wide range of emotions, such as anger, with just body language. And its not hard to say that Serkis gives the best performance of the cast, making Caesar one of the most interesting characters of all the summer movies this year.
But "Rise" also features a touching narrative, filled with emotional scenes and a heart filled climax. But some of the scenes are not only emotional, but have a very classic feel to them. In fact, the best scene in the film I would consider to be among the top three scenes of all the films this summer because of the sheer iconic feel it has to it (hint...don't mess with a super intelligent ape). The narrative along with the stunning motion capture and Serkin's great performance makes "Rise" a great opportunity for the franchise to live on. I give it three stars out of four.
"Rise of the Planets of the Apes" has a running time of two hours and is rated PG-13 for intense and frightening sequence of action and violence.
