Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) starring James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, Andy Serkis directed by Rupert Wyatt Movie Review

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)   3/53/53/53/53/5


James Franco in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

The Apes: The Beginning

After his research into Alzheimer's Disease using chimpanzees is abruptly terminated due to an incident with one of the chimp's scientist Will Rodman (James Franco) finds himself with a baby chimp which he names Caesar. Caesar who shows an advanced ability to learn having inherited aspects of the drugs ability from its mother is trained up by Will along with primatologist Caroline Aranha (Freida Pinto). But when Caesar is removed from them and placed in an ape sanctuary, he along with his fellow primates create their own army and stage an escape which brings the chimps on a collision course with mankind.

I have been one of those film fans who have not been bothered by the "Planet of the Apes" movies, those which I have watched have entertained but I have never gone wild about them. So when I finally got around to watching "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" I wasn't that worried about it being a poor part of the franchise or whether as a prequel to basically everything it tied things in as long as it entertained. And from just a casual fan of the "Planet of the Apes" movies this reboot, re-imagining or what ever you wish to call it entertains.

Freida Pinto in Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Now part of the joy of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" for me is its simplicity as we see how after raising Caesar the chimp begins to question things as he feels loneliness as well as feeling like a pet when Will and Caroline take him out on a leash. It isn't a great deal of depth but enough to make the story interesting and leads nicely to the situation when Caesar gets taken from Will after a violent incident and finds himself caged with other chimpanzees leading to a progressive sense of anger and his treatment.

Now not all things work, the emotional subplot surrounding Will's father and the Alzheimer's Disease feels lacking in some ways and as for the ending as it tries to pave the way for what we already know it is done in a too fast manner. But in a way "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" works for those like me who aren't huge fans of the franchise and it is a nice introduction to lead us in to the franchise and any further movies.

What this all boils down to is that "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" may not be the movie which fans of the franchise wanted but made with a new generation in mind and as a way to introduce them to the story it works and is most importantly entertaining.


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