Cast: James Franco, Frieda Pinto, John Lithgow
Directed by: Rupert Wyatt
Written by: Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Genre: Action/Adventure, Science Fiction

Will Rodman, a medical scientist (Franco), has been desperately working on a cure for Alzheimer’s for years, with all but a little progress. Their lab performs harmless memory experiments on chimps and apes, in hopes that the invented serum will improve cognitive response. However, the lab eventually terminate’s Will’s project after a test subject goes apeshit (heh) on researchers who try to take away her newborn child. To salvage what he can, Will brings home the baby chimp, Caesar (Serkis), to live with him and his father (Lithgow) who suffers from Alzheimer’s. As Caesar grows, he demonstrates incredible brain power, a side effect of serum given to his mother. But as Caesar begins to understand the world around him, the less friendly he responds to it.

This is the best of the Apes films. I realize that’s not saying much, but there it is. The most recent comparison is Tim Burton’s dismal 2000 remake of the original Planet of the Apes, but luckily this film sidesteps any similar pitfalls. In fact, Rise’s focus on the mythos surrounding the entire series is its strongest facet. The idea that man has tampered with evolution and (as the other films have shown) suffered the consequences of playing God, is a compelling one that reflects a lot of the uncertainties in our current culture. It’s a shame that the script resorts to stripping characters away to their archetypal bones in order to convey its theories on good and evil, and responsibility and power. The characters are painfully plain as they can be explained away as “the scientist hero”, “the sick father”, and most laughably, “the love interest”. The cast, however, do what they can with such little to work with. It seems that most of the attention has gone into bringing the apes to life.

For anyone thinking that Rise of the Planet of the Apes is at all similar to 2005’s King Kong, your deductions aren’t miscalculated. The same digital effects company (Weta Digital, who also did Avatar) have worked on bringing these apes to life in the same way, and Andy Serkis (the very talented actor who played Kong, as well as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies) pushes the bounds of digital performance as Caesar. While there are moments when it’s apparent we’re watching a digital character, for the majority we absolutely forget that the apes are not real, which is a testament to Rise’s tremendous technical prowess. But wonderful effects alone are never enough.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes merely (albeit entertainingly) skates by on its interesting concepts, big action sequences, and glorious performance by Serkis.

USA. 105 minutes. Rated PG-13.

Click here to read Blu-ray review.

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