Going Ape

I've had a fairly stressful week at work, which means my movie-seeing ratio is up and I'm being far less discerning. Which explains how I was convinced to see Rise of Planet of the Apes. I'm generally not into unnecessary sequels, let alone unnecessary prequels. So with my expectations set reasonably low, my friend and I grabbed tickets and had the theatre to ourselves, save for two weirdos in the back.

The film that played was entertaining, surprisingly touching, and quite simply...good. 

I KNOW! I'm surprised too. But seriously, it's a solid film thorugh and through. It revolves around a young scientist (Franco) testing apes to cure Alzheimer's. He saves/adopts a baby chimpanzee whom he names Caesar. Caesar's genetic code contains the smart-drug Franco was working on and so the ape has advanced intellect. But raising a really smart chimpanzee has it's issues. This gave the writer two choices - slapstick comedy a la Space Chimps or go more hard-hitting and dramatic.

Now having seen it, I can guess that good writing initially attracted Franco and Serkis to the film. Also, Andy Serkis has a copyright on all monkey roles. From there, Rupert Wyatt and the cast do wonderfully understated jobs at allowing the film to unfold through the characters. The post-production work is spectacular, just downright amazing. Mo-cap has seriously come leaps and bounds in the last few years.

In fact, let's just talk about the role of Caesar for a moment and the work that went into creating him. So not only does Andy Serkis portray him, but you've got so many people working to make this character multi-dimensional, likable, and realistic. If even a handful screwup it's a lot of time and money and then it looks like shit on screen. But what a great job! I don't want to give too much away, but Caeser's humanity is not just about intelligence, it's portrayed in an emotional aspect as well - you watch his growth as a person, made possible by Serkis and the FX teams. 

Serkis doesn't overshadow anybody though. James Franco gives a solid performance and John Lithgow captures the heartbreaking state of Alzheimer's patients perfectly. The movie also references the Heston original in passing at a few locations. Keep your ears open for a "Bright Eyes" a "Cornealia" and that one super famous line. 

The film has a few weakspots and could've perhaps shaved 15 or 20 minutes off the runtime, but it's moving and entertaining with solid monkey action and it sets up the original film nicely (which any real prequel should). However, don't be surprised if some kind of "War for Planet of the Apes" or equally horribly titled se-pre-quel comes out because there's definitely room to do it.

7.5/10