Review of Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) by Ben L — 13 Jul 2014

Aside from the overarching storyline and the twist ending, I really don't know anything about the Apes films. I decided to give this one a chance because I kept hearing good things, and it was airing on TV (so why not watch it when it's free.) The premise is a man who is researching a cure for brain diseases is at the stage where they are testing on apes. Through a series of somewhat unlikely events it is discovered that one of the apes has had a child while on the drugs. This ape baby grows up to be smarter than the average chimp. Many of the beats early in this film are not all that original. I kept telling my wife what was going to happen before it did because the scenes almost perfectly matched some other films/TV shows I've seen. "Yeah, we're about due for the ape to attack the neighbor at this point and end up being taken away from his owner." There's nothing particularly bad about these moments, I think I just expected something more original when I was going into this movie, based on how much praise has been heaped upon it. There were some original moments once Caesar hit the shelter, although it was still pretty straightforward in terms of plot. Not one beat of the movie surprised me in any way. I'm already sounding hyper-critical, which was probably partially caused by my inflated expectations, The complaints will continue, but rest assured that I didn't hate this movie, there are much worse ones I've seen this year.

The CGI apes were well-crafted. They looked authentic, which was very neat. The problem is, when they interacted with the real environments and actors, suddenly the CGI became more obvious. I don't know what it was, but I kept looking at the scenes and seeing a realistic ape standing there, yet not being even slightly convinced that James Franco was hugging a flesh-and-blood creature. Speaking of which, I think the movie might have worked better if they got a flesh-and-blood lead actor instead of a cardboard cutout like Franco. (Yeah, I'm not a fan.) Finally, I must admit that I found the whole concept of this film to be somewhat odd. So basically what I'm supposed to get out of this is that Apes are taking over, will someday enslave the humans, and...The humans deserve it? I guess Caesar is supposed to be the protagonist of the film, but I felt so conflicted when it becomes humans versus the apes. Shouldn't I be rooting for the team of which I'm a member? It's just an odd way of going about a prequel. That reminds me, before I close I have to say how much I hate prequels. I hate the entire concept because so much drama is sucked out of the movies when you know where everything is headed. Clearly Rise of the Planet of the Apes is not a film that is for me. I think I might try out the Dawn film at some point just to see what they try to do next, but I kind of doubt I'll ever be a big fan of this franchise.