Rise of the Planet of the Apes

CAST: James Franco, Tom Felton, Andy Serkis, Brian Cox, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, David Hewlett, Tyler Labine, Leah Gibson, Jamie Harris; DIRECTOR: Rupert Wyatt; WRITER: Amanda Silver, Rick Jaffa, Jamie Moss, Pierre Boulle; GENRE: Animation, Suspense/Thriller; RUNNING TIME: 110 minutes.

Technical Assessment: 4

Moral Assessment: 3.5

CINEMA Rating: For viewers age 13 and below with parental guidance.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes opens with a mad hunt for simians in the deep jungle, for transporting to a laboratory in New York, where Will Rodman (James Franco) does research  exploring drug therapies for diseases of the brain.  One of the apes, named Bright Eyes, soon catches the technicians’ eye for her superior intelligence—the effect, apparently, of her being given the test drug.  Convincing his boss that the drug has great potential for medical and financial success, Will makes a presentation for the board of directors to invest in the breakthrough drug.  Bright Eyes is supposed to be the star of the presentation, but as she is coaxed out of her cell, Bright Eyes becomes vicious, resulting in a wild chase in the laboratory that ends in the presentation room where Bright Eyes is shot dead on the conference table.

Soon Will and his assistant discover a baby chimpanzee under Bright Eyes’ bed, and realize that the dead chimp in her ferocious behavior was not being aggressive but only being protective of her new born.  Meanwhile, the boss has ordered that all 12 chimpanzees being drug tested be put away.  Because Will and the assistant do not have the heart to put down the baby chimp, Will agrees to secretly take it home for a few days.  Days stretch into weeks, months and years until the baby chimp, named Caesar by Will’s Alzheimer-stricken father, grows into a remarkably intelligent simian.  Caesar’s loyalty to his human family results in mayhem, disturbing the neighborhood until there is no choice but for Caesar to be hauled away to the local zoo. 

If you have seen Planet of the Apes’ progenitors, you might expect another B-movie of this one, but no.  First, the apes here are no longer actors wearing ape suits.  And the apes here are… well, the apes here rise, as the title says.  Especially Caesar.   Motion-captured by Andy Serkis, Caesar—who reaps our kudos for singlehandedly creating the suspense in this film—is nothing the audience is prepared to meet.   Serkis motion-captured the character Gollum in Lord of the Rings—remember?

Motion-capturing is a fascinating cinematic process where the human actor plays the part but the film character’s image is subsequently superimposed on the actor’s.  Avatar used the same technology and the same WETA FX team of technicians.  In this case, the actor is Serkis, and the character is Caesar the chimp.  Thus in the final product we don’t see Serkis anymore, only the chimp.  That’s pretty tough for Serkis who had to learn how to move and emote like an ape for his character to be credible.  Human acting skills plus technology equals astonishing movie moments.  Director Rupert Wyatt plus Serkis plus WETA FX techno-magic equals the rise of Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  Add to that the just-right script by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver and you have a powerful tale to remember.  Franco’s performance also reveals a compassionate dimension never before seen in past roles.  We cannot go on assessing the film without eventually giving spoilers.   In order to grasp the complexity of the plot as well as the mysteriousness of life that it dwells on, one must view the film—rather, experience the film—even without reading a review of it.    

One exceptionally good thing about Rise of the Planet of the Apes is the confident handling by Wyatt of red-hot issues like DNA manipulation, man’s cruelty to animals, father-son relationship, corporate greed and the dignity of death.  His almost casual treatment of such delicate subjects serves as a flawless background for unexpected tenderness, much like crumpled black velvet cradling exquisite pearls in its folds.  We have yet to meet a person who wasn’t uplifted from watching this film.  Go see it and tell us what you think.