I work at a movie theater and we usually get to screen the new releases a day or two before they come out. Tonight we watched Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

I went into this film with almost no expectations. I was only there really because everyone else I work with was there, and for James Franco.

The plot was pretty interesting at first. James Franco plays a scientist experimenting with a drug that will potentially cure Alzheimers by testing it on Apes. When the experiment goes wrong, all of the apes are put down, except one, the baby of the most promising test subject. Of course he takes the ape home (and if you have seen any of the other films you know how it will all turn out in the end)

The movie is decent at best. The plot was interesting enough, but it had a few holes in it. The acting was also about average, no academy awards being handed out here or anything like that. It was fun to watch Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter series) play an American role and stumble through with his awkward American accent.

Most of the special effects are CGI, which I have never been a fan of. In some shots, the apes look very real, but in most shots they just look like very detailed animations.

It's a movie that might be fun to see on a matinee during the week, but nothing else. I probably wont remember a thing about this movie in a years time, but it was a fun night out.

Official grade: C

-Miles

Hey DC -

Thanks for the review. Read one online review so far - which basically said it had one or two poignant moments, and the rest was just silly fun.

These days, with ticket prices what they are, it's gotta be an *amazing* film for me to see it in the theatre.  Caught the Illusioniste so far on the big screen, and saved the rest for HBO....!

Saw this today. Not terrible, but a disappointment. The first half of the script, I found myself thinking the story was logical, well crafted, but missing something I couldn't put my finger on. There were times my mind drifted to other things. And it seemed emotionally flat. We're supposed to connect with Franko's character, whose father(John Lithgow) has alzheimers, and who rescues the baby chimp. But I couldn't really connect with him.

The second half of the movie takes the usual Hollywood turn into silliness. I can't say more without spoiling.

There were five of us at the movie. No one hated the film, no one liked it a lot. The theater was half filled, and there was no reaction in the crowd at any point. They clearly set this up anticipating a sequel, and I'd be really surprised if they make it. Though someone told me this has good reviews, so maybe. Let's put it this way: the sequel will do very poorly. People went to see this because of the success of past Planets, and maybe because of reviewers. But I don't think most regular people who see this movie will be eager to see the sequel.

There will be spoilers.

I went into this movie with zero to dreadful expectations, partly based on the fact that the last time they tried to reboot the franchise - Burton's movie - it stunk up the joint, and partly because James Franco is an atrocious actor who seems to thrive on phoning his performances in.

Franco is still atrocious but luckily for the movie the real "star" or "leading man" is not Franco's character but Caesar.

So, did the movie stink up the joint? Far from it. I gotta admit I was very well entertained throughout, actually to the point where I could've jumped into the sequel right away. And, boy, do they set up for a sequel. If this movies does well enough then obviously there's gonna be a sequel and it'll be interesting to see if they pick up right after this one or set it some years later, and to what extent the virus comes into play.

I've always been sorta apprehensive about CGI but in this case it works really well overall - as opposed to a bunch of actors running around in costumes.

So, all in all, thumbs up.

I will agree on this: the sequel could be better, and would at least be more in line with the original concept of Planet of the Apes.

I'm glad you said Franco was atrocious. I am no authority on acting, and I had heard that things like Franco did a great job here. I couldn't buy into his performance at all here. I didn't care what happened to him or whether he reunited with Caesar.

I'm a little unsure about how I feel about Caesar's performance. Found myself thinking they should have done something Spieldburg would have probably done, and that is have  a human child companion for Caesar in the first half. I thought a bond like that could have been more powerful, and the severing of it more memorable.

Good point about Caesar and a child companion. I guess if Franco's charater/performance had delivered a more believable/memorable emotional bond with Caesar then we wouldn't need another player. Perhaps you could argue that the window in the attic serves as sort of a companion for Caesar.

At any rate, as it stands now, I was much more interested in Caesar's rise than in Franco's downfall because it tells a more human story in my opinion because after all this is not a story about an animal going nuts, it's an animal mirroring human abilities/emotions (even the bad ones).

This story also strangely had almost no females at all, other than the hot Indian girlfriend. There were no female apes.

Another thing: there was a trailer for the Matt Damon film Contagion. Isn't this story line a little played out? Apes ends with a human altered virus that will clearly wipe out the population. Contagion is about bird flue. I just think this scenario is a little done to death.

I think this might be the beginning of a bit of a decline for Damon. When he and Afleck burst on the scene after Good Will Hunting, Damon was more popular because he seemed more down to earth. As Damon's belligerent politics make him more and more annoying, a few failing movies could reduce his box office appeal. A little.

I really enjoyed it.

Found it very emotional, and constantly tense. There's some things that you don't want to think about too deeply as they'd not make sense and start to unravel the logic, but I think the filmmakers deserve utmost credit for actually trying to make a decent film.

Much better than I expected and far superior to most Hollywood films.

While I agree about Franco - the role could have been played by just about anyone- I think it's alwful tough when your scenes are stolen from John Lithgow in some cases, a motion captured Andy Serkis in most others. That's why I also didn't mind the CG job on Caesar, since the point was that he was different than the other chimps.

The best thing though is that even though Franco seemed bland, at least every character -including Caesar- had motivation and was developed rather nicely. I always was involved, never a dull moment.

And, lo, it was not in 3D.

Surprised at the not so impressive reactions from a few here.

I've been wanting to see this since it came out and damn, am I glad I finally did.  Totally impressed in every way and blew away my less than high expectations.

FX were great IMO.  Story worked exactly the way it wanted to.  Characters worked exactly the way they were supposed to.  It was powerful in many ways.  It was sad in some ways.

Bottom line is that it worked and it's a tough concept to pull off, as it could have come across so cheesily.  I totally see why it's doing so well at the box office.

Damn good movie in every way!!!

Part of the issue, as is often the case, is expectations. I was a fan of the Apes when growing up, and heard the reviews going into this, so I had pretty high expectations. And it wasn't that I hated it, I was just not blown away.

Here's another indicator: I think the Planet of the Apes is the kind of thing that should really capture young boys imaginations. I went with my nephews, who are 15, and they were not impressed with the film. It just didn't grab their imagination. The little ape war on the Golden Gate against mounted police seemed silly to them. And these are kids that love action films.

For me, as I was watching, I was thinking "nicely written, makes sense, good plot idea". But at the same time, something was falling flat that I couldn't put my finger on. That's where it left me.

Well, it's been critically praised.  It's already done $261 Million on a $93 Million budget, and as of yesterday, it's still the # 2 movie in America.  In other words, it's far from run its course.

And, BTW, I loved the Golden Gate bridge war!  Well shot, well setup, well executed.  And to top it off, moving and powerful, with the death of "Buck", saving Caeser.  I really liked it,a dn you know I don't say that all that often.

As always, different strokes...

I took a look at this one today.
It's one of the better attempts at a new tentpole in recent years.

I like that the spectacle technology is integrated into the story.
The idea of motion capture in service to a character excites me.

James Franco is utterly disposable, but serviceable.
John Lithgow gives some needed weight to the support structure.

Hopefully Hollywood embraces hiring more writers to direct these level of projects.
This is the hot Fox needed to establish some franchise muscle again.

The movie takes what's special about it and puts it front and center. Caeser.
And Serkis's performance via motion capture solidifies the entire project.

Not to mention delivery a fairly pulse pounding action drenched climax.
Clear understandable goals plus quest plus dilemma equals entertainment.

Enjoy the ride and don't try to make too much sense out of the plot.

E.D.

This was the best movie of its ilk this year for me. As a huge sceptic of CGI, it was very interesting to see how effectively the technology was used. This film simply wouldn't have worked today with chaps in suits. Caesar was somebody we could easily feel for and his journey was quite simply that of yet another 'person' wronged by society and man. This is a story of freedom. A few moments were touching with Caesar displaying his compassion, notably saving the cop on the bridge from the enormous ape and the chap in the pen who he locks up. Caesar doesn't want to take over from man, he simply wants freedom for his 'people'. Symbolic of any oppressed people looking to free themselves. Man is set on his own demise (the virus) through folly. Sets things up very nicely for the sequel.