Rise of the Planet of the Apes Review

This has to be the biggest film surprise of the year. This was not a film I expected to enjoy. It was not even a film I expected to see. When I first saw all of the previews for the film, I thought it would just be a dumb, Apes-take-over-the-world film, full of overly CGI'd action and little to no character development. So imagine my surprise when, upon seeing it, not only was it not godawful, but it was actually a great film.

Now, by great, I don't mean that it is just an entertaining action movie with good-enough writing and directing. I mean that it is truly a well made film, in which a lot of effort was put in to create an engaging and satisfying story. The film follows the rise of Caesar, a chimpanzee who, due to some genetic testing, is gifted with extraordinary intelligence.

The storyline may sound very silly, but director Rupert Wyatt gives it just the right tone. Lighthearted enough so that it is entertaining and fun, but seriously enough for the audience to connect and truly care about what happens to the characters. There are a few silly moments during the action sequence (singular) that seem out of place, but mostly it is an engaging storyline that builds up to, and in many ways exceeds, a well crafted and original action sequence at the end.

The visual effects in this film are, of course, outstanding. I do still have some issues with CGI, mainly due to the fact that I never feel like a CGI character is really there. I can always tell it's just a computer creation. However, it was totally necessary here and used to great effect. Makeup would have restricted an actor's movements and looked silly. By using motion capture, they were not only able to give the apes realistic motions, but also fully expressive faces that truly show you how the apes are feeling, even though they can't speak. This allows the audience to more easily connect to these very realistic looking characters.

The greatest strength of the film, however, is also it's greatest weakness, acting. Andy Serkis' performance as Caesar is one of the most brilliant and emotionally resounding animated performances of all time. He truly gets you on the characters side, and hoping that he succeeds. The other apes, though less developed, are also performed very well. The humans, however, have issues. James Franco and Freida Pinto, the two leads, very much underplay their roles. They mostly sit back and let Caesar take the spotlight. John Lithgow is very good as Franco's sick father, in a role that was less developed than it should have been. The "villainous" characters, though, are on the other side of the spectrum drastically overplaying their roles into cartoonish territory. While it is fun to see Draco Malfoy get his ass handed to him by a monkey, the rest of the villains are just distractingly unrealistic, especially David Oyelowo as the Smarmy-businessman character that has become way to predictable and prevalent in modern film.

Despite these shortcomings, the film wisely chooses to play as a character drama for most of its runtime. This way the audience can connect to the characters so that they truly care about the outcome of the battle at the end. It is a very surprisingly well made film, and I truly recommend it to everyone, ESPECIALLY those who thought the trailer looked like shit. Trust me, it's a completely different movie than we were led to believe.