Movie Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes

I have only seen The Planet of the Apes (with Mark Walhberg) and I was not that amazed both with the story and special effects. I remember it being a big joke with reference to Michael Jackson’s look-a-likes. It’s a sick joke, I know.

And then there’s a huge buzz on the return of the apes dubbed as “Return of the Planet of the Apes“. This time around, it stars Hollywood actor James Franco (who’s most memorable films includes “Spider Man” and my favorite “127 Hours”) and a more realistic images of the Apes.

Most of my girl friends who saw the trailer to this movie thought this is one scary movie. Some says it’s creepy. I wont blame them because from the trailer shown, these apes looks like they are an experiment that gone wrong or they have eaten some bad bananas and they go wacko and started destroying San Francisco. But of course, that’s not what really happened.

Anyways, I got invited to see the press screening for The Rise of the Planet of the Apes at SM Megamall Cinema 6 last August 02. With less memories of the previous Planet of the Apes series, I got hooked with the fantastic storytelling already and its outstanding visual effects.

Here’s a synopsis of the movie taken from its official Facebook page:

A single act of both compassion and arrogance leads to a war unlike any other — and to the RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES. The Oscar-winning visual effects team that brought to life the worlds of Avatar and Lord of the Rings is breaking new ground, creating a CGI ape that delivers a dramatic performance of unprecedented emotion and intelligence, and epic battles on which rest the upended destinies of man and primate.

Caesar, the first intelligent ape, is betrayed by humans and rises up to lead his species’ spectacular race to freedom and the ultimate showdown with Man.

I haven’t read any reviews about this movie and I am not sure if I am the only one who thinks the trailer is misleading. From what I understand with the movie, these apes were misunderstood. And they are the real victim. But the question was, who will win the “war” between man and apes? And my sympathy goes to the poor apes.

Acting wise, James Franco delivered it well and Andy Serkis who played Caesar is simply amazing. And it is nice to see Tom Felton back to being bad again in the big screen. This time around, he is far worse than his character as Draco in the Harry Potter series. And I wonder how his fans will react with what happened to him in this movie. But at least in this movie, he was given a chance to portray the real bad guy role.

Over all, The Rise of the Planet of the Apes is entertaining. It will make you smile and cry. And don’t worry, unlike other series, you don’t really need to see the past Apes series to understand the flow of this movie.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes stars James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, and Andy Serkis. Directed by  Rupert Wyatt. Showing now in theaters nationwide under 20th Century Fox. This movie is Rated PG 13.

Check out the trailers here.