Rise of The Planet of the Apes

Couch Reviewer

4 Stars

**** 

The latest blockbuster from Twentieth Century Fox, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a good movie in and of itself, but as with most movies that try to continue on a franchise, such as The Thing, the Rise of the Planet of the Apes falls short.  As a sci-fi movie it was good, therefore, it warrants its 4 of 5 star rating.  The story is about an ape who is given a serum that is intended to cure diseases of the brain, but gets out of control.  The movie has no continuity with the previous Planet of the Apes movie as you would expect.  The previous movie was about an ape who travelled into space and colonized a new planet of apes, in this movie, which I can only assume is supposed to be a prequel to the other does not follow this premise and follows the rise of apes on the planet Earth.  The downside to this film is that the credits roll and you think the film is over, and if you are like me, credits means, movie over, eject disk, so if you do not like to watch credits, then in this film you will miss the last throw out that attempts to explain what happens after the fact.  So many of these films use the name of previous films to get bigger audiences and then disappoint when we realize that one has nothing to do with the others.  I wish someone would use the original Planet of the Apes movies staring Charlton Heston as the premise for the prequel and any subsequent sequels to the franchise.  The original film was an intellectual film that left you with several questions such as, how did the planet get to be this way?  We were shocked when we realized that Heston all along was on Earth.  Directors are trying to make a fast buck and dumbing things down so much which is why the movie is not connected to the previous films.  As a continuation on CGI, for this film, the apes seemed cartoonish, and CGI has never been good at recreating real life. Final note, as a sci-fi movie, it was good.