What was I thinking? I guess I thought this movie might be summer fun and sort of capture some of the mystery or intrigue that the original “Planet of the Apes” films from 1968-73 had. This latest one is meant to be a prequel about how intelligent apes took over a planet (in this case Earth). But unfortunately I think fans of the original films and others will find it quite disappointing. My brother warned me not to go. Good grief he was right. It’s a far cry from the films with Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall. This movie feels so separate than those; it doesn’t seem in the same galaxy.
In the original you recall astronauts crash their spaceship on a strange planet in the distant future and find apes in charge. In this film set before that, geneticists looking for a cure for alzheimer’s inject apes with a drug that heightens their intelligence, enabling them to escape their cages and eventually run amok on Earth.
But the latest storyline gets pretty drippy and predictable: about a genetic company out for a buck, the cruelties of animal experimentation in medicine and a scientist with an ill father who breaks the rules. You might be reminded of the recent movie “Splice” perhaps and a few others. Also the computer-generated apes and effects lend it a cartoon-like feel, manipulating the star ape to be endearing and able to do anything. At some points it reminded me of the cuteness of “E.T.”
I’m a bit surprised that “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” got such favorable reviews in the papers. I guess for summer blockbuster fodder it’s pretty on par or above. But the original films were so much more than that; they were interesting and gripping and had something to say. Maybe it was because I was a kid then, but “Planet of the Apes” took me away to another place, it seemed real and scary. This one doesn’t “rise” to the occasion.
