Long regarded as a film series for the sci-fi nerds and geeks in the world, The Planet of the Apes franchise found longevity in countless replays on lazy Saturday afternoons and then saw a brief but failed resurgence when Tim Burton gave the world his ill-conceived update with Mark Wahlberg back in 2001. Most reboots don’t have the luxury of a decade separating the newest entry from the latest failure, but it turns out that decade-long lapse was just enough time for a writer to find a new approach to the series. Rise of the Planet of the Apes wipes the franchise’s slate clean and makes those damned dirty apes accessible for a new generation. Though not without its flaws, it is the perfect example of a reboot that exceeds all expectations and also includes motion capture work by Andy Serkis that’s absolutely mind blowing.
A major setback at a pharmaceutical lab, in the form of a territorial and genetically enhanced ape breaking out of its cage and landing dead in the middle of a boardroom pitch proposal, sees the hopes of Will Rodman’s (James Franco) project researching a cure for Alzheimer’s disease go up in smoke. The one consolation is the surprise the ape left behind as the rest of the test subjects were executed: an equally enhanced son, which Will names Caesar. Will raises the young ape at home alongside his Alzheimer-stricken father (John Lithgow) whom, in a misguided act of desperation, becomes the recipient of the same cure for which Caesar’s mother was a test subject. His father’s overnight recovery spurs Will to pursue his project anew, even as Caesar becomes increasingly intelligent and curious about the outside world. When an unfortunate venture out of the home brings Caesar into the public eye, Will is forced to take the ape to a shelter for similar animals, wherein Caesar stages a revolution and proves that Will’s cure will have unintended and long-lasting effects.
The resounding success of Rise of the Planet of the Apes comes not from the acting, which is fair at best, but from the recreation of a saga many considered too silly to work with modern audiences, and the motion capture technology that let Andy Serkis give the deep, soulful pain to Caesar the story needed. At the announcement of Rise of the Planet of the Apes, many recalled images of men in shoddy ape suits from the Charlton Heston era, and those who remembered the Burton version weren’t much better off. Giving the role over to Serkis, who astonished folks in his total surrender to the role of Gollum in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (and again in the forthcoming The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey), was a stroke of casting genius that paid off. Serkis’s Caesar is the deepest character in the film, and it’s something to behold.
Unfortunately, the performances of the human characters aren’t much better than in Burton’s version, thanks to a wooden Franco and Freida Pinto, as his love interest, playing a role that’s less of a character and more of a crutch for Franco to lean on. John Lithgow gives us the only human character worthy of appreciation, but even he goes over the deep end at times. On the other end of the scale, Tom Felton (of Harry Potter fame) gives a solid turn as the loathsome and sinister caretaker of the apes. Yes, it’s pretty much the same role he played in the Potter films, as all he’s done is replace his disdainful “Potter” snarl for the same with “ape” or “monkey”.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The disc bursts at the seams with extras, and each one enriches the overall experience. Though the audio commentary, deleted scenes, and featurette on the score may be more ordinary, after watching the pieces about Serkis’s work portraying Caesar through motion capture, you can never watch the film the same way again. To get a solid grasp of how Serkis so perfectly reenacted the motions of a chimpanzee, you have to remember this: about six years ago, unless they wanted to put someone in a fake looking ape suit, they would have used an actual chimpanzee. What Rupert Wyatt and Serkis achieved here makes the past motion capture efforts seem like carnival tricks. It’s no joke to say that Serkis’s performance is the best acting this film and the franchise as a whole has seen.
Continuing on, additional featurettes examine the types of apes that appear in the film as well as mythology that has been built around The Planet of the Apes and how Rise of the Planet of the Apes impacts, plays off of, and perhaps changes it.
The combo set includes the film on Blu-ray, DVD, and as a digital copy.
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" is on sale December 13, 2011 and is rated PG13. Action, Drama, Sci-Fi. Directed by Rupert Wyatt. Written by Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver. Starring Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, James Franco, John Lithgow, Tom Felton, Tyler Labine.
