Movie Review: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Yes, even though it's in the title, Rise of the Planet of the Apes doesn't really have that much in relation to the original Planet of the Apes. Rise of the Planet of the Apes is a 2011 reboot of the Planet of the Apes that came out before we can all remember. Now this movie is fascinating because it creates a brand new origin story for the Planet of the Apes series. Some people might hear that and think that this movie automatically doesn't live up to the original Planet of the Apes movies. Now it is different. However, this movie is really entertaining. The movie revolves around this scientist who's played by James Franco. He discovers this substance that can basically fix people's brains who have Alzheimers. Already that is a cool plot. In the labs, they test it on apes. One of the apes breaks out (they call him Caesar) and it leads way to a new generation of apes that are WAY stronger and more human-like then ever before. Now anyone who just hears this and judges the flick isn't understanding why this movie is so awesome. The movie takes off right after that initial story. Apes start becoming more dominant over humans and they start raging combat mini- wars on highways and stuff. It's just fun to watch. Now do hear me out when I state that this is a popcorn movie. It doesn't really rise to a super intellectual or analytical level, and when it tries to is when the movie loses it's "mojo". Tom Felton makes an appearance as a animal-cager dude and he captures evil characters so well. It's the combination of the british accent and that shirt that makes him look like Roth in Pulp Fiction. He's so minor, but he is so evil at the same time. Now I will mention a few things that don't work as well with the movie. The first thing that made me go....oh ok then, was the scene where the apes communicate with each other. Now I do think this is a cool element to the movie. However, it would seem more real if the characters that were animals just naturally adapted to being like Caesar. Those scenes with the subtitles make you feel as though you are watching one of those foreign movies that are really symbolic and you HAVE to read the words to get the visuals. That's what that does. Other than that the movie is entertaining. Overall, Rise of the Planet of the Apes is an entertaining picture that sets up a new line of POTA fans. Three stars.